Two Easy Ways To Foster Daily Productivity
You walk into the office. It’s 8am (or 9 or 10 or whenever you normally make it in), and you have a full day of work ahead of you. You sit down, clear a space on your desk, and throw back a cup of coffee while you open up your computer and get to it.
It’s been 10 minutes and you’re already overwhelmed with spreadsheets, Salesforce tasks, calendar invites, emails, and the constant ring of the telephone. Before you know it you realize that the work day is over, it’s dark outside, and you’re not sure what you’ve accomplished: maybe a little bit of everything, but overall a whole lot of nothing.
All of us have days like this. For too many of us, most days are like this. I know I’ve lived through my fair share and I can wholeheartedly say that they are a drag on your mind, body, and soul.
The good news is that just a slight change in your daily routine can impart a huge change in your daily productivity and personal morale. For me, making a point to do two specific things each day has helped me to have a clearer vision of what I am doing, why I am doing it, and how I am doing it.:
3 Goals
Before starting up my computer in the morning I take 10-20 minutes to sit and think about what I want to achieve that day. I then prioritize three specific items from my list of things to do. They can be highly consequential tasks (eg. “Finalize and submit quarterly budgets”), operational tasks (“Build ad proofs and get approval from client X”), or even very simple but important tasks (“Send client X a thank you email”) ; the key is to make sure that each of the three items is crucial to what you need to achieve today.
Write these three things down, and keep them visible throughout the work day; that visibility will give you a clear and constant vision of what needs to be done to remain on task and meet your daily goals. Other issues can and will come up, and there is no way around that fact. But having that list in front of you ensures that you stay focused on the most important things you need to do to be successful each day.
50 Minute Hours
Speaking of issues that can and will come up, let’s discuss one of the most common ways you can get sidetracked off of a task that you need to complete: an “urgent” email needing your immediate attention. How often have you found your groove on an important priority, only to receive an email from a client demanding you address their needs RIGHT NOW? Our instinct is to drop what we’re doing and put out the fire. The task we were working on is either forgotten or rushed through when we get back to it.
Stop, breathe, and think about three things in this context:
My work day is full, and I have many tasks, projects, and deadlines to fulfill.
If I neglect the task I am working on, I risk backing up my work load and potentially starting more fires in the future (maybe even today!).
If I respond to an email an hour after it was sent, that is still a very quick response.
That last point is crucial: we have to understand that an immediate response is almost never required. So when you sit down to complete an important task, shut down your email, turn off your phone, and get to work for 50 solid minutes. After 50 minutes of intense focused work, spend 10 minutes responding to emails, texts, and voicemails. You will be amazed at how much more you can get accomplished this way.
Conclusion
These very simple changes to your daily routine can have a huge impact on your productivity, if done consistently and with purpose. Implement these every day for a week and take note of how they have affected your productivity and sense of accomplishment. If they work for you keep doing them!
I would love to hear how you were able to implement these ideas. Let me know how things went in the comments or at juan.rojas@vdigitalservices.com. You can also reach out to me any time here with questions, comments, or to schedule a FREE consultation!