productivity

The Surprising Key to Getting Things Done

by Paul Joseph September 23, 2011 Featured

There’s no point in getting more efficient at doing things that don’t need to be done. -Jan Jasper Before you start making a schedule, organizing a task list, setting deadlines, gathering materials, delegating, prioritizing, and so on, stop and do this first. Write down your top five goals for your business in the next five years, say, or just in the next year. Make it long-term enough to pull your perspective out of the current crisis or negative cash flow or whatever it is that is screaming “URGENT” at you. Now, with those five goals in front of you, list backwards the actions you need to take. In other words, start with the ultimate goal and work your way back from there to where you are now. These are the steps you must take, the milestones you must cross to reach your goals. Those actions are your focus. Anything not on that list is not a priority for your business. Anything not on that list is optional. Anything not on that list is, most likely, a distraction and a waste of time. Do More by Doing Less The key is to getting things done is doing less – less of almost everything – and more of what you choose to focus on. I did this exercise recently with some real clarification. I’m juggling four kids and a freelance business, plus my own writing projects and little things like meals, laundry, family finances, a social life. I could spend time detailing an efficient laundry schedule, but that’s what it would be: detailing. Meanwhile, I just wasted an hour on nonessential work. No matter what your work or life situation is, it’s easy to get caught up in the details. Be More Productive by Being Less Organized There is a place for creating more efficiency and figuring out how to streamline your life. Here’s the thing, though: you don’t have to plan out all the details. In fact, if you have to spend an hour planning out the details of some nonessential, you’re not streamlining. You’re creating a complicated system that will require too much time and energy to maintain. Streamlining, by its nature, means simplifying. Instead of planning out the details of your life, quit planning the nonessentials. Take them off your list, off your schedule. Focus on the Big Stuff Focus on planning for and fitting in the big stuff; let the rest fall through the cracks or fit into one of those in-between spaces. You can’t plan out every single details, and you shouldn’t try. You’ll use up all your time and energy color-coding your calendar and syncing your grocery list. Is it really that complicated? No. Block out the time for the important stuff; make sure it gets on the calendar and you honor it as a commitment. When that’s done, then you’re free to deal with the rest. Quit Optimizing Your Whole Life This means, my type-A friends, that not everything will be functioning at optimum levels. Not all of your life will be organized. Your laundry, say, may get done haphazardly. Your filing cabinet may need to be cleaned out. Your social life may be unplanned, spontaneous. That is perfectly okay. In fact, it’s a sign that you’ve got important stuff you’re focusing on, and it’s in line. Organize what matters, and quit wasting time trying to organize all the details. Focus on doing the work that matters, and you’ll be moving forward. Do less. Get a little minimalistic in your lifestyle. Be a little daring and let some stuff go so you can get things done. A little disorganization in a few small areas won’t ruin your life. In fact, it’s a sign of a life well-lived, a life that is focused on getting big things done instead of obsessing over the details.” Annie Mueller enjoys creating a personal yet professional voice to render complex topics understandable. Her passion is helping home, small, and micro businesses succeed. Read more about Annie here .

Tagged as: business, business planning, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, management, productivity, small-business, success

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5 Productivity Tips For The Time-Poor Entrepreneur

by Paul Joseph September 9, 2011 Featured

Interestingly Gates , Buffet , Jackson , Jordan and You have the same amount of hours in a day, but some are able to accomplish far more than the rest. There is literally an art and science to managing yourself to produce more in the same time allotted to every one of us. I once heard Eben Pagan say something along the lines of this: “The term time-management is a misnomer, we need to manage ourselves, not time”. And I cannot agree more. Below I will show you five practical concepts that I personally use to become more productive as an entrepreneur. 1. 50 Minute Mind Bathroom I wish I could recall, who first introduced me to this idea, but unfortunately I cannot. Actually, I think it was Dean Jackson . Well, the 50 Minute Mind Bathroom is a simple yet very powerful exercise to get instant clarity and focus in the midst of feverish day-to-day activity. Hence the name “Mind Bathroom”. How to: Take a blank sheet of paper Start writing down in bullets, everything you have on your mind. By everything I mean every task that you have on your mind that needs to be done Keep writing for a minimum of 20 minutes. (This is key, without this, the exercise is a waste) When you are done, you will have a list of things that you have to get done. Next, you can prioritize tasks and set deadlines on the important ones. 2. Eat That Frog Brian Tracy first introduced me to this concept. Eat That Frog in a nutshell means to do those tasks first that you do not want to do the most. The definition of laziness in the entrepreneurial world is: “Not doing the things that create the most impact”. As humans, we naturally tend to stay within our comfort zones . But it is worth noticing that the best things that ever happen to us happen when we are out of them. Similarly we tend to put off important tasks and place them on the back-burner just because we are afraid to operate out of our comfort-zones. Eat That Frog is an amazing thing to always remember. Do those tasks first thing when you start work (before you open your email), that create the most results and you have been putting off for a long time. Refer to your 50 Minute Mind Bathroom list to identify those Frogs. Usually you will know your Frogs intuitively. 3. Night Before I am guilty of not consistently practicing this one. But it works like a charm. Night Before simply means to create a list of things you want to accomplish right before you go to sleep. Identity your Frog in that list and make an active effort to eat it first the next day. Why create the list the Night Before? Well, experts say that the unconscious and the subconscious mind are the most profound portions of our brain. We do more than 85% of every task subconsciously in a specific unique fashion and effortlessly – this is simply because of our subconscious mind. When we plan our day the night before, our subconscious mind is still at work in our sleep. This helps prepare us for the next day and our day becomes more productive as a result. 4. Week On Paper This one works like a charm. I use the 50 Minute Mind Bathroom and right after that, I do the Week On Paper . This makes my whole week rocking and super productive. Here is how this is done: Take a blank piece of paper A4 or 8.5” X 11”. Fold it into half and then fold the half into half again. Unfold the entire paper fully, now you have two creases across the paper (one horizontal and one vertical) creating four natural boxes on the paper. Four in the front and four in the back. Title each box with a day of the week and put in all tasks that you wish to accomplish under each day. This plans your entire week and you can visually and realistically see what you will possibly accomplish each week. I do this exercise each week. I tend to almost always do the 50 Minute Mind Bathroom first, and then transfer over the tasks from that list to my Week On Paper boxes. 5. 2-Hour Time Blocks Every body that inhales, has to exhale. After day there has to be night, and after work there has to be rest for optimal performance. We know after a few seconds on inhaling air, that we have to exhale, We know God has set precise times for the Sun to set after its rise. Now here is the trick question: How do we know when to rest, and how much to rest to produce the maximum quality work? If you review your daily production and match it with the amount of time you spent working, most of you will be surprisingly disappointed. In today’s busy lifestyle, we have a lack of focus in our work days. We can literally accomplish more in two hours of uninterrupted focused time than an entire eight hour work day. For entrepreneurs with longer projects, I highly recommend to work in two hour uninterrupted time blocks . Eliminate all distractions and use a timer. Set it for 60 minutes twice. Unplug entirely, walk away from your desk when done for a minimum of 15 minutes, and resume after if necessary. Usually when I am almost done and need an extra ten minutes to finish a task after my two hours are up, I will give myself those extra ten minutes, since I am in the zone. You will be amazed at the quality of the finished product when you apply 2-Hour Time Blocks. For some people, this might mean actually accomplishing things as apposed to being all over the place. Conclusion I will say it. It does take conscious effort to become more productive, and we are not always in a mood to consciously control our behaviors. But the great part about the above concepts are that they are so amazing at making me productive that I actually enjoy doing them. I enjoy the exercises and I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I review my weekly production. I hope they work for you as well. Aziz Ali Signing out. Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: aziz ali, online entrepreneurship, productivity, small-business

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What Does “Eating Frogs” Have To Do With Improving Your Productivity?

by Paul Joseph July 20, 2011 Featured

This is a follow up to a previous article about beating procrastination, How To Beat Procrastination When You Don’t Know What To Do Next . This is a hot topic if you are running your own entrepreneurial business and largely responsible for getting things done. Combine this with the current online world with so many distractions being just a mouse click away. Basically, if you do not get what needs to be done your business may suffer. So this article will share some secrets to help improve productivity and also provide some answers to questions raised in the last article, Is Email A Bigger Productivity Killer Than Marijuana? (UK Study Says Yes) . Importance Of Prioritizing Tasks I am the first to admit there is no shortage of things to be done. Seriously, who’s “to do” list isn’t overflowing? Famous motivational speaker Brian Tracey says that you will always have things on your to do list and you will never get them all done. Thanks for the vote of confidence Brian! No, in all seriousness, Brian is onto something. There are never enough hours in the day to get all the tasks done that we want to get done, especially if you are running a business. Knowing that your to do list is a never ending saga, what Brian suggests doing is prioritizing the list . I know it sounds so obvious and simple, but you would be surprised how many people make to do lists filled with meaningless and irrelevant junk when they have serious issues to sort out with their business. An example to do list: – Trim the hedges – Dust cobwebs – Buy new battery for clock – Phone xyz – Fix broken ‘buy now’ button on sales page – Start an email opt-in form – Research new product ideas – Find affiliates for current products I know it may seem ridiculous when illustrated like this but don’t laugh. The harsh reality is with limited time and so much to do, if you want to make your business work and take it to the next level, you will need to understand that not all your tasks are going to get done . I am not suggesting you become a hermit who lives in a pigsty and never speaks to anyone. I am just saying at the end of the day you need to know you have accomplished your most important tasks. And that can either be having a successful business or having a cobweb free home, which would you rather? How To Prioritize Tasks Brian’s idea of prioritizing tasks is super easy. Do your most important tasks first. He thinks usually your most important task is the one you want to avoid , the one you have been putting off. Hence the title of his famous time management book Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time . Make out your to do list the day before, either as the last part of that day’s work or before you go to bed. This way you can really put some thought into what is really important and what needs to get done, and then you are ready to get started on it the next day. Another way to look at how to prioritize your tasks and what to put at the very top of your to do list is to ask yourself this question: “If I was only allowed to do one task today, would I be satisfied that I got this one task done?” When you look at managing your time like this you can really start to re-prioritize your to do list and get a clear idea of what is most important for growing your business. If you are still struggling with prioritizing your list, I will make it really easy for you: What task do you need to do today that will make your business money? Break Your Tasks Down For those looking for more specific Internet business time management advice, you can’t beat Internet marketer, time management specialist and author of  Double Your Productivity for Life Jason Fladlien . Jason likes to break tasks down into simple and easy to digest components. He feels the brain is only capable of handling seven bits of information plus or minus two bits. So based on this he takes complicated and often overwhelming tasks such as writing sales copy and breaks it into seven components. Now the task just becomes seven easy to follow steps. This is how Jason was able to create 30+ products in a few months and quickly make a mark in the Internet marketing scene. I highly recommend you grab his FREE report (no-optin) Time Management Secrets of a Madman . Get Important Things Done First Building on prioritizing the to do list, I am a big fan of doing the hard and important tasks first thing in the morning when I am mentally freshest. I have my to do list from the night before, so there is no guessing or fiddling around in the morning. Legendary copywriter Gary Bencivenga was a big fan of doing a good three hour block of writing in the morning. A phone off the hook, lock the door, no disturb sign on the door type of three hour block. He knew that this block was super productive because he wasn’t tired and he was totally focused. He knew that if he got that three hour block out of the way that he had a productive day and anything else he got done was a bonus. He also realized that a focused three hour block was often more productive than an interrupted normal eight hour work day. Take Control Of Your Time And Be Non-Reactive When you are most mentally alert in the morning and you still have some mental fuel in the tank, do not go wasting it on checking email and surfing the net. Take charge of your time and focus . You can decide what you should spend your time and energy on. If the first thing you do is open your email, then you have gone straight into a reactive mode where other people are dictating where your thoughts and energies go. Tim Ferriss has talked extensively about email management and recommendations of just checking email twice a day. If you find you also don’t have the self-discipline to refrain from browsing and wasting time then you may want to check out another Ferriss recommendation called rescue time . This great piece of software allows you to block websites, but it will also monitor your browsing activity, which can be a real eye opener. Once you see that you are spending three hours of your work day reading forums instead of actually working, you may just realize how much time you are wasting. Conclusion I do not want to come across as a slave master for your business. But I guess the bottom line is: we all want our businesses to be as successful as possible . Besides discussing marketing strategies, I often spend time with my marketing clients helping them get a clearer picture in their head about exactly how their business is going to make money. With this picture in mind, it now becomes easier to prioritize their daily tasks and know what needs to get done now and what can wait. Leevi Romanik Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: brian tracey, jason fladlien, leevi romanik, procrastination, productivity, tim ferriss, to do list, young

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