If you're in business for yourself you probably look for ways to be more productive - if not, you should. Over time, as we add new business processes, sometimes we incorporate inefficient practices. These practices get the job done but it might be that you could do the same job a different way and achieve a better product or the same product in less time.
Sometimes the slightest change can make a big difference. This post probably will not save your business thousands of dollars. But it might help you to breeze through some of those mundane tasks a little faster.
So rather than kill your productivity more, I'll get right to it. Learn to use both hands at the computer. That may sound crazy but think about what you do most while you're at your computer. Other than reading the screen, you are probably "driving" the mouse. In my July newsletter, I talked about using the right-mouse button to access context related menu choices. That is better than moving your mouse to the menus and dropping the menu down to select Edit and then Paste.
This tip works best for the right-handers out there. You keep your left hand on the keyboard home keys (A, S, D, F - wouldn't my typing teacher be so proud). As you drive the mouse with your right hand you can type keyboard shortcuts with your left.
Let's take a process of copying a sentence from one open document (such as in MS Word) and pasting it into another open document. On the original document you use your right hand to highlight the sentence with the mouse. Using your left hand press CTRL-C (the shortcut for copy). With your left hand press ALT-TAB. (ALT-TAB will cycle through all open applications as long as you hold down the ALT key and keep pressing TAB). Once you get to the second document you can release the ALT key. Now use the mouse to click the position where you want your new sentence to go. With your left hand you press CTRL-V (the shortcut for paste).
Without the above mentioned shortcut keys you would have to highlight the sentence. Drive the mouse to the menu bar and click Edit. Then scroll down and click Copy. Then maneuver the open windows with the mouse to select the second document. Next you would click where you want the sentence. Scroll back up to the menu. Click Edit and scroll down and click Paste. It can all be done with the mouse. But if you do part of the work with each hand you might can shave some time off each of these repetitive tasks.
Ok you might be saying how do I find all those shortcuts (without having to read the manual). Most of the time these shortcuts have been right there in front of you. Go to your favorite windows application. Most will have a menu bar and most will have a File and/or Edit menus. Click one of those menus and just to the right of the menu choice you will see the shortcut combination - usually a CTRL or ALT plus another key.
You might say there are too many to memorize. And I would agree. However, if you start looking at these shortcuts you will notice a trend in several applications. For example, "most" Windows applications follow common shortcut keys. A standard set of shortcuts would include the undo, cut, copy, and paste commands. These shortcuts are CTRL-Z, CTRL-X, CTRL-C, CTRL-V, respectively. Is it coincidence that they are all on the left side of your keyboard and can be manipulated with just one hand? Or is it just another conspiracy against left-handers? You decide.
Take note of the shortcuts to the actions that you do most and see if incorporating shortcuts into your computing helps you to be more productive.
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