What are Your Challenges to Productivity?
We hear these statements every day …
“I’m overwhelmed by all I have to do”
“If only I had more hours in the day”
“I could work around the clock and still not get it all done”
“I try to stay on top of it all, but things still slip through the cracks”
Unfortunately we can’t “make” more time. We have to consider how we spend the time that we do have. With important work to accomplish, and a personal life we’d like to enjoy, we all wish we had more time to focus on what matters most. Here are the Top 10 Challenges to Productivity, that if you could do something about, we guarantee you’d have more time, less stress and better results.
It’s About Time to Stop:
1. Multitasking
It just doesn’t work. Studies prove it! We need to understand why, recognize the cost to trying and uncover the power of focus to get more done. We teach our clients to apply focus in chaotic environments by concentrating on one thing at a time.
2. Spending All Day in Email
This is a reactive way to work and takes way more time than it should. Reduce your time spent in email to gain more time to proactively move projects forward. We teach 5 strategies to efficiently and effectively reduce, manage and improve the quality of email so it doesn’t manage you.
3. Setting Ineffective Goals
Making broad, general statements about what you want to get done isn’t enough. Get specific to give yourself direction and inspire action. Plan intentionally and achieve desired results by setting SMART goals and implementing strategies that increase the rate of success for achieving those goals.
4. Procrastinating
Want to think about this later? Procrastination happens for a variety of reasons. When we understand why we procrastinate, we can do something about it. We work with clients on the 10 most common reasons people put off for tomorrow what they could do today, and specific, smart strategies to conquer procrastination now, instead of later.
5. Keeping your To-Dos All Over the Place
It is stressful and ineffective to have some of your to-dos listed on paper, some on post-it notes in various places, many in your head, some in your email inbox, some spread out on your desk in the form of papers and projects-in-process, some on meeting notes, some in your voicemail, etc.. Having one task management system to capture, track and remind you of your priority work is a time and stress saver. We start with helping clients understand their values, which lead to goals, which lead to projects and tasks, and implement strategies for developing productive habits to effectively prioritize tasks, manage time and get the work done.
6. Working in a Chaotic, Clutter, Disorganized Work-space
There’s a book titled, “It’s Hard to Make a Difference if You Can’t Find Your Keys”. When your work space is disorganized, you will waste precious time and energy looking for items you know you have but can’t find. You’ll also be distracted from the one thing you need to focus on, by the 101 other things you see in front of you. Whether you’re working in a dedicated office or working from home, clear clutter, organize your work space and set up an efficient work environment to save time, money, energy and stress.
7. Holding or Attending Ineffective Meetings
When a meeting isn’t necessary, relevant and productive, it is an expensive waste of time. Do your meetings go around in circles, take too long, and end with nothing having changed? Employ simple techniques for conducting effective meetings, make sure the right people are there, participants are prepared and ready to contribute, and that they result in action, productive decisions and projects moving forward.
8. Trying to Do It All Yourself
When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. Also, when we say “yes” to something, we are inadvertently saying “no” to something else. We simply can not, nor should we try, to do it all. There are some things on our “to do” list that we should eliminate, automate or delegate. We teach clients how to delegate effectively and with confidence, allowing degrees of control to be passed to others so as to free up their time. On the receiving end of delegation? Learn to receive work from others with enough clarity to move forward and deliver consistently and confidently.
9. Feeling Overwhelmed or Stuck by a Project or Goal
Overwhelm, perfectionism, analysis paralysis, fear of failure or uncertainty can stop us in our tracks. Break goals or projects down into parts and pieces to help know how to move forward. Mind-mapping can be a great technique and brainstorming methodology, to help unleash creativity, plan projects, solve problems and get unstuck.
10. Thinking if you just work faster, work harder, push more, you’ll get more done
We can’t make more time – we all have the same 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, 52 weeks in a year. We can’t manage time. We can manager our energy and attention and when we couple that with clarity around prioritization and some strategic techniques to work smarter, not harder with the time we have, we not only get more of the important stuff done, we have more time for what matters most, less stress and more work-life harmony. Focus on maximizing your energy to optimize your productivity. Practice excellent self-care and start each day off in a way that’s positive, grounding and launches you into the type of day you’ll feel great about as it progresses, and at the end.
It’s About Time – We Listened to You
These are the 10 Challenges to Productivity we address most often with our clients. We love going into companies in person or via Zoom to consult with and train their employees, but we’ve also been asked for virtual training that one could take advantage of no matter where they live or work, or who they work for, including for those who are self-employed or are solo-prenuers. In our blog post a couple of years ago, we introduced our 12-month virtual productivity program, “It’s About Time”.
By registering, you will benefit from live webinar training sessions, held the first Tuesday of each month. Additionally, on the third Tuesday of each month, members are invited to participate in our “Ask the Organizer” sessions through our private “It’s About Time” Facebook group. Both the webinar and Ask the Organizer are recorded and available on-demand each month as well. You can also take advantage of a monthly Accountability Day, where members report they get more done in that day alone than in the week preceding it. You’ll be inspired to hurdle your organization and productivity barriers through community conversation with like-minded individuals, monthly implementation challenges and accountability. What are you waiting for; isn’t It About Time?
How Can I Register?
Learn more and register online. If you have unanswered questions or want to explore if this program or our highly customized Six Month Productivity Transformation package (which also includes six months of the group It’s About Time program) is the best fit for you, contact us and we’ll schedule a conversation.
We can’t wait to hear how you tackle your challenges to productivity and how you’ll spend the extra time this program will open up for you.
