Today’s guest author is Shashi Bellamkonda, otherwise known as the Social Media Swami. He shares the three key strategies he uses to manage his very busy schedule.

In my work as Director of Social Media for Network Solutions (my business card title is Social Media Swami), I oversee four blogs and a fifth one is coming soon. Between work and personal email, speaking at local and national conferences on small business topics, and organizing 6+ events annually, I have to find the time to follow my passion of writing guest posts like this one, and also my column at Examiner.com. Did I mention I have 3 personal blogs and a ever growing Flickr feed?

Technology can be a boon and a curse depending on who is the master. The ease at which you can create information and spread it across a large network of people carries a responsibility, not only for your time, but also the time it takes for the recipients of your message to open and read the message.

Here are some tips that have helped me manage my time and technology:

1) Writing Down Tasks: I used to pride myself in having the ability to remember everything I had to do. By experience, I realized that it is smarter to use task lists which you can create in an email program like Outlook. Be sure also to block time off your calendar for actually doing these tasks that many folks forget to do. If you prefer, I would advise even a small notebook to actually jot the tasks down. A task written down is executed better than any in your head.

2) Using Email Filters: If email is overwhelming you, use labels and filters to mark emails that require some action. As you sort through your email, you realize how important subject lines are and you can use this knowledge when you compose your emails. Feel free to unsubscribe to emails you never read. Make sure you read emails from companies you do business with, like banks. You can do this by using labels and filters.

3) Prioritizing: Often the most important task is neither the easiest, nor the most interesting thing to do. You should have a clear method of prioritization. Use the measurement of your time and value of tasks and combine them with the value of return. Remember, I am not talking about money alone here. You may value the time you spend volunteering or attending an offline event, like a seminar or a conference, differently than a happy hour.

Some times in the interest of time it may be prudent to use the subject line of an email to send the message or ask the question instead of repeating the same information in the email. Social networks are very useful but if time spent on them is not scheduled or controlled they can be a distraction. Your option maybe to shut down those browser windows if you find the stream distracting.

What do you do to manage your time ?

About The Author

Shashi Bellamkonda is Director and Social Media & Social Media Swami of Network Solutions, a company that works together to help small businesses succeed online with web hosting, do-it-yourself website builder software, online marketing tools, and domain names. Shashi is also a regular contributor to the DC Examiner and Tech Cocktail. This article contains the opinions and observations of the author and may not necessarily reflect those of Network Solutions or its clients or partners.

Connect with Shashi: Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook

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