9 10 proposal cover sheet from sample cover letter for grant proposal , image source: www.sopexample.com
Every week brings documents, emails, new jobs, and task lists. How much of that is totally different from the job you have done before? Odds are, not much. Many of our tasks are variations on something we’ve done countless times before.
Don’t reinvent the wheel every single time you start something new. Use templates–as starting point for new work standardized files with formatting and text. Once you save a separate variant of the template, simply add, remove, or change any info for that unique document, and you’ll have the job.
Templates work anywhere: in word processors, spreadsheets, project management apps, survey programs, and also email. Here’s how to use templates in your favorite programs –and how to generate documents from a template–so it’s possible to get your common tasks quicker.
Templates take time to build, and it’s easy to wonder if they’re worth the investment. The short answer: absolutely. Editing a template requires much less time than formatting some thing from scratch. It is the distinction between retyping it, or copying and pasting some text.
That is only one benefit: Using a template means you’re not as likely to leave out crucial information, also. For example, if you need to send freelance authors a contributor arrangement, modifying a standard contract template (rather than writing a new contract every time) ensures you won’t leave out that crucial clause about owning the content once you’ve paid for this.
Templates additionally guarantee consistency. You send regular job updates to customers or investors. With a template, you know the update will have the exact same formatting, layout, and structure.
How to Create Great Templates
Not all templates are created equal–and a few things do not need a template. Here are a couple of guidelines to follow.
First, templates should be comprehensive. It is more easy to delete information than add it in, so err on the side of including too rather than too little.
Imagine you’re creating a template of your own resume. You would want to record facts about your duties and achievements, and that means you’ll have.
You can always delete notes later on, but you may forget it if it is not in the template.
Some tools will automatically fill in these variables for you (more on that in a little ). But if you have to fill in the information by yourself, include some text that’s obvious and simple to search for so you can locate.