subject: Business Success Means Making Every Day Productive [print this page] Business Success Means Making Every Day Productive
It's exciting to consider how to achieve more productivity at the beginning of each new season...a week, a month, a quarter and of course, at the beginning of each new year. What does this look like in your business? For maximum improvement, start each day with a review of what has worked for you and where you think you've wasted time. Being more productive is not just a goal you write down and go about business as usual. It takes some time and effort to course-correct how you have been handling your time up until now.Are you quick to start your work day and know exactly what you intend to accomplish each day? You are sure to be more excited, as well as more productive, if you know what needs your attention first and where your work begins. Plenty of time can be easily wasted first thing in your workday if you don't follow a schedule that includes knowing what your top 4 priorities are for the day and doing those activities before any thing else.The activities that are less productive (but necessary) have to also be scheduled into blocks of time during the day? There are certain activities that must be done daily and consistently to move your business forward. Those items may not be listed as one of the top 4 priorities for the day, yet still need to get done. Mark off time blocks from 10-30 minutes to work on some of the daily administrative tasks of your business such as updating your social media status, reading email or returning phone calls. Set a timer if you need to and then get right back to one of your priority projects.Have you set boundaries to deal with distractions? If the phone rings or an alarm goes off on your computer to let you know you have a new message, do you stop what you are doing and attend to these unscheduled interruptions? It takes someone an average of 15 minutes to get back on track and find where their focus was after each interruption. When you set aside blocks of time to work on your "priority projects," you should plan to stay with it until it is finished. With biggest projects make sure you break them up into bitesized pieces. None of your top 4 actions for the day should take more than 60-90 minutes.With a little bit of control you will see big results. New habits are certainly not easy to make in the beginning, but the longer they are part of your routine, the better off you'll be. If you catch yourself going off course you just have to make a note of it and look back at your list of accomplishments for that day and be determined to cross each one off. If you find you are motivated by giving yourself rewards, then do it. The key is to do whatever it takes and set about your day with great determination!
