When you're in a business driven by appointments with other people, "empty space" between those appointments is inevitable.
So - you find yourself sitting at your desk or in your car with 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or even a half hour of being "on hold." I don't know about you, but being on hold is one of my least favorite pastimes.
It's especially annoying when you know you have work to do. But - since you're on hold you don't know for sure how many minutes you have. So, there's no point in starting to do something that requires more time than you might have.
What can you do with 5 minutes?
Plenty.
- Write a “Hi, how are you” note to a past client or someone in your sphere.
- Pen a thank you note.
- Download the last photos you took.
- Write a comment on a blog post.
- Reply to a comment or two on your own blog.
- Make some notes to yourself about your next blog post.
- Share one or more of your posts or pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, or one of the other social sites.
What if you have 10 or 15 minutes?
- Make a phone call to a past client or someone in your sphere.
- Visit Copy by Marte and choose your next set of prospecting letters.
- Upload a blog post.
- Sort through those photos you uploaded.
- Get up, go outside, and take a brisk walk.
- Call someone you love, just to tell them so.
In her member's only post, Leanne Smith's wrote about the high cost of wasting just 12 minutes a day.
This is no different. If you waste 5 minutes just 12 times a week, you'll have lost an hour of productivity.
So reclaim it! Make a master list of things you can do in 5, 10, or 15 minutes. Then, when you find yourself "on hold," get out the list and choose something to do.
Ben Franklin said "Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."
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