This post originally appeared on the Louisiana Technology Park blog.
Chris Cummings, the founder and CEO of interactive touchscreen interface designer Pass It Down, shared a number of productivity hacks at a recent Tech Park Academy event at the Louisiana Technology Park.
Pass it Down, which recently moved its headquarters to Baton Rouge, took the $100,000 top prize at the BREW High Stakes investment pitch competition in late 2019, impressing the judges with its easy-to-use but powerful platform that enables cultural institutions such as museums and other brands to create their own interactive experiences.
The fast-growing Pass It Down offers a template library that lets museums, libraries and private brands quickly design and deploy touch screen interfaces for a variety of exhibit types. The platform works on touchscreens and via phone, tablet or computer, and includes an analytics dashboard to give institutions valuable insights into their visitors.
As the company has grown, Cummings has learned how to more efficiently manage his time and energy. The serial entrepreneur and LSU Law School graduate fields 50 to 100 actionable emails a day, while also balancing conversations coming in from clients, investors, media and prospective vendors. Cummings says optimizing his work day allows him to sell more, faster while maintaining a better work-life balance and preventing burnout.
“Every single day there’s a chance I’m going to fall behind,” he says. “Here’s the good thing: everyone does fall behind. It’s impossible not to. But trying to be as efficient as possible and understanding your day and learning how to really understand your day and make that day as successful as possible is important.”
Here’s a look at some of the highlights of Cummings’ presentation.
Plan Ahead and Schedule Everything
When it comes to weekly calendars, Cummings says often times people will only schedule their meetings, relegating key tasks to free time and the whims of the demands of the workweek. Instead, he schedules every important task on his calendar to ensure it doesn’t go overlooked.
“I write out every single thing I have to do and I hold myself accountable for doing it within that time, because if I don’t do it it’s not going to happen,” he says. Cummings says he shares his schedule with his team to promote transparency and prevent confusion or resentment if he’s on the road for the company.
His personal productivity starts each Sunday when he spends 2 to 3 hours reviewing his entire upcoming week. “I look at both the past week — and what worked and didn’t work — and what I’m going to do this week,” he says.