This blog post went live while I am in a plane and not connected to the internet.  You might have come to this post because you read a tweet or a post on Facebook that led you to this point.  Again, that tweet was sent while I was on a plane to a retreat.  How do I do it?!  It was scheduled and automated.  Read on to learn more.

I am often asked how I do everything that I do.  To be honest, I feel less busy now than I have in years, but I am still involved with a lot of things.  I am a husband and father, a pastor, a communicator, a book publisher, and author to name a few.   Some wonder if I just don’t sleep, or assume that I cannot do anything well, but in reality, I sleep great, have time with my family, and am able to get a lot done.  So, I wanted to share with you three things that are key for me and help me do a lot in an effective manner.

1. Schedule – I don’t spend hours upon hours hanging out on Facebook, Twitter, or Blogging.  What I typically try to do is schedule some time once or twice a week to write a blog post or two, write up some tweets/FB posts, etc.  Scheduling is key.  If I know that this upcoming week is going to be hectic, then I schedule 30 minutes to an hour to write out content for social media and then schedule it to be posted at specific times, which leads me to my next step, automation.
2. Automate – Many of my posts are scheduled by using a program called HootSuite.  I grab content from various places throughout the week and usually save them in Evernote, then I take some time to schedule Tweets for the week.  I’ve also synced my Twitter account to Facebook and only have to update Twitter for it to then update Facebook.  So, I can schedule tweets on HootSuite, and then it updates Twitter and Facebook at the same time.  The same is true for my blog.  I use WordPress, so I schedule some time to write my blogs (Sunday afternoon for this one) and then schedule it to post around 10 am (CST) on Monday.  I’ll then schedule a tweet to post around that time to point people to the blog post.  That way, I’m not having to be interrupted from my pre-retreat nap, a good book, or a riveting conversation with my wife.
3. Delegate – One of the greatest lessons I learned was The 80/20 Principle, which stipulates that 80% of the stuff that we do should be delegated or not done at all, and that 20% of what we do has the maximum impact.  Therefore, God has blessed me with amazing teams for my church, publishing company, and other personal projects who do what they do way better than I can.  What I do is coordinate with them and make sure they have what they need to do their job well.  Managing these teams well is a top priority for me, but it then enables me to use my gifts in multiple arenas instead of just one.  This is definitely handy for being a church planter.  An example of this is using an online service called LessMeeting with my team at the church.  We meet, take notes, delegate tasks, and then it e-mails every team member with their to-do’s.  Also, I occasionally use contract Virtual Assistants through online services like oDesk and Elance which I can delegate basic research, spreadsheets, etc., thus enabling me to focus on other tasks at hand.

I learned a lot about this from Tim Ferris’ book, The Four Hour Work Week and from Michael Hyatt’s blog.  The book Life Hacker was also very helpful in learning how to be more productive and able to function in a way that is consistent with how I am wired.  While I still have a long way to go to fully living in the freedom of schedule, automate, and delegate, I’ve grown a lot and have more time to focus on the things that matter the most.

What are some ‘tricks’ that you have to help you be more effective and get a lot done?  Leave a comment to share.