If you’ve been hanging around the 60 Second Marketer for long, you know our entire premise is that we research the most current marketing trends and condense them down to 60-second snippets. That way, busy people (like you) can stay current on the latest marketing trends without getting bogged down with 25-page white papers.

But if you’re like most marketing directors, you probably have more work to do than you can possibly get done. With that in mind, we’ve developed these 6 tips to help you get more work done in less time. Believe it or not, if you execute all 7 of these tips religiously this week, you’ll get 50% more work done. We’re not kidding. Just watch.

1. Think two steps ahead. When your body is doing work, your mind should be thinking two steps ahead. In other words, while your fingers are typing an email, your mind can do what I call “micro-working.” Micro-working involves reminding yourself to subconsciously solve a problem while you’re doing other work. It’s an amazing technique and I guarantee you that if you say “What am I going to do about Bob’s vacation request?” during a morning email, your mind will solve the problem by the time you have your meeting with Bob that afternoon. Seriously, give this a try. It’s amazing what your mind can solve while your doing other things.
2. Remember, it’s better to get 10 things done than to get 1 thing perfect. This is hard for perfectionists to hear, but the days of getting a 100 A+ on all your assignments passed you by in college. Business moves too quickly to get everything perfect, so get the move on. Remember, a 90 is still an A, so start getting 90s on your work assignments and you’ll find that you increase your productivity immensely.
3. Don’t read this blog at your computer. Even though we’ll get a few emails from our environmentalist friends for saying this, one way to save time is to print blog posts out and read them on the elevator, at traffic lights or while waiting for meetings to begin. Sure, it’s a little hyperactive (and environmentally insensitive), but it works.
4. Keep a list of short, simple tasks next to your phone. The next time you’re on hold for 60 seconds, get some work done. Clean off your computer desktop, re-organize some files, throw away the old 25-page white papers, update your Rolodex, text your spouse — do something. Don’t just sit there. If you keep a list of these short, simple tasks next to your phone, you’ll be amazed at how much work you get done while you’re on hold.
   
5. Do some work while the phones aren’t ringing. That may mean getting in an hour early, or writing a report at 9:30 at night. But the average person gets interrupted several times each hour and those interruptions add up. When I started my first business, I’d get in at 7:00 am every morning and, by my estimates, got 85% of my day’s work done before the phones started ringing at 9:15 am.
6. Turn on the after-burners. This is going to sound stupid, but if you work quickly, you’ll get more work done. Duh! That’s common sense, but you’d be amazed how slowly the average person works. Just look around the office and they move slowly — whether they’re walking down the hall, dialing he phone or getting started in a meeting. Drives me crazy. (On the other hand, I probably drive people crazy with my hyperactivity.)
7. Always bring something to read to a meeting. Don’t ever show up to a meeting without bringing Fortune, The Wall Street Journal or an article from the 60 Second Marketer. You’ll be amazed at how much learning you can get done while waiting for people to arrive for lunch, standing in line at the bank or waiting for a meeting to start.

Those are just 7 quick tips that’ll help you kick things off this week. What are some other suggestions? After all, as a marketing director, you’re under intense time demands. Share your secrets with our other readers by posting a comment below!

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