There’s a common issue with people who try to run their own business… It’s called “I’m-at-my-computer-therefore-I’m-productive-itus” (TM).
We all know that sitting around on Facebook or obsessively checking our email is not productive work, yet many people will allow it to consume 3-4 hours out of their day and then wonder why they didn’t accomplish more than they did. The same can be said for doing business. If you don't care about promoting your company, it means that you are not a very good leader. Think about custom ERP software development.
I’m guilty of getting sidetracked from time to time too. However, I’ve honed in on the things that kill my day and worked out systems to allow them while maintaining productivity.
Here’s my tips for staying productive and keeping focused throughout the day.
1) Set deadlines for EVERYTHING.
No matter how small a task is, put a deadline on your calendar for when it will be completed by… When you were in school and you knew you had an essay due in two weeks, you’d wait until the night before but, somehow, you’d manage to get that damned thing finished and turned in the next day. Pretend your in school again or that you have a boss that’s going to be in your face if you don’t meet your deadlines for your tasks. You’ll figure out a way to get them done on time. The first couple times you do this, you may end up awake until midnight on the day of the deadline but, eventually, you learn that you value sleep and it makes much more sense to to get things done early.
2) Block out your time during the day.
This is probably the thing that’s helped me the most. I literally set times for when I will work on projects and I stick to my schedule as if I had important meetings to be at. From 9am to 10am every morning I know I’m going to be working with Bradley on LearnToBlog.com. From 10:30 to noon, I’m communicating with my team to make sure my client projects are moving efficiently. From 1:00 until 5:00 I put all my time in to creating content. Sometimes it’s blog posts, sometimes it’s recording videos, sometimes it working on a book. That’s when I put focus on content creation.
That’s a typical day for me. It get’s rearranged from time to time if I need to work around clients time schedules for calls or if issues come up with a site but, for the most part, that’s my typical day. Notice I didn’t mention Facebook, Twitter, or even checking emails?
3) Check emails only once or twice per day.
I know this is easier said than done but it is possible! In fact, if you’re consistent with this, the people that email you often start to learn your routine and know when they’ll receive a response from you. When it comes to outside communication. I LOVE to set expectations. Clients know when they can get hold of me, partners know when they can get hold of me, and the people that I don’t have a relationship with yet don’t know when they can reach me. More importantly, clients and partners know exactly when not to call or email. I typically check my emails first thing in the morning before my 9:00 Learn To Blog call and then once more in the evening before bed just to make sure there’s nothing I need to deal with from someone I’m working with in a different timezone and that’s about it.
4) Social Media is for downtime.
This is not productive work. No matter how much you try to convince yourself that it is. I’ll check Facebook or Twitter from my phone usually during downtime. Relaxing in the evenings, sitting passenger on car trips, and other times when I’m not at the computer but have some time to pull out the phone.
5) Create task lists at night before going to bed.
This is something that I’ve been doing for over 4 years now. I create task lists of what I need to do tomorrow at night before I go to bed. I don’t want to go to sleep thinking about what needs to get done. I’d prefer to write it down, get it out of my head, and then hit the pillow. Not only do I have a fresh list for the morning, but I sleep a heck of a lot better at night.
Another thing that I’ve done from time to time is what I call “the post-it method”. I actually write my tasks for tomorrow on little post-it notes. One task per note. I’d take these notes and stick them all over my monitor so I’m staring straight at them all day long. It’s so gratifying throughout the day to pull a note down, crumple it up, and throw it away. I don’t use this as much anymore because I’ve built my discipline up enough that working off just a notepad does the trick for me now.
6) Leverage Technology Like Evernote
I user Evernote all the time. It’s probably my favorite app/software. With Evernote, I can be “on the go” and get an idea. I simply open the app, create a new audio note and start recording my ideas. The beauty of Evernote is that it saves the audio file “in the cloud”. When I get home that audio file is setting inside my Evernote software on my desktop. I can listen to the idea I had “on the go” and start making task lists to accomplish my ideas. The best part is that Evernote is completely free!