Counseling Intake Form from counseling intake form template , image source: nationalgriefawarenessday.com
Every week brings documents, emails, new projects, and job lists. Just how much of that is different from the job you’ve done before? Odds are, maybe not much. A number of our day-to-day tasks are variations on something we’ve done hundreds of times before.
Do not reinvent the wheel every single time you start something fresh. Use templates–as starting point for new 17, standardized documents. As soon as you save a version of the template, just add, remove, or alter any info for that exceptional document, and you are going to have the new work.
Templates work everywhere: in word processors, spreadsheets, project management apps, survey platforms, and email. Here’s how to use templates from your favorite programs –and the way to create documents from a template–so you can get your tasks done quicker.
Templates take time to build, and it’s easy to wonder if they are worth the investment. The brief answer: absolutely. Editing a template takes far less time than formatting something. It is the difference between copying and pasting some text, or retyping it.
That is not the only benefit: Using a template means you’re less inclined to leave out crucial info, too. For example, if you need to send freelance authors a contributor agreement, modifying a standard contract template (instead of writing a new contract every time) ensures you won’t leave out that crucial clause about owning the material once you’ve paid for it.
Templates also guarantee consistency. Perhaps you send clients or investors regular project updates. Using a template, you understand the update will always have the same formatting, layout, and general structure.
How to Produce Fantastic Templates
Not all templates are created equal–and a few things don’t require a template. Listed below are a couple of tips to follow.
First, templates should be comprehensive. So err on the side of adding instead of too small, it is simpler to delete info than add it .
Imagine you’re creating a template of your resume. You’d want to record facts about your duties and achievements, and that means you’ll have all the info you need to submit an application for almost any job.
You can always delete notes later on, but you might forget it in the final version when it’s not in the template.
Some tools will automatically fill in these factors for you (more on this in a bit). But should you need to fill in the data on your own, add some text that is obvious and simple to look for so it is possible to locate.