No matter how much time you manage to save through innovative thinking, technology improvements etc you always manage to fill the saved time with something new. So, how do keep up with technology and still do your day job. The short answer is with great difficultly but I shall share a few things I do to make life easier and a few things to think about for the future.

Firstly, I have a few magazines that I really identify with, I currently read .net magazine, stuff, wired digital video (when I find somewhere that sells it) video editor and the online Layers Magazine. Granted I don’t often manage the time to read them cover to cover but Reading the articles that really interest you watching a few tutorials and trying out the trials softwares usually keep my brain ticking over. The trick is to use the time that you would otherwise be waiting around, I sometimes put video tutorials on my desktop and delete them as and when I have watched them, this provides me opportunity to make use of passenger time in the car, on the train etc. Also if you keep up to date with softwares make the first thing you do when you get hold of a new version, watch the video tutorials and have a play with the additions. Often they cover all the major improvements to that version and keeps you up to speed.

If I’m honest, I am not a newspaper reader but recent shifts in social media has enabled me to absorb news type information that I choose to on the train at a glance. I use my Twitter account in conjunction with my blog, which I’ll get onto in a minute but by following some carefully chosen twitterers I can quickly browse and read the things I want to read about very efficiently. I also sign up to groups on website such as chinwag, this way I get continuous emails from the conversations going on from people like me talking about subjects that are relevant to what I do, there is no need to feel you need to take part but it’s a great way to keep up to date and possibly make new connections. At University I was not a massive fan of blogging, I thought blogging about my weekly progression about my digital media course was completely pointless and never received any viewers. I now have my own blog, as you know! Mainly to share the things I have researched in the past in order to hopefully save time learning, but also I regularly visit choice sites that I know write in a succinct manor and are up to date with the latest software, technology and goings on in Market Research world. I currently read TechCrunch, The Tech Sage among others and continually check back to the Apple site, Adobe, Revostock, and my favourite tech brands.

Although the aforementioned social media platforms provide an alternative networking platform I still think face to face networking is invaluable. Attending trade shows, going on training courses and showing your face at events is a great way to keep in touch and up to date.

One of my biggest time savers is not where and how to find the data but automating your daily routines that eat up your time. For example, getting to grips with RSS feeds and establishing an RSS reader that you are comfortable with (a post on RSS feeds to come soon) this means that information is delivered to you and you do not have to go out and fetch it, it also means that you can read it at your leisure when you do not have an Internet connection. Another prime example is the amount of time I spend on eBay, to speed things up I save my regular searches, motorbike, favourite windsurfing brands etc and set the interval for eBay to email me a summary and an end date for the emails to stop. Similarly write routines on your operating system, I use automator on the mac to get the computer to work for you, open programs, perform backups etc if you regularly do it, automate it!