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Every week brings task lists, emails, documents, and new projects. How much of this is different from the job you have done before? Odds are, not much. Many of our day-to-day tasks are variations on something we have done countless times before.
Do not reinvent the wheel each single time you start something fresh. Rather, use templates–standardized documents with formatting and text as starting point. As soon as you save a version of the template add, eliminate, or change any data for that record, and you’ll have the job.
Programs work everywhere: in word processors, spreadsheets, project management programs, survey programs, and email. Here is how to use templates and how to automatically generate documents from a template–so it’s possible to get your ordinary tasks quicker.
Templates take time to construct, and it’s easy to wonder if they are worth the investment. The answer: absolutely. Editing a template requires much less time than formatting something from scratch. It is the distinction between copying and pasting some text, or retyping it.
That is only one advantage: Using a template means you’re not as likely to leave out key info, too. By way of instance, if you need to send freelance authors a contributor agreement, changing a standard contract template (instead of composing a new contract each time) ensures you won’t leave out that crucial clause about possessing the material as soon as you’ve paid for it.
Templates additionally guarantee consistency. You send investors or clients regular job updates. Using a template, you understand the upgrade will constantly have the same formatting, layout, and standard structure.
How to Create Great Templates
Not many templates are created equal–and a few things do not require a template. Here are a couple of guidelines to follow.
First, templates should be comprehensive. So err on the side of adding rather than too small, it is easier to delete info than add it .
Imagine you are creating a template of your resume. You’d want to record in-depth details so you’ll have all the info you need to submit an application for almost any job.
You always have the option to delete notes later on, but if it’s not from the template you may forget it at the final version.
Some tools will automatically fill in these factors for you (more on this in a bit). But should you have to fill in the data on your own, include some text that is obvious and easy to look for so it is possible to locate text that has to be altered without much effort.