I have a few basic zaps, like sending myself an email reminder every Monday to review goals.
FreshBooks for automating recurring invoices and payment reminders.
This one has saved me a lot of time: Calendly to let people schedule meetings on my calendar. I’ve set a very narrow availability window so that meetings are grouped into one afternoon.
aText app to create shortcuts for long strings that I use often, like my Zoom and Calendly URLs.
I also developed Standard Operating Procedures for my business to “automate” certain decisions or protocols.
I try to eliminate before I automate. Does the thing really need doing, or can I find a way or reason to never have to do it again? For example, instead of routing Slack messages (I am in ~5 Slack orgs at any time) to my phone or email, I just set the expectation early that I will not check Slack frequently so if they need to reach me they should use email.
It’s just a doc that I printed out. The hardest part was actually coming up with it, and then narrowing it down to just the most important things so that the whole thing fits on one page. It’s partially inspired by Ray Dalio’s “Principles” book.
Examples:
- If not "hell yes" then "no."
- Everything can survive one hour.
- If it's <$100 and benefits well being, productivity, or revenue: Buy it. If >$100 decide by Friday.
I have a few basic zaps, like sending myself an email reminder every Monday to review goals.
FreshBooks for automating recurring invoices and payment reminders.
This one has saved me a lot of time: Calendly to let people schedule meetings on my calendar. I’ve set a very narrow availability window so that meetings are grouped into one afternoon.
aText app to create shortcuts for long strings that I use often, like my Zoom and Calendly URLs.
I also developed Standard Operating Procedures for my business to “automate” certain decisions or protocols.
I try to eliminate before I automate. Does the thing really need doing, or can I find a way or reason to never have to do it again? For example, instead of routing Slack messages (I am in ~5 Slack orgs at any time) to my phone or email, I just set the expectation early that I will not check Slack frequently so if they need to reach me they should use email.