Maximising your tools can save you time and increase your skills and confidence.
Why maximise our tools?
There are many tools we use in life and in our work and not all save us time. Maximising your tools can assist you to:-
- Have confidence in your personal and professional life
- Increase your return on investment
- You wont have to work so hard to achieve the same level of quality and/or quantity of work
- It is easier to improve the quality and/or quantity of work or output
Tools we can maximise?
- Tools of the trade – a hairdresser has combs, scissors, curlers/rollers, hair dyes, etc,; a painter has paints, brushes and finishing implements
- Lifestyle Tools – mobile phones, DVD players, video Cameras, Ipad
- Hobby Tools – someone knitting has knitting needles and yarns; someone doing woodcraft has chisels, sand paper, lathes, etc
- Technology Tools – computers, software, electronic sensors, etc
How to maximise our tools?
- Read the manual
- Read guides and instructions written by someone who has mastered the tool and is a leading knowledge in that area
- Participate in a basic and / or intermediate course that is hands on using the tool and that is ongoing until you have learnt all there is to learn about that tool and you are not learning anything new
- Find tutorials on the internet that can assist you to master that tool with practical examples and exercises - videos or documents
- Participate in a users group for that tool. The manufacturers of your Tools of Trade and Technology Tools can often point you to user groups and guides that may be of great value, they should also be able to tell you of people near you who have mastered that tool.
Which tools to maximise first?
Start with the tool you use most, then progress through your tools in this way, then move to those that you are least confident with. Work with each tool in this way until you have mastered all your tools of trade.
