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Each week brings task lists, emails, documents, and new projects. How much of this is completely different from the job you’ve done before? Odds are, not much. A number of our tasks are variations on something we’ve done hundreds of times before.
Don’t reinvent the wheel every single time you start something fresh. Use templates–as starting point for new 17, standardized documents with text and formatting. As soon as you save a variant of the template add, eliminate, or alter any info for that record, and you’ll have the work completed in a fraction of this time.
Templates work everywhere: in word processors, spreadsheets, project management programs, survey platforms, and also email. Here’s to automatically create documents from a template — and the way to use templates in your favorite programs –so it’s possible to get your common tasks quicker.
Templates take the time to construct, and it’s easy to wonder if they’re worth the investment. The answer: absolutely. Editing a template takes much less time than formatting some thing from scratch. It’s the distinction between copying and pasting some text, or retyping it.
That’s only one advantage: Using a template means you’re less likely to leave out crucial info, too. For instance, if you want to send freelance authors a contributor agreement, modifying a standard contract template (instead of composing a new contract each time) ensures you won’t leave out that crucial clause about owning the material once you’ve paid for it.
Templates additionally guarantee consistency. You send regular job updates to customers or investors. Using a template, you understand the update will constantly have the formatting, layout, and general arrangement.
How to Create Great Templates
Not many templates are created equal–and a few things don’t need a template. Here are a few guidelines to follow.
First, templates should be comprehensive. It is more easy to delete info than add it in, so err on the side of adding also rather than too little.
Imagine you are creating a template of your resume. You’d want to record in-depth details about your responsibilities and accomplishments, and that means you are going to have all the info you want to apply for almost any job.
You can always delete notes on, but you might forget it if it’s not in the template.
Some applications will automatically fill in these variables for you (more on that in a little ). But if you have to fill in the data on your own, include some text that’s obvious and easy to search for so you can locate.