From the course: Time Management Tips

Use typing shortcuts to save time

From the course: Time Management Tips

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Use typing shortcuts to save time

- Effective time management is mostly a function of following simple systems and living timeless principles. Occasionally though, you can find a technology hack that reclaims an hour here or there. One such trick that I use regularly are typing shortcuts. Sometimes referred to as text expanders or macros, typing shortcuts allow you to save yourself the time and effort of having to type small or large phrases or blocks of text over and over and over. There are a variety of tools available from free to a modest investment. Two I have used and found effective are PhraseExpress and TextExpander. The concept is simple. If there's a phrase that you repeat over and over and over, you assign a shortcut phrase to that, and when you type the shortcut, it automatically expands to the full phrase. One small phrase that I use repeatedly is LinkedIn Learning. I've created a simple typing shortcut of typing "LIL" and then tapping a function key. When I hit "LIL" and that key, it automatically types out "LinkedIn Learning." That may seem like a small thing, yet it really adds up over time. For instance, let's say that I work 300 days a year, and on average, I type the phrase "LinkedIn Learning" five times each day. If I type out the full phrase "LinkedIn Learning" and have to get the caps just right for "LinkedIn," it might take me five seconds on my own. I'm not the best typist in the world. But just using this code, it takes me one second. That means I save four seconds for every occurrence times 1,500. This means that over the course of a year, I save myself roughly an hour and a half of time, just by creating this one little macro. You can use typing shortcuts for more complex phrases as well. Programmers who repeatedly use chunks of code especially benefit from using typing shortcuts like this. As a keynote speaker, I'm often asked to send my bio to people. Every time I need to do this, I could look that bio up, wherever it's saved, copy it, and paste it in an email, which would take me 30 seconds to a minute. Instead, I can simply save it as a text shortcut. Then when I type the word "bio" and hit a function key, my one-paragraph speaking bio instantly appears. Again, that saves me probably in the neighborhood of an hour or two every single year. So a couple of things to consider. First, pay attention during your workday over the next week of small phrases that you are repeatedly typing over and over. Also, be aware of big blocks of text that you repeat maybe once or twice a month, but you don't want to go through the hassle of finding each time. Then download one of these typing shortcut programs. Practice using it with these phrases. It may take a little getting used to, yet the small effort you put in, can yield you days and weeks of time over the course of years. Then you can reinvest that saved time into things that are most valuable.

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