How Productive is Your Workday?

By Dee Matheson

It’s very daunting when you wake up in the morning and know that the work that’s waiting for you boggles the mind and all you want to do is climb back into bed and pull the duvet over you and hope it goes away.  Sorry, but that’s not going to happen, especially if you are the one running the show and makes things happen.  Some days you cannot wait to get into your office and get cracking, but other days that “elephant” is just too big to eat.  If that’s you right now, well it’s time to sit down, take a breath and make that fantastic frothy cappuccino you enjoy or that fragrant herbal tea that gives you zing and read on for some basic ideas that you already know of but just need a little refresher or maybe they will give you that light bulb moment.

If you want to feel euphoric about a highly productive workday, toss out that long 5 page to-do list and put an end to those longwinded marketing emails you are sending out hoping to catch a new client. There is a misnomer that very productive people have long to-do lists. In fact the productive entrepreneur’s to-do list is very short and here are those excellent insights for you to ponder over:

·        The first one is obviously to create a shorter to-do list. Getting things accomplished during the work day shouldn’t be about cramming as many tasks as possible into the day. There is nothing productive about adding copious tasks to your to-do list. If you approach that smaller to-do list and give 100% focus to each task, you will not only accomplish things that matter but also feel good about getting it done in time and completing that task so you don’t have to revisit it at a later stage. Therefore saving you time, money and frustration.

·        Remember the 80/20 rule? Only 20% of the work you do during the day will produce 80% of the desired result. Eliminate the things that don’t matter during your workday because they will have limited effect on your overall productivity.

·        Organisation is an important key to a more productive you. Emails can take over your precious time. If you are eager for new clients, are you checking your email every couple of minutes to see if you have got a hot lead? Do you have a flood of emails that come in regularly but just don’t know where to start? If you want to be productive then you need to create an email managing system. Set up your email so that emails that come from a regular source go into a folder allocated to that source and tackle it at an allocated time. Maybe set a specific time like first thing in the morning, late afternoon or evening and devote 100% of that time to those emails. Don’t forget to let your clients know that your response to their emails will only come during your allocated time so that they don’t think you have disappeared.

·        Too many things to do and no time take a break? Remember you are human and your attention span is only so long and there is no boss standing over you watching while you take a break and for how long you take it. If you have managed to complete a number of tasks on your to-do list and start feeling quite good about yourself, take a break as many entrepreneurs make a mistake when they have this euphoric feeling that they need to tackle even more tasks. That’s actually your brain telling you to take a break. Go for a walk, grab something to eat, meditate. Give your brain some resting time. You will come back recharged and ready to achieve greater efficiency.

·        Get rid of those hard to do tasks first. Don’t procrastinate and leave them to the end because you will have lost interest in getting them done by focusing on the easy ones first. Do the most challenging work first while your brain is still fresh. Keep the mundane boring tasks for when the afternoon slump rolls in.

·        Now that we all communicate virtually, we have all picked up poor communication habits. Spelling, letter composition and copying in everybody and sundry on your emails just creates frustration and extra ‘noise’.  What happened to the good old telephone? If you can’t see the person face-to-face don’t just send an SMS or an email, phone them. Often they just needed to hear that voice on the other end of the phone and it might just secure you that new client.

·        While no one likes to admit it, but sheer laziness is the No. 1 contributor to lost productivity. In fact, a number of time saving methods, taking meetings and emails for example, are actually just ways to get out of doing real work. Place your focus on doing things that matter as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Remember, less is more when it comes to being productive during the workday.

 
If you need help with your theses typing, annual report coordination or internet research, contact Dee Matheson on dmatheson@worldonline.co.za or visit her website on www.dfm-virtualassistant.co.za