Circuit Breaker Directory Template from printable circuit breaker directory template , image source: emmamcintyrephotography.com
Each week brings new projects, emails, documents, and job lists. How much of this is totally different from the work you’ve done? Odds are, maybe not much. A number of our day-to-day tasks are variants on something.
Do not reinvent the wheel every single time you start something fresh. Use templates–as starting point for 17, standardized documents with formatting and text. As soon as you save another version of the template, just add, remove, or change any info for that document, and you are going to have the new work completed in a fraction of this time.
Programs work everywhere: in word processors, spreadsheets, project management apps, survey programs, and also email. Here’s the way to use templates from your favorite programs –and to automatically create documents from a template–so you can get your ordinary tasks quicker.
Programs take the time to build, and it’s easy to wonder if they are worth the investment. The answer: absolutely. Editing a template takes far less time than formatting some thing from scratch. It’s the distinction between retyping it, or copying and pasting some text.
That’s not the only benefit: Using a template means you’re not as inclined to leave out crucial information, too. For example, if you want to send freelance authors a contributor agreement, modifying a standard contract template (rather than composing a new contract every time) ensures you won’t leave out the crucial clause about owning the content once you’ve paid for it.
Templates also guarantee consistency. You send investors or customers regular job updates. Using a template, you understand the update will always have the formatting, layout, and arrangement.
How to Create Great Templates
Not many templates are created equal–and some things don’t need a template. Here are a few guidelines to follow.
First, templates must be comprehensive. It is easier to delete information than add it , so err on the side of including rather than too little.
Imagine you’re creating a template of your own resume. You would want to list details about your responsibilities and accomplishments, so you are going to have all the info you want to apply for any job.
You always have the option to delete less-important notes on, but you might forget it when it’s not in the template.
Some tools will automatically fill in these factors for you (more on that in a little ). But should you need to fill in the data by yourself, include some text that is obvious and easy to search for so you can locate.