Creating order could potentially make your comping all the more successful.
Any comping fan will tell you that it's a fun pastime - one that can lead to big rewards.
Most of us are part of the comping world because we love the thrill and the unpredictability of it all – you never know what is going to happen – tomorrow could be the day you win a small prize like a packet of crisps, or something large and life-changing like a car. You just never know!
Many of us have our own routines to help us make the most of our comping time. But, like many hobbies, comping can work better if you add a dash of organisation to things, rather than only applying for competitions sporadically, as and when you see them.
Think of someone who enjoys taking part in sport in their spare time - yes, it's fun, but if they put in a bit of extra training, they could stand more chance of winning and getting even more out of their hobby.
When it comes to comping, things can work in a similar way. If you are organised about how you go about things, you may well end up entering more competitions. And if you enter more competitions, there's a good chance you'll have more opportunity of seeing the time you put into comping turn into prizes.
Get those spare moments working for you!
We all have time during the day that is not filled with other jobs - and if you're serious about comping, you could use this to your advantage.
The odd five-minute spell might not be long enough to head to your desktop PC for a long sit in front of the screen - but you could bring out your smartphone and use it to see what is happening on Chatterbox?
It's a good idea to use more structured comping time for your regular competition tasks, and these odd moments to find things you might not otherwise have come across.
A quick search on Google, for example, could reveal a competition that your usual sources haven't spotted, adding one more competition for you to potentially enter!
Make a space to help you
Having a specific space where your comping lives could make all the difference to helping you make the most of your hobby. You can kit this space out with all the things you'll need, so that they're right to hand. For example, all your Compers News magazines could be stored in a handy draw, along with a folder for any of those receipts you need to keep, just in case you get that winning call!
Pens, paper, postcards and envelopes could well come in handy, and why not add a whiteboard? This way you could jot down all the daily & multi entry comps you want to enter, and it’ll be somewhere you'll easily see them. There are many note apps available that might be able to help you with such lists, too.
Bring routine to your hobby
Routine beats chaos when it comes to comping. You'll have a better chance of entering more competitions if you spread your comping time over the week.
For example, you could say that your comping day is a day off - for many of us that will be a Saturday or Sunday. You may wish to devote a morning or afternoon on either of these days purely to entering competitions.
But that way, you could miss some mid-week deadlines or those short-life competitions, so it could potentially work better to spread some of your comping time throughout the working week, too. Do you have fifteen minutes at lunch time one day that could be put to the task, for example?
Harness Compers News
Every month we get to hear hundreds of winning stories, but remember one of the Golden Rules: “You need to be in it to win it!” Therefore, when a new issue of Compers News arrives, don't let it sit on the doormat – even even better take a look at the digital edition as soon as it’s online.
Such a useful - and entertaining - resource deserves to have a little time devoted to it.
