Every entrepreneur knows time is valuable, but are you maximizing those idle minutes to your advantage? You know the time you are stuck somewhere waiting – be it on a flight, in a doctor's office or your child's classroom during conference time.
While some people focus on thinking, making phone calls or reading, not every situation is right for these activities. Here are five smartphone tasks you can accomplish when you have five minutes to spare -- all of which will help boost your business.
1. Organize your to-do list in WorkFlowy.WorkFlowy is a free app that allows you to organize and track your to-do lists. It’s the concept of bulleted lists applied to digital form. It is easy to use, update and simple to follow. When you get your list organized, you get your life organized, allowing you to free up brain space and focus on creativity.
Related: Your Time Is Money, So Stop Wasting It
2. Tweet a personalized message to specific followers. Most major businesses, brands and entrepreneurs are on Twitter but not all are using it effectively. Are you mass retweeting everyone’s content? Or pushing out a bunch of impersonal content? Stop doing this. Focus on interacting with followers on a personal basis. There’s big power in a personal connection. You could be utilizing those spare moments sitting around to really have a conversation with your followers, which builds your brand and network.
3. Send a heart-felt thank you email. When was the last time someone did something really cool for you? Was it a client that delivered more than they promised? Or maybe someone in your family came through for you in a pinch? Whatever the reason, take those spare moments of down time and send a heart-felt message of gratitude. If it’s someone personal, it can be a text. If it’s a business acquaintance, it's best to stick to the more professional medium of email.
Related: Killer Productivity 'Hacks' From Entrepreneurs Like Richard Branson (Infographic)
4. Vowch for other businesses. Download the Vowch app to help build a following through a social media outlet that is entirely based on authentic recommendation. For instance, while you are sitting in the waiting room, you could be vowching for your specific clinic, doctor or specialist. Or thinking of a new computer? See who is vowching for what you’re interested in. Want to try a new coffee shop on the way home? Check to see if it has been vowched for. It’s a great market-research tool and a fun medium to build credibility in a social environment.
5. Learn a foreign language with Duolingo. The discipline and daily practice applied to learning a new language can really help train your brain and flex your mental muscles. The free Duolingo app offers to teach you a variety of languages -- Spanish, German, Italian and French, among others -- in easy, digestible daily lessons. When you load the app it asks you what your time commitment level will be daily and caters the lessons to that. Besides ingraining discipline into your daily routine, learning a new language can help with communicating to colleagues, vendors, customers and acquaintances.
Related: The Guide to Surviving Without Your Smartphone (Infographic)