Tired of writing each tweet by hand? Instead of individually scheduling every tweet, you can write them in a group (batch) and then upload them all in one go. I use Hootsuite to do this, though there are other tools that let you do the same thing. Socialoomp is another I use, though the UI is a bit flaky.

How to Batch Schedule Tweets with Hootsuite

The first thing you need to do is write the tweets.

In Hootsuite, you need to follow this format:

DD/MM/YYYY

HH:MM,

“MESSAGE”,

“URL”

Batch Scheduling Tweets – Setting up the Dates

Note that all dates/times are relative to currently selected time zone. You can setup the option under the Admin section in Hootsuite.

Batch Scheduling Tweets – Setting up the URLs

URLs must contain “http://”

Batch Scheduling Tweets – Sample Format for Batch Tweet

25/12/2011 12:00,”Enter your message here”,”http://www.ivanwalsh.com”

This tweet will go out on the 25th of December 2011 at mid-day, which is kind of handy as you’ll probably be at home on Xmas day.

Batch Scheduling Tweets – Other Rules

• Schedule messages at least 10 minutes from upload time
• Assign times that end in 0 or 5, e.g. 10:00 or 10:45
• One messages per time slot
• No duplicate messages

Using Excel to Create Batch Schedule Tweets File

If you use Excel, format the first column to conform to HootSuite’s date requirements.

To do this:

• Click on the “Custom” tab in Format.
• Save your Excel document as a .CSV file.

Batch Scheduling Tweets in Hootsuite

• Create the file with the .cvs extension
• Open Hootsuite
• Click in the Compose Message Box
• Click the Calendar icon (i.e. To schedule a message)
• Click the Schedule in Bulk option
• Select your file and upload it
• Select the Twitter account you want to use (otherwise it defaults to the first account)
• Click Submit

If it doesn’t work, look at the next section for answers.

Common Errors With Batch Uploads in Hootsuite

You may encounter the following errors:

• File format – make sure it’s .cvs
• Make sure your text editor doesn’t strip out the formatting. I use TextEdit (Mac) and NotePad++ (PC)
• Be careful when you save from Excel to .CSV that the formatting doesn’t get mangled.
• Dates are the wrong way around. 07/05 can mean May 7th or the 5th of June. Check your settings in Hootsuite and use the same format.

Sample Batch File For Scheduling Tweets

Start with a short test, such as the following:

28/07/2011 11:30,”test – pls ignore”
28/07/2011 12:30,”Social Media writing skills – what do you want to know?”
28/07/2011 13:30,”Social Media writing skills – drafting ebook today”

and then create longer batch files depending on your needs.

Why Schedule Tweets?

I do this (mostly) when I want others to know that I’m:

• Working on a new project that coming online soon, i.e. Create interest in advance
• Writing a new ebook, such as Social Media Writing Skills, and I want questions from others to help write the material
• Looking for answers for an on-going problem, e.g. Does social media justify the efforts

I also use to schedule shoutouts to others and Follow Fridays. Why wait til Thursday night to do it!

Conclusion

The key is to use a little common sense. See what you can batch and then do it. Make sure to engage with others in real-time as well to balance your twitter streams. And make sure to monitor the results. See if it works. Are you getting feedback? Do people respond to the tweets? Are more clicking through to your site?

Do you schedule any of your tweets?

What’s the real difference between Positive Action and Positive Thinking? More important, which one should you focus on? I’ve believed in Positive Thinking until I took a second look at the results. It’s easy to deceive yourself into assuming that because you’re ‘Thinking Positive’ you’re heading in the right direction. Are you? Or are you simply thinking about it? Let’s look at an example.

Positive Action v Positive Thinking

Why Positive Thinking can be counterproductive?

I’m 45. I’m 5’8’.

It doesn’t matter how much Positive Thinking I do, I will NEVER play professional basketball. I can be super positive all year long… and I’ll never get picked. Too old, too small.

Here’s another example.

I can use Positive Thinking tactics to think that I will write a NY Times bestseller but… it will never happen unless I start to do the actual writing.

And this is where Positive Action comes in.

What is Positive Action?

Positive Action is transforming abstract Positive Thinking into concrete results.

In other words you:

1. Identify what you want to achieve (Set Goals)
2. Encourage yourself to do it (Positive Thinking)
3. Develop a plan to achieve this (Positive Action)

Most of us – including me – fall into the trap of being satisfied with Positive Thinking.

It ‘feels’ good to be positive. And as it feels like you’re heading in the right direction, it’s tempting to think positive.

But it can be a trap.

Why Positive Thinking can be self-destructive?

In a study published in 2009, University of Waterloo psychologist Joanne Wood found that for:

participants with high self-esteem, repeating a positive affirmation (“I am a lovable person”) multiple times indeed resulted in slightly better moods right afterward.

But…

among those with low self-esteem, the positive affirmations backfired, resulting in worse moods.

Wood and her colleagues conjectured that statements… in the minds of individuals with low self-esteem, serving only to remind them of how often they have fallen short of their life goals.

Making The Shift To Positive Action

Maybe this is down to culture, or education, or gender, or religion… or a combination. By itself, Positive Thinking, doesn’t directly help you to achieve something. How could it? You’re just thinking about things from a positive angle, right?

So here’s the question.

How do you make the shift from Positive Thinking to Positive Action?

Do you think you can – and should – do everything on your blog? If you do, you’re nuts! Instead, focus on where you add real value and delegate other tasks to others. This gives you more time to build your digital products, create the marketing plan, and connect with others. This makes sense, right? But the problem is how to let go… and how to track that they are doing it correctly.

How To Delegate (and Track) Tasks When Running a Business Blog

How To Delegate (and Track) Tasks When Running a Business Blog

At some point, your blog will be too successful to run by yourself. One of the dilemmas of running a fast-growing blog is that you need to:

• Scale the development process
• Filter out the distractions
• Find ways to automate business processes

Training Yourself: How To Delegate One Task

Start off with one task. For example, when you go away for a long weekend or to a seminar.

Let’s say you want to delegate it to one of your family or a trusted friend. Here’s what you could write…

‘Can you do me a favour and look after the site while I’m travelling. Maybe you can practise over the weekend and early next week. Every day, I get 3 or 4 customers with some type of problem. Mostly they have lost their products or weren’t able to download them.

I have listed all the products in the Products s/sheet I attached.

Clicking on the links takes you to the sales page. It’s very simple… so no fear!

1. Go to <enter link>
2. Login: <name> and password:
3. Read the emails. Problems usually say ‘help my download got lost’ or ‘I want a refund’.

Using Checklists for Delegating Tasks

Give them a checklist to follow:

Here’s what to do:

For Lost Files:

Find out what item they bought. It should say in the actual email. For example:

ClickBank Sale Notification
PURCHASE INFORMATION

• Order Number: XXX999
• Order Date: 02/27/2012 7:41 AM PST
• Product: ShoeMoney System
• Product ID: 21

This example is Product ID: 21, which is the ShoeMoney System.

Find the template in the Products.xls file I sent you.

Scroll down the page and find the link #21.

• Click on the link. It opens this page:
• http://www.ivanwalsh.com/go/ShoeMoneySystem
• Copy/paste the link into your email and say.
• Our apologies for this occurring. The system should have sent you to the Download page automatically.
• The following link will take you to the download page. Right-click on the link to save the files to your PC.
• <<Paste link in here.>>

Checklists for Delegating Tasks For Customer Support

“Some people will forget to say what they ordered. When this happens, email them back and say:

“Can you please send me the email you received from Clickbank. This has your receipt # in it. Please send this over so I can locate the order you placed in our system.”

Checklists For Refunds

Don’t waste time. Just Send an email to accounts@clickbank.com and CC the customers.

Just write:

“Please refund the customer for this order.”

Conclusion

The key is to create checklists that can be used over and over again. Keep the instructions simple and avoid any ambiguity. Write in the active voice and allow for exceptions. Then test the checklists before you go.

While you need to spend time doing this to get started, once you have them up you can then relax knowing that the checklist will help you automate the process and give you more free time to build the business.

How do you delegate tasks?

You can increase your productivity if you know how Google Reader works and change some of the default settings. I use Google Reader to save time, speed up social media activities and be more productive.

5 Google Reader Productivity Tips

In this video I give you a few examples of how you can be more productive with Google Reader and apply this to your business.

1. Save Time – Setup a Google Reader account and add your favorite blogs.
2. Project Folders – Create Folders for different aspects of your business, e.g. for Finance, Email, SEO and Spirituality.
3. Bundle Topics – Create a set of liked-minded bloggers and add them to a bundle. This saves you time when you want to drill down into a subject.
4. Share – Use the share settings to share your fav blog posts directly to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media channels.
5. Star – Add stars to your favorite posts. Later you can go back and re-read these or use them for inspiration when writing your own blog posts. I star half of HBR
6. Magic – Use this setting to find the hot topics that are being shared and discussed.
7. Explore – Make sure you dont read the same blogs all the time by exploring other blogs from those you follow.

[Video] Google Reader Productivity Tips

Those are seven ideas we cover in the video. Click on it and you’ll see how it works.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel while you’re there.

When’s the last time you read something about productivity that made you stop and rethink how you manage your time? I just finished reading Winston Churchill’s biography and one of the many treasure buried inside the book was his own version of the notorious clean desk policy.

Winston Churchill’s Alternative Clean Desk Policy

If you’ve worked at any large corporation, you’ve probably been trained to clear your desk before you leave. At my last Fortune 100 client, we had to clear the desk every evening, remove all clippings to the cubicle wall, and secure the desk.

Now this makes sense from a security point of view. It’s good business practice to secure data, be tidy, and leave a good impression. Cleanliness is godliness and all that…

But it’s not great for productivity.

Here’s what Winston Churchill did.

His desk was never tidied; rather it was left ‘in a mess’ every evening. When questioned about this, his response was along the following lines:

1. Right now I know where everything is. If I file it away, then I lose time finding the critical document, memo, map or whatever the next time.
2. Because he worked incredible long hours, often getting less than four hours a day, the idea of a ‘traditional’ working day didn’t really apply. When did one day stop and another start?
3. There was no benefit.

And it’s the third point that’s interesting.

Most of us use the Clean Desk Policy more as a legacy from a previous firm. If it’s good enough for Microsoft, IBM, Oracle etc, surely it’s good enough for you.

It is true? What works for them may not apply to your circumstances.

How messy do you leave your desk every night?

Have you noticed that productivity tools, such as David Allen’s Getting Things Done, seem to work at first but then become less effective the more you use them? Are the productivity tools the problem or is it the way we use the tools? I think it’s more than that. Let’s see how we can change this.

What Does It Mean To Get Things Done?

The first question is why do we need productivity tools?

After all, we’re all reasonably smart, know how to do our jobs, and know what works for us, probably better than other people do, right?

However, when I look at why I use productivity tools, it comes down to a few things:

• Bestsellers – I generally buy books on productivity that are on the best sellers list. Why? I guess I don’t want to get left behind and if it’s on the NY bestsellers list, it must be doing something right. Or is this simply herd mentality at its worst?
• Others Recommend It – Endorsements are powerful tools in any marketing effort. When others started talking about GTD, I paid attention. If I didn’t, I felt I could be missing out. Maybe you feel the same.
• Authority – When someone becomes an authority in a field, it’s hard to dismiss their efforts regardless of how flaky it might seem at first – you feel compelled to pay attention. So, even though I don’t agree with Dave Allen (sometimes) I keep reading his productivity blog.
• Didn’t Look At Other Tools – I left this to last as it’s slightly embarrassing. But, the reason I looked at GTN was because I was too lazy to examine other systems! And this habit, if I’m honest, determines why I choose (or ignore) most other tools, systems, and ideas. Sound familiar?

What It Means To Get Things Done

I asked one of my friends what it meant to her to Get Things Done.

Her take was that it helped her to organize things, especially by capturing information on lists. And, I would agree. The cornerstone of Getting Things Done is list building.

Write it down before it’s gone.

GTD focuses on list building. If you want to control your time, write it down, and then prioritize, and track to completion. This makes sense, at first. But it has it’s weaknesses.

Let’s look at the problem with lists.

• Lists v Tasks – List aren’t tasks. Let’s say you want to improve your career. You decide to do an MBA. This means you need to complete a course, which has different modules, all of which you need to organize, right? Lists will help you identify what you need to do but you must first identify the tasks.
• Tasks v Goals – Before you identify these tasks, you need to look at your goals, such as why are you doing the MBA. If you’re not clear on this, then you may drop the course or not apply yourself to the modules.
• Goals v Strategy – While goals are important, you need to look at decisions from a strategic perspective. How will this decision impact the performance of my business, change the way we build products or alter how we position ourselves in the market?

The point is that you need to work through different levels first – strategy, goals, tasks etc – before you start executing these plans, which is where GTN comes in.

Why Getting Things Done Loses Impact

This leads to the question of why Getting Things Done (GTD) stops working.

I’ve asked some good friends this question and it comes down to the following.

• Emotional Drivers – What motivated you to control your time, schedule, life, or business changes. Maybe this is down to fatigue or, if we’re honest, the novelty factor wears off. You’ve tried GTD but now it’s time for something else.
• Priorities Change – What seemed important when you started is no longer so critical. Paradoxically this may be because GTN is working and helping you get on top of things.
• Shiny New Objects – We’re all guilty of this. Take a look at diets and you’ll see this all the time. Or Bebo then MySpace then Facebook… we all get hooked on the next shiny object, which for me is often just laziness in disguise.
• Familiarity – You lose sight of why you bought Getting Things Done in the first place, so your commitment begins to wane. It’s relegated to nice to have, but not essential.
• Satisfied With Partial Results – While Dave Allen didn’t make you taller, thinner, or better looking… that wasn’t the goal, was it? The system works but not as effectively as you expected. But, what did you expect?

Could the problem be you and not the system?

Alternatives to Getting Things Done

So, how can you put aside other systems and create something of real value for ourselves?

• Examine Alternatives – At one point the world’s greatest thinkers thought the world was flat.

  In 100 years from now, others will look back at us and wonder how we didn’t see what has become so obvious to them. It’s easy to get caught up in the momentum and join the team making the most noise.

  And it’s also easy to bite your tongue even though you know there’s a better way of doing something. The risk is public ridicule and no-one wants that. But the price you pay is pretty expensive when you think of the consequences.

• Break it down – You can’t build a house in one go. Instead, break it down into smaller tasks, and the micro tasks until you have each task identified to an atomic level.

  Once you have all the parts in front of you, begin to execute safe in the knowledge that you have all bases covered.

• Identify Synchronicity – EM Forster, the author of ‘A Room With a View’, suggested that all we need to do is ‘just connect’.

  Monitor those moments in your day where things come together without any great effort. Notice what happened BEFORE you had that ‘aha!’ moment where the most difficult things are suddenly resolved.

• Think for Yourself – I’ve keep the best until last. Instead of reading another book on productivity, web marketing, or business planning, step back and examine your own thoughts.

  I’m certain that if you apply yourself to the matter at hand, you’ll come up with ways just as creative, if not more so, than what you’ll find on the best sellers list.

Conclusion

At what point do you have enough information to start?

The purpose of this article isn’t to dismiss or ridicule the Getting Things Done methodology but to examine why we choose to follow other systems rather than think for ourselves.

I’m convinced that if you sat down and thought it through by yourself, you’d come up with a system just as effective as Mr Allen’s. And I have a feeling you agree with me.

So, what stopping you? Now, that’s worth thinking about, isn’t it?

Most of us see confidence as an absolute. You have it or you don’t, right? Las Vegas-based internet marketer Suzanne Vara offers a different interpretation. Instead of seeing confidence as a fixed object, she explores the difference between inner and outer confidence and, more importantly, how to cultivate each type.

The Difference Between Inner and Outer Confidence

This is where things get confusing. If I asked you to define confidence, and then asked your colleague, and then your children… you’d all give different examples.

[Here is the video from Suzanne – her blog post is called The Entire Package]

If you watch a salesperson in action, ‘confidence’ seems like an ‘act’ or performance of some sort. It looks artificial and doesn’t ring true. At least not usually.

Whereas ‘confidence’ for a sports star is often determined by their current performance. When things change, they lose their confidence. Which begs the question: were they really confident in the first place?

It depends.

The Difference Between Confidence and Bravado

Let’s step back a moment. If I’m honest, I like black and white answers. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. And this is one of the reasons why defining ‘confidence’ is so difficult.

The more you examine it, the harder it is to produce one definition that works across all scenarios.

And this is the point Suzanne makes on her blog.

Instead of seeing confidence as an external act – such as bravado, Dutch courage, faking it til you make it - look for areas where you feel confident internally.

For example…

• I’m not confident speaking in public.
• I’m not confident parallel parking.
• I’m not confident cooking.

But…

• I am confident working with others on a one-to-one basis.
• I am confident working to tight deadlines. I’ve developed a nice workflow and get things done on time.
• I’m confident baking.

You’d get very fat if you lived with me. My pies are pretty tasty especially with lashings of cream!

What’s going on here?

Recognizing Inner Confidence

One way to do this is identify areas where one has Inner Confidence and then build upon it, for example:

Inner Confidence is how we view our own abilities

Whereas

Outer Confidence is how others judge us

AND how we let this affect our self-image. In other words, the opinion of others determines how we value our own efforts.

Remember what Eleanor Roosevelt said, ‘No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.’

Developing Inner Confidence

One suggestion given to me by a good friend was to, ‘do the things that make you feel strong.’

They meant to absorb yourself in those small, un-championed activities that make you feel good in yourself and see them as the seeds from which greater things will grow.

For example, I’m a fairly tidy person. Too tidy some would say. So, one way I use this is to help others put a little structure on things – in a way that doesn’t preach to them or make them feel inferior.

They can do things I can’t – and I can do things they can’t.

We all have our respective strengths. And I’m sure you’re the same.

The difference is that when you do these things – that should make you feel more confident – you take them for granted. Or dismiss it, ‘Oh, that was nothing! Anyone could do it.’

But they couldn’t. Give yourself the credit you deserve. It all starts from there.

PS – I’m sure you have some ideas on this, please share them below.

How strong are your passwords? I attended a course in London last year and one of the topics covered security. In Mel Brook’s movie SpaceBalls, the password to all the earth’s natural resources was…12345. It’s a comedy but you get the idea. All those efforts to control the planet and the password is child’s play. Here are some ways to strengthen your passwords and also how to show others the mistakes to avoid.

9 Ways To Create Supe Strong Passwords

This week we look at how to setup a strong password and test its strength. I’ll also look at the type of mistakes people make when creating passwords and how to avoid these.

1. Passwords should be 8 or more characters in length; 14 characters or more is ideal.
2. Strongest passwords combine both length and different types of symbols.
3. Long passwords are stronger than short ones.
4. The more characters you add to your password, the more you increase its level of protection.
5. Use symbols by holding down the ‘Shift’ key and typing a number are very useful in developing strong passwords.
6. Choose symbols unique to your language.
7. Use the space bar in passwords.
8. Combine letters, numbers, and symbols.
9. The greater the combination you use in your password, the harder it is to guess.

10 WAys to avoid weak, easy-to-guess passwords

Here are some of the mistakes to avoid when creating passwords:

1. Avoid using look-alike substitutions of numbers and symbols. This means that you don’t replace an ‘i’ with a ‘1′ or an ‘a’ with ‘@’ as in “M1cr0$0ft” or “P@ssw0rd. These are too easy to guess.
2. However, these substitutions can be effective when combined with other measures, such as length, misspellings, or variations in upper and lowercase, to improve the strength of your password.
3. Avoid sequences of word or repeated characters. Examples of these are “12345678,” “778899″ “abcdefg,”
4. Letters on your keyboard that sit next to each other are also a mistake. For example, qwertqwert.  These are very weak passwords.
5. Avoid your login name.
6. Avoid words from the dictionary.
7. Don’t use any part of your name, birthday, social security number.
8. Tools can guess passwords based on words in multiple dictionaries, including words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and substitutions.
9. Use password combinations. If any one of the computers or websites using your password is compromised, then all of your other information protected by that password will be compromised as well. Use different passwords for different systems.
10. Don’t store your password online.

I know this sounds obvious but, if others find your passwords stored online (or on a networked computer), they have access to all your information.

Remember to change your passwords on a regular basic, for example, every six weeks. If you’re planning on opening a PayPal or Ebay account to buy and sell goods online, then I think you should read this. There’s no point making all this money, if someone can walk in a run off with your profits.

What do you think? How do you create strong passwords?

An article marketing plan (e.g. Microsoft Word/Excel template) will help increase your traffic as it gives you a framework for writing your blog posts and scheduling your posts in advance. If you plan to blog for a living or want to earn money blogging part-time, then you need to spend some time creating super low-tech workflow that lets you write as efficiently as possible. That makes sense, right?

Why use an Article Marketing Schedule?

For example, if you run five different blogs, you will need system to keep on top of your writing and ensure that your blogs are updated on time. Otherwise, you may find that you work on one blog, then stop. Work on the next blog, and then stop to work on the next… This stop/start approach will undermine your efforts and remove all the good work you’ve put in.

Download your Article Marketing Schedule Template here.

How to Organize your Blog Writing Schedule

The simplest way to do this is use a simple Microsoft Word or Excel template. Then create columns for the

• Article Title – enter the working title for your article. This may change as you revise the blog post.
• Blog address – enter the address where you will post the article. This gives you a clearer picture of where you need to focus and the sites that need most attention.
• Keywords – enter three to five keywords that you want to use in the Title, Meta tags and in the URL. One tip is to use variations of keywords rather than repeating the same word all the time.
• Start Date – enter the date when you need to start writing the first draft.
• End Date – enter the date when you complete the post and get it online. The more you use an Editorial Calendar for your blog, the more accurate you will be in estimating how long it takes to write multiple articles.
• Status – enter Draft, Revise or Final depending on the status of the article. This is a nice way to see where you are with your overall blogging activities. It also gives you a snapshot of where there are gaps in your writing and the blogs that need more attention.

Download Article Marketing Schedule

To get you started, I’ve created this Article Marketing Schedule in Microsoft Word.

Download your Article Marketing Schedule Template here.

This template is Creative Commons and can be shared with your colleagues and fellow bloggers. There is no email required to download this file!

Takeaway: Create a Writing Workflow

The critical point is to develop a system that lets you focus more on writing and spend less time on other non-writing tasks. Creating a simple set of Microsoft Word/Excel files that simplify your workflow will make a huge difference in the long run.

My suggestion is to use this as a starting point for your blog writing and modify it where you need.

What do you think?

PS – if you want the Microsoft Excel version, drop me a line.

Karen from Sacramento emailed me and asked how to write more blog posts. I write between 1,000 and 3,000 words per day. The way I do this is to have a writing framework that lets me define the topic, write the post and publish it very quickly. Here’s how I do it.

How To Post Every Day On Your Blog

I was thinking about this at the weekend, more to see how I can get more impact and where to focus. A few things about how I write:

• I use Windows Live Writer to do the publishing, great time saver.
• I use an Editorial Calendar to plan what’s next. This keeps me focused and give more structure to what I do
• I use Google Reader to bring all the sites I like to me, rather than chasing them down. Also, I try to stay focused (loyal) to these.
• I do Emergency email first in the morning. The rest waits.
• I turn on Facebook for 20-30 min in the morning, do my stuff and then close it. Back to work.
• I write everything, including emails, in Microsoft Word. And then copy/paste into Outlook etc. I know Microsoft Word inside out and take advantage of things like the auto-correct features. Another timesaver.
• I don’t answer the phone at work. Ever! Except from my wife.
• I swim/run every second day to stay sane. This really helps. Otherwise, I get burnt out, cranky, depressed. Swimming helps the most as it gets the tension out of my neck, i.e. from all the PC work. Badminton also helps.

To the blogging…

So, I guess there are three things involved:

• Finding the time
• Doing the writing and
• Getting it published

How To Be More Prolific

Here are a few ‘scenarios’ that work for me. I guess I should structure it a little better, but I hope you get the idea.

When I’m washing the dishes…

When I’m washing the dishes, I think of what I want to write today for the blog. For example, ‘how to write 1000 words per day every day.’

Next, while doing other household stuff, I do this:

• Problem – what is it? 1 sentence
• Solution – how to fix it?
• Break out 5 bullet points

What next? What the reader should do next.

And that’s it. While doing the mundane stuff, I sketch out the article. Then, when I get 5 min, instead of reading the news, checking the sports etc, I get it into Word.

Back to household stuff….

When junior is gone to bed, I put my words around the material and try to get draft ready.

The next day, I spend 10 min on it, and get it into Live Writer. Publish.

I use the same technique when driving, on the metro, shopping, at the mall etc.

At the mall…

We were at a kids party today. 3 hours. The usual. I slipped away for 30 min or so. I have a notepad and did a quick outline in MacDs and also some photos, and a quick video with the camera. About 2 min. Then back to the party, pick up the kids etc.

So, I guess, I’m looking for ways to make 20-30 min here and there, get something started and then work towards completion.

Other things…

On LinkedIn, if I contribute something I usually write:

• 1 sentence only – but make it count. Something that makes the reader pay attention or
• 100 words — and then reuse this 100 words for an article elsewhere re: the topic on LinkedIn.

On blogs

• I do the same thing. I have all the technical writing blogs in Reader and then go thru them in 30 min, adding a sentence here and there.

BUT when commenting:

I almost NEVER give high fives. I try to add one observation that stands out. Just one sentence.

Actually, it’s an interesting exercise in brevity and after a while it become second nature.

The key for me is to do as much prep work as possible.

If I can do the outline while washing the dishes or sweeping the floor, then I just have to type it out on the PC. Without reason, of course. But I rarely sit down cold at the PC and start. It takes forever to get anything out.

Does that help?

photo credit: Joelk75

I’m curious. How much would you pay me to write a 500 word article for you?

Ok. I don’t do freelance work at the moment. But, if I did, how would you go about it?One way to scale your internet business is to outsource writing tasks to Virtual Assistants and Freelancers. The upfront cost (payment) is offset by the extra sales you’ll make (returns) on the time you save.

That’s how it works if you do it right. Let’s take a look.

How to outsource your articles

You can use sites like ODesk.com to post your project and get freelancers to bid. Here’s how it works:

• Write out the specifications for the work you want done, say 5 articles on your business niche.
• Be as precise as possible. The more details you can give, the better a response you’ll get.
• Submit the work request.
• Freelancers will contact you and outline their rates, offer samples, and should be able to provide references. Many sites let you see references and recommendations from satisfied customers in the freelancers profile. Yes, it can be rigged, but in general it works very well.
• Look at the reference work and make a decision.
• Don’t choose the cheapest option. Look for the best VA/Freelancer and build a long-term relationship.
• Consider offering bonuses or other incentives if they deliver the material ahead of time. In the long run, it’s more economical to work with 1 or 2 trusted VAs than having to search for new ones all the time.
• Pay as agreed. Usually I pay a percentage upfront if the person has been recommended to me or pay on receipt if it’s a new VA.
• I use PayPal and have a verified business account.

How I Write

The other option is to write the material yourself. I do this is the subject matter is very specialized and I can’t find freelance writers with relevant experience.

Here’s how I do it:

• Choose a topic, for example, Mobile Commerce.
• Identify ten questions around the subject. How do I setup a Mobile Shop? How do I take payments over the phone etc.
• Write skeletons for each of the questions; these are a series of headings that I’ll use to flesh out the articles in more detail.
• Write in batches, for example, for three hours at a time. That lets me build up a head of steam and really get into the subject.
• Turn off everything and just write.
• Stop.
• Leave it for a day.
• Return to the material and complete it.

My aim would be to write 5000 words minimum.

That works out at 500 words per article, usually more. In some cases, you can cut/paste material that applies to different articles.

Typing Skills

One reason I can do this is I type very fast. Very fast.

I learnt to use a typewriter as a teenager and have fairly good touch typing skills.

If your income is based on how many words you can type, learn to touch type.

It’s a no-brainer.

Pay By The Hour

If you do choose to go with the freelancer, you have two options.

If you pay by the hour:

• Look at the going rates.
• See what others charge first.
• Get a few quotes.
• Weight up the options.

Some writers prefer this arrangement.

For me it doesn’t work. I don’t charge others by the hour – unless they want to! – as I prefer to be paid/rewarded on performance.

I prefer to pay by output. How long it takes… I don’t care.

Pay By Words

What I do is say, ‘I need 5,000 words on this subject. How much would it cost? Have you any samples of writing similar material.’

I don’t want freelancers cutting and pasting material from the web. I prefer to see if they have written about the subject before and then proceed.

I ask to see samples and get references if necessary.

When they start to write, I ask for a draft to be sent over. Again, I don’t want to wait until the end and find the material is sub-standard.

If the quality is really good, I might commission more work and…

Bonus

I offer bonuses to the really good writers. I want to lock in with them and keep them onside. This is a cost cutting measure if you think about it.

The less time you spend looking for freelancers, the more time you have for more important activities.

Another no-brainer!

How much for 500 words?

I’ve spoken to others who use VAs and Freelancers. And, it depends…

• If the writer knows the subject matter, they should be able to write about 1000 words in an hour. This article took 45 minutes.
• If the writer is new to the subject, it will take more depending on the amount of research.

Most professional writers can touch type. If they can type 60 words per minute, then do the math.

It shouldn’t take long if they know the subject matter.

Therefore…

If the time it takes them to come up to speed takes too long, you may as well write it yourself. I outsource to trusted writers that I know can turn it around super quick.

And I pay above the going rate.

I don’t want to waste time (i.e. money) looking for status updates, answering queries, listening to ‘the dog ate my homework’ stories.

PS – this article is 909 words and took 41 minutes to write.

It was an accident. I started to write while standing up. We’d moved back from China and most all our belongings were still at sea. Somewhere.  So I placed my laptop on the bookshelf and started to type. It was a bit improvised but I soon got the hang of it and managed to adjust to the correct height. Then something clicked. It felt right. I knew I ‘d never go back to a ‘normal’ desk again.

Benefits of Using a Standing Desk

Here’s more background info. After twenty years of sitting at a PC, I needed a change.

photo credit: kelly cree
My back had given out. I mean it was in real pain.

Bending was close to impossible. I shuffled around the house like an old man. At first it was funny – well for those watching, anyway – but soon the novelty wore off.

Things changed after I used the standing desk. After all, I still had to work. Note that the desk didn’t heal my lower back pain but I’m sure it helped reduce the stress of sitting down all day at the PC.

Humans are designed for standing, not sitting.

So, after experimenting for a few weeks with the standing desk, the benefits I feel are:

• I surf the web less, but write more.
• I don’t slouch over the PC. Try to slouch standing up!
• I feel more alert.
• I no longer drift off in the afternoons. Hard to doze when standing.
• There is less, if any, lower back pain.
• My eyes hurt less. This may be as I’m squinting less at the PC and/or the light is better where I work now.
• I feel sharper, more energized.

Tips For Using a Standing Desk

While there are no serious risks or issues:

• Try to stand straight. Learn to stand in a comfortable position and one that feels natural. Avoid poor standing positions.
• If you create a DIY standing desk, make sure it is sturdy enough to hold your PC and things. I’ve seen some on the web and would be concerned that they may topple over, possibly hurting others and/or spilling hot coffee. Best to avoid. Invest in the best equipment you can afford.
• Balance your standing and sitting time. You can’t stand all day long (well, I can’t) so keep the desk and chair. As always, balance is the key.
• Make sure your wrists are in a comfortable position to avoid stress on the joints.

Getting Started

Some find it difficult to use the desk at first. I didn’t feel it that hard though I’ve always like to walk, so maybe I had a slight head start. Not sure, tbh.

Jamis at 37 Signals says on TreeHugger that, ‘I noticed an immediate increase in my ability to focus on a problem for longer, and with greater clarity. When I was blocked by some problem, I was able to just walk away from the desk, whereas before the effort of getting up from my chair often made me prefer to just sit and stew in my frustration.”

So, if you’ve been chained to a desk for many years, take is slowly.

Give yourself two weeks to really get into it. Pains in your lower back will start to melt and your legs will get stronger.

I also found that I was more focussed. I got down to work faster. Surfing was fine, for example, but I didn’t enjoy it as much.

Famous People Who Use Standing Desks

Some of these include:

• Benjamin Franklin
• Donald Rumsfeld
• Ernest Hemingway
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Thomas Jefferson
• Vladimir Nabokov
• Winston Churchill

Where to get a Standing Desk?

Here in Europe, you can get them in IKEA. Not sure if you have those in the US.

Other options are to modify your current desk or get one made by a local carpenter. One compromise is to get him to use your existing desk and add sliders that let you move the desk up and down.

That way you can stand for a few hours and then, when tired, sit down again. Folks on the web have done this for about $150, some for much less.

Let me know if you try it and how you get on.

He said to me, ‘if you’re going to fail, fail fast.’ Have you heard this line before? I’m sure you have and if not probably some variation. Everyone is the room agreed with him. They’d made a mistake. The project tanked. Time to move on.

Why Fear of Success Is Stronger Than Fear of Failure

“The fear of success is a very unique issue that arises when you are genuinely creating change and moving forward in your life,” says Ti Caine, a hypnotherapist and life coach based in Sherman Oaks, California. “The fear of success is very real because the future is real-we’re all heading there-and what we imagine for our future has an enormous influence on us.”

With that in mind, read the line again. ‘If you’re going to fail, fail fast.’

• What benefit if there to you, your company and your career is you adopt this attitude. Why fail fast?
• If you fail fast you over look the mistakes you’ve made.
• If you fail fast and don’t recognize the mistakes you’ve made, you’re likely to repeat them.
• If you repeat your mistakes, you go in circles, never slowing down to see the blindspots, personal weaknesses and errors of judgments that encourage this thinking.

Let’s look at the alternatives.

If you fail slowly you:

• Examine your mistakes,
• Note where the mistakes first occurred and
• Adjust your patterns to avoid repeating these mistakes.

Over the course of your career, which one is likely to make the biggest difference?

Steve Pavlina asks “What will happen if you succeed? If you lose the weight… get the date… earn the promotion… start the business… get pregnant… quit smoking… become a millionaire… stretch yourself?“”

My interpretation is that we’re more anxious and scared of Success than Failure. Otherwise, why would we repeat the same patterns?

So, how do we change the cycle of behavior?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh writes short business proposals for big clients. He also gives Business Tips for Smart People at Klariti.com Follow him on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/ivanwalsh

Image Credit

Post by Ivan Walsh. Follow me on Twitter.

Working in China means more business writing and less technical writing, especially proposal development, web marketing case studies and white papers. As a few of the folks I hang out with on LinkedIn are also moving into business writing, I thought I’d add a few tips for business writing. While there is some overlap with technical writing, it does require a different mindset, for example, to understand the emotional drivers that persuade customers to accept or reject business proposals.

37 Tips to Increase Your Business Writing Productivity

This article on business writing reminds us that our sales, marketing, business, and proposal development does not stand alone. It is part of a larger process that involves planning, research, writing, editing, proofing, submission and acceptance.

This list gives 37 ways to improve your next proposal. Scroll through it and tell me what I missed.

1. Show that your response is logical and organized
2. Make the information easy to find. Cross reference against the Request For Proposal
3. Include a table of contents for proposals over 10 pages in length
4. Ensure that your Proposal is in compliance with the RFP
5. Arrange material in order of priority to the reader
6. Arrange everything in the order that’s most important to the client
7. Arrange the response in accordance with their requirements
8. Number pages and sections consecutively; do not re-number each section
9. Use headings that make sense to your readers. See Audience Analysis template.
10. Each section title should stresses the main benefits
11. Each section title should help readers orient themselves
12. If possible, express the key point of the section in the headline, or immediately after it.
13. Highlight important points
14. You can emphasize the most positive points by using bold, underlining, different fonts, spacing, titles, bullets and summaries
15. Sell the Message.It needs to have an emotional element. This is not a technical document. You need to hit the pain points.
16. Respond completely. Don’t skip anything.
17. Answer every question in the RFP. Failure to respond correctly to the RFP may disqualify your proposal. The client put these questions in for a reason, and expect an answer.
18. Avoid banal headings and titles
19. Rather than say “Development Section,” say “Ten Ways to Improve Your Processes”
20. Use action verbs in heads, especially verbs that stress a benefit for the client
21. Avoid boilerplate
22. Don’t recycle resumes and corporate profiles from previous proposals; modify them in accordance for the proposal at hand. Using old, tired resumes will be perceived by the reader, and will count against you when they can making the final judgments.
23. Avoid hype, padding and other self-congratulatory drivel. Remember that the proposal is a legal document that becomes part of the contract if you win
24. Support your recommendations
25. By giving specific details and quantifying the benefits whenever possible
26. Don’t just say that you will comply with a requirement — say how we’ll do so
27. Don’t attack competitors. Refer to rival products if you must.
28. Point out the weaknesses of alternative solutions.
29. Use a strong closing statement
30. Ask for their business; tell the reader exactly what you want him or her to do
31. Remind the reader of the benefits of taking action
32. Avoid business cliché’s
33. Avoid hackneyed openings and closings that clients have read a thousand times. Avoid “I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for considering the enclosed . . .” Get to the point: “Here is your proposal.” Avoid “If you have any questions, please feel free to call.” That closing has been done to death, so avoid it and write something more genuine.
34. Make your proposal easy to understand
35. Use the same terms and jargon that appear in the RFP. Don’t try to impress the client with your own special brand of buzzwords or TLA (three-letter acronyms)
36. Use simple, direct language
37. Close your business documents on a high note. Don’t be too humble. A little confidence never hurt!

What did I miss?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a left-handed technical writer who writes business proposals for clients. He also gives business writing tips for smart people at Klariti

This week we look at how to setup a strong password and test its strength. I’ll also look at the type of mistakes people make when creating passwords and how to avoid these. Remember to change your passwords on a regular basic, for example, every six weeks. If you’re planning on opening a PayPal or Ebay account to buy and sell goods online, then I think you should read this. There’s no point making all this money, if someone can walk in a run off with your profits.

How to avoid weak, easy-to-guess passwords:

1. Avoid sequences of word or repeated characters. Examples of these are “12345678,” “778899″ “abcdefg,”
2. Letters on your keyboard that sit next to each other are also a mistake. For example, qwertqwert.  These are very weak passwords.
3. Avoid using look-alike substitutions of numbers and symbols. This means that you don’t replace an ‘i’ with a ‘1′ or an ‘a’ with ‘@’ as in “M1cr0$0ft” or “P@ssw0rd. These are too easy to guess.
4. However, these substitutions can be effective when combined with other measures, such as length, misspellings, or variations in upper and lowercase, to improve the strength of your password.
5. Avoid your login name.
6. Don’t use any part of your name, birthday, social security number.
7. Avoid words from the dictionary.
8. Tools can guess passwords based on words in multiple dictionaries, including words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and substitutions.
9. Use password combinations. If any one of the computers or websites using your password is compromised, then all of your other information protected by that password will be compromised as well. Use different passwords for different systems.
10. Don’t store your password online.

I know this sounds obvious but, if others find your passwords stored online (or on a networked computer), they have access to all your information.

How to create strong passwords:

• Passwords should be 8 or more characters in length; 14 characters or more is ideal.
• Strongest passwords combine both length and different types of symbols.
• Long passwords are stronger than short ones.
• The more characters you add to your password, the more you increase its level of protection.
• Use symbols by holding down the ‘Shift’ key and typing a number are very useful in developing strong passwords.
• Choose symbols unique to your language.
• Use the space bar in passwords.
• Combine letters, numbers, and symbols.
• The greater the combination you use in your password, the harder it is to guess.

If you use Adobe PDFs to create technical guides, confidential reports and other business documents, then these ten PDF tips are for you. The web has many free PDF converters out there. That’s fine. But Adobe Distiller has some advanced features if you want more control of your documents, for example, increase download speed, password protection, embedding thumbnails, and color control.

Top 10 PDF Tips & Tricks

Adobe Distiller lets you optimize PDFs, for example, by embedding specific fonts, fine-tuning PDFs for web-viewing, and for allowing Postscript files to over-ride PDF settings.

Here are some things you can do.

1. Embed Thumbnails – use this option to embed a set of thumbnails that are displayed in the left navigation bar. Nice way for readers to see your document at a glance, rather than having to scroll all the way through it.
2. Save in Distiller Format – save the PDFs, with all the settings, in Distiller’s own file format (.joboptions). Later, if you want to modify the file, you can open this. I use this option on large projects when I combine multiple PDFs together. You can also pause the operation and go back to it later – without losing the settings.
3. PostScript – advanced settings let you allow PostScript to over-ride the PDF settings and also allow PostScript XObjects to be in included.
4. Font settings – you can embed all fonts in the PDF (rather than the default fonts) and also embed a subset of embedded fonts it the document reaches a certain percentage. You can also tell Distiller to always embed specific fonts, e.g. fonts related to your brand, logo etc.

   

5. Document Structure Conventions – here you can process DSC comments, log warnings, and preserve both EPS and OPI information.
6. Create Profiles – you can also save you settings as a Profile. Or create different profiles for different document types, such as for Print, Web, or Mobile. This saves you the time/effort when you go to do your next batch of PDFs.
7. Color Management – the color management settings lets you control how colors are displayed, for example, you can convert all colors to sRGB. There are also options for CMYK and preserving half-tones.
8. Tagging – further options let you tag everything, or just images, for color management.
9. Web Settings – create a profile (i.e. group of settings) and optimize the PDFs for web publishing. For example, configure Adobe Distiller so that PDFs download faster. Note that while the image quality may degrade slightly, the documents will open faster.
10. Password Protection – enables you to protect the document. There are different levels here: you can set it so that people need a password to open the PDF, to select text, or to print the document. For example, you may want people to be able to read your document but not print it and/or copy and paste text.

What Adobe Distiller tips do you have?

I’ve barely scratched the surface. Do you find the web quick save really makes a difference? What other improvements do you see when you use this tool?

Friday is my busiest day. Most folks power down and go into weekend mode. Not here! Ask yourself, ‘why do I go down a gear on Friday?’, ‘How does this benefit my career?’ Ok, let’s be honest. We do this because others do it. Right? This is a high-risk way to manage your career. You’re letting others determine how you behave. And it damages your career in many, many ways. Here’s an alternative approach.

How to make Friday your busiest day and reap the rewards

7 Mistakes to avoid:

1. Don’t fill your day with low-impact tasks.
2. Don’t get pulled into fluffy things that you don’t really want to.
3. Don’t do project meetings when you know it will kill your whole morning.
4. Don’t go to long lunches.
5. Don’t leave early.
6. Don’t waste time studying analytics, trends, click-thrus etc… you know what they’ll say, don’t you?
7. Not Saying NO enough.

Do this instead.

You’ll get more success if you:

1. Plan with intention - Use Friday to plan the entire week ahead. Spend at least 2 hours on this. Planning is decision making. When you plan, you make decisions.
2. Get Ready for Monday – planning on Friday lets you hit the ground running on Monday. See the difference? You’re already a step ahead of everyone else.
3. Do Strategic Meetings Only – Book meetings with key contacts on Friday. Most will say Yes. They’re in down mode, so they’re easy to arrange.
4. Find Like-minded people – Connect with people that have the same values as you. Look around the office and ask, ‘who’s killing time v who’s using it’. Link up with those doing it right.
5. Do high impact tasks – disconnect from activities that suck the life out of you, your projects and your enjoyment in life.
6. Share useful information – everyone wants ‘relevant’ information. Select the 5 pieces of useful information you’ve read during the week and circulate these.
7. Authority – Establish yourself as someone who provides ‘useful’ and high value information not just cats doing ninja tricks.
8. Stay late – when everyone is gone, you can get focused and do more work. Global clients will still be up. Call them. Chase them up. Your colleagues won’t. They’re gone, so now is your chance.

What’s going on here?

It’s about behavior.

• It’s how others impact the way you behave and respond.
• To succeed, in the way you want to succeed, you need to observe how others make you behave the way you do.
• Admit it.
• Put a plan in place to create your own blueprint for success.
• Find ways to do this every day.
• See where you fall down, where you can improve and what you’re doing right.
• Keep at it.

Success is like developing a muscle. You have to train it, assess it, and increase it. Luckily, there are no short-cuts. If you persist, you’ll succeed. You have to!

What do you think?

Do you plan to make Friday’s the busiest day? What would change if you did?

Photo Credit puliarfanita

Last week we looked at how much time you spend working every week. We looked at how Christine managed her time and tried to find ways to improve her productivity. The key here is to step back, see where you’re spending/wasting time and then find practical ways to address this. What works for Christine may not work for you – but making a start will make a difference. 

7 Ways to Save Time At Work

Here are some ways she created more time during the week.

• Attended team meetings but left after giving her presentation – unless it was critical to stay for the next presentation. Usually not.
• Stopped attending meetings where her input was not required, e.g. general FYIs and progress reports. She asked for the Status Reports from the PMs, accepted/rejected her tasks, and got back to work. See Project Management by video here.
• Worked from home every Tuesday (and later every Wed). This let her work – without interruption – for 10 hours.
• Booked conf rooms – just for herself – locked herself in and worked away in peace. When she worked at the desk, people kept interrupting.
• Ignored emails – except high priorities – for 24 hours. Why? Many small things resolved themselves. People found the document they were after. People didn’t need something anymore.
• Ignored low priorities emails for 72 hours. Why? Many emails were just total time-wasters. Spending time on this robbed her of time in other areas.
• Turned off her Blackberry, IM and email when working. She checked these on the dot at 11 am and 3pm.  Between then, she was ‘working’.

What Christine did was prioritize her work.

Providing she met her deliverables – or exceeded them as was now the case – her managers were fine. Co-workers had to change their expectations, i.e. she was not available for idle chatter, “How do I move a pig in Farmville?”, or activities that removed her from her goal.

See How to Get Your Email Answered.

What makes here different is that she has a definite goal. Her aim was to be more productive and get the recognition. Many people do the donkey work but don’t get the credit for it.

By using her time well, she showed senior mgt that she was a cut above the rest. When I left the project, she became the Team Lead.

See 4 Hour Week Cheat Sheet.

How about you?

How much time do you spend actually doing what you want to do? How do you stop others from wasting your time and pulling you away from your goals?

Google’s Wonder Wheel is Search and Mind Mapping combined together. The Wonder Wheel was introduced in May 2009 and is one of Google’s best kept secrets. This search/mindmapper tool shows search results in a Wheel with different Spokes for each associated search result. Fantastic tool for brainstorming, studying trends, and idea generation.

Last week I showed you how to use Google’s Advanced search features. This lets you drill-down and laser focus your search. Today, we’ll look at Google’s Wonder Wheel. How does it work? It displays a visual wheel of results, with related search items on each spoke. It’s more than a fancy trick. Keep working with it and you’ll see how powerful it can be.

Tip – make Google’s advanced search page your default. It’s worth the small effort.

How to use Google’s Wonder Wheel

1. Enter your keyword into Google to start the search.

2. Click Show Options (top left of nav bar). This expands the nav bar down the left side of the screen.

3. Click Wonder Wheel under Standard View. This creates a starfish-shaped circle with spokes to the related searches.

4. Click on the spokes (i.e. associated searches) to find more relevant key words and phrases.

You can click on the spokes to research different topics or return to the wonder wheel.

How ProBlogger uses Google’s Wonder Wheel

Darren Rowse’s video, “How to Use Google’s Wonder Wheel to Find Topics to Write about” shows how he uses the Wonder Wheel for idea generation. For example, to see what queries people enter into Google that he may not have thought of or to catch up with new trends. This helps focus your writing so that your content is aligned with what people are searching for. Make sense? http://www.problogger.net

FYI – Darren Rowse’s blog is compulsive reading if you plan to make a living online.

Does Google’s Wonder Wheel Really Work?

Does this help you find the search item you were after or is the regular way better? I use it when I get writer’s block and want to look at things from a fresh perspective.

At first, I found it gimmicky. But, the more I use it, the more ideas it creates. The trick is see where it can help and avoid deviating into topics that are not on your radar.

How about you? What do you think?

PS – You can learn How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential here. An excellent introduction to mind mapping techniques.

What to know how to type faster and get those blog post online quicker? I use the AutoCorrect feature in Word to speed things up. Most writers use it to correct typos and clean up your document AFTER it’s written. That’s fine but it’s more productive it you can correct the document AS YOU WRITE it. Here are some other tricks that help write docs faster.

How To Write Documents Faster & Save Your Fingers From Exhaustion

Most people don’t know what the AutoCorrect feature in Word really does.

Most people think it’s there to correct the odd typo and clean up your document AFTER you have written it.

That’s true but…

I use to correct the document AS I WRITE and to enter longs strings of text automatically.

Why bother?

When I write user guides, for example. I use a similar structure for the intro, bullet lists and instructions.

Instead of writing, ‘follow these steps’, I type onto the page in Word the letters fts.

Word then automatically writes, follow these steps: on the page.

Do you see how useful this can be?

You can also use it to o automatically detect and correct typos, misspelled words, and incorrect capitalization. It’s very powerful when you look into it and has saved me 100s of hours of manual typing.

Another example?

When I type ar1, AutoCorrect replaces it with “Annual Report.”

Or if you type ‘Teh Executrie summary states’ with a space, AutoCorrect replaces what you have typed with “The Executive Summary states.”

You can also use AutoCorrect to insert symbols, such as copyright symbols.

Note: Text included in hyperlinks is not automatically corrected.

So, how can I do this?

To autocorrect your Word Documents, follow these steps:

1.a In Word 2003, click Tools, AutoCorrect Options.

1.b In Word 2007, click Start, Word Options, Proofing and then the AutoCorrect Options.

2. In the Replace box, type a word or phrase that you often mistype or misspell – for example, type Micorsoft.

3. In the With box, type the correct spelling of the word – for example, type Microsoft.

4. Click Add.

Add a few more! Go on!

Spend 15 min here and add in shortcuts for words, sentence and strings (e.g. Please follow these steps: etc) you use regularly.

What other tips do you know to write documents faster?