Stop juggling – Delete Delegate Dictate
Sounds simple in theory, however, not so in practice.
One system that I utilise is a 3 step process that I call the 3Ds:
- Delete
- Delegate
- Dictate
Step 1 – Delete
For many people when they receive a phone call, email or notification their immediate response can be to respond.
What would happen if the first response was to “Delete”?
In this world of information overload we need to reduce the noise that comes into our daily lives. One way to do that is to consider deleting as a first response, rather than the “I will look at that later” mindset. Which can quickly become the “Ooops! I never did response to that message,” or “Did I get a message? I don’t remember getting a message. Oh, I can’t find that message. I have so many messages.” Sound familiar?
Considering if you should immediately delete can allow you to focus and review what is really important to you. If you don’t immediately delete then this message must be responded to BUT who should respond.
This moves you into Step 2 of the process – Delegate.
Step 2 – Delegate
Once you have confirmed that you are not going to delete a message then you need to know who is the best person to action it. Before you consider that you may be the best person think of others that may be better to assist. Once people start thinking there can be a long list of people that you can delegate to. Not just work colleagues, but you need to also consider friends and family members.
Take a little time to think about the work that is essential for you to complete and move anything else to someone else.
Even simple tasks that can provide a huge benefit include delegating your ‘unsubscribe’ list to someone else. Have someone else update your diary. Listen to audiobooks instead of reading. Use platforms such as Airtasker, Upwork and Fivrr to assist with small, or large, tasks in your workflow.
Another component of delegation is the reduction of your wardrobe to a ‘uniform’. The time you take getting organised in the morning could be reduced if you have a standard uniform that you settle on for each day of the week. Get in a stylist if you are not sure what could become your ‘go to’ clothes.
Plan your meals for the week. This can alleviate the stress of what you need to cook at night as you have already planned the week and it will save binge eating and searching for appropriate meals to fill hungry bellies at the end of the day. This also means that others in the house can start the meal before you arrive home.
And if all else fails … take action via Step 3 – Dictate.
Step 3 – Dictate
Utilise the Dictaphone app on your phone and dictate your responses to your emails, texts and social media posts. Having a great transcriber to support this step is recommended, but not essential. Some people like to dictate to programs like Dragon or Google Docs. For me, I find it easier to dictate and have someone else type it for me. Work out what works for you.
This can allow you to batch your responses.
If you notice that you are dictating the same responses regularly, you could use auto text programs and personalise as needed. However, with the basic template done this will save you time. That is, you have returned to the “delegate” step by utilising templates or precedents to assist with quicker processing of processes.
Have any of these tips helped? Are you able to save some time with the 3Ds? I hope so. And with the time that you have saved my hope is that you will use it to write your book.
If you have other ideas on how you do this, I would love to hear from you. What are some of your smart cuts that assist with getting your through the day? What hacks do you use to keep your book writing on track?
Please contact me by replying to this post or send me an email dyan@dyanburgess.com
You may be interested in watching a 25 minute video about Creating Your Book in Less than 60 Minutes, you can find more details here.
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