We all make choices with our time, but when it really matters, how do you make time for what matters most? Some days, it is just hard to fit everything you need to do into the 24 hours you’re given.
If you are overwhelmed by what you need to do or find things slipping through the cracks, your productivity is negatively impacted. If you’d like to learn to manage time and priorities more effectively, we can help.
Here are some of the top challenges to productivity that we help clients to overcome through our “It’s About Time” virtual productivity program:
1. Multitasking
Studies have proven it just doesn’t work. By not focusing on one thing through to completion, we set ourselves up for failure. When you learn to apply focus and concentrate on one thing at a time, you’ll reach your goal more successfully.
2. Spending all day in Email
Do you find yourself responding to Email all day but never really getting ahead? This is a reactive way to work and takes way more time than it should. When you reduce the amount of time spent in email, you’ll gain more time to proactively move projects forward. We teach 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.
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 procrastinate and teach specific strategies to conquer procrastination now, instead of later.
5. Keeping your to-do’s all over the place
Having one task management system to capture, track and remind you of your priority work saves time and stress. . We help clients implement strategies for developing productive habits to effectively prioritize tasks, manage time and get work done.
6. Working in a chaotic, cluttered, disorganized workspace
There’s a book titled, “It’s Hard to Make a Difference if You Can’t Find Your Keys”. When your workspace is disorganized, you waste time and energy looking for items you know you have but can’t find. It also distracts you from the one thing you need to focus on. Whether you’re working in a dedicated office or working from home, clear clutter, organize your workspace and set up an efficient environment to have more time for what really matters.
7. Holding or attending ineffective meetings
When a meeting isn’t necessary, relevant and productive, it is an expensive waste of time. Whether in person or via Zoom, do your meetings run in circles, take too long, or 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. When you do, your meetings will 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. 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. We can’t manage time. Focus on maximizing your energy to optimize your productivity. 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.
If you address each of these challenges where you may have a time, energy or attention “leak”, you will end up with less stress AND more time for what matters most to you. Solving these challenges provides a great return on investment.
Do you want help uncovering more time for what matters most?
Are you overwhelmed by your Email, tasks, demands on your time, or cluttered workspace? Stop spinning your wheels and learn to work smarter, not harder. Join Simply Placed for a one-of-a-kind virtual training experience!
Do you need help cleaning clutter and organizing your office? When you do you can easily find what you need when you need it. Or maybe you’re needing more effective strategies to manage your time, tasks, email and priorities. We’ve got you covered!
Our “Its About Time – The Ultimate Virtual Productivity Program”, will help you implement new systems and habits to achieve the results you desire. We can also help hold you accountable for sustaining the change and increasing your results over time.
You’ll participate in live monthly webinars, ask-the-organizer sessions, accountability days, be part of an exclusive Facebook community and take part in implementation challenges that will help you learn to work smarter, not harder. We will provide resources, handouts and monthly tips and strategies to help you stay organized and productive. You’ll be inspired, motivated and challenged to put what you learn into action!
