Risk & Business Magazine Lovitt & Touché Fall 2015 | Page 12

Save Time With Tools Make Your Life Easier By Putting Time Saving Innovations in Your Toolbox BY: DAVE KERPEN, FOUNDER AND CEO, LIKEABLE LOCAL “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” -- Paul J. Meyer E fficiency has always been the driver of human innovation. The wheel was invented because somebody really didn’t like having to carry things. Baseball was invented because somebody realized the sport du jour of the time, competitive walking, was a really tedious way to spend your time. Even the Snuggie was invented because somebody really thought that blankets were too restrictive. The point is, if we didn’t invent, we’d still be doing everything manually. The same applies to everything you do in your business. Is there something you’re currently doing manually? There might be a tool out there to help you out with 12 it. If it isn’t out there, chances are, it could be something useful to invent. Here’s an example from the recent past. When I graduated college, the Internet was still in its infancy. Facebook didn’t exist. Neither did Twitter or LinkedIn. Or Google! Think about all the tools you rely on now that you might not have thought you needed before. The commonality behind these kinds of tools is that they save time, our most precious resource. Time has always been and will always be limited, and we constantly feel like we need more of it. Spending time doing something always means that you are not spending that time doing something else. RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINETM FALL 2015 Every single person needs more time. More time to run the day-to-day tasks. More time for innovation. More time spent with colleagues. More time for networking. More time with family. Basically, more than 24 hours in the day. But, you can’t take time to do other things if it means letting something else slide. After all, it’s the little things, the tedious everyday tasks, that keep a business running. So, I recommend building your tool box with tools to help preserve your time. Start with identifying what kinds of tools you already use and how much of your time they save. It can be as basic as using Google