For those of you that know me, you know that time management, prioritizing, and output efficiency are big things for me. I am thankful to say that over the last sixteen years of existence in the professional world, I have grow to become quite good at each of the three. Sometimes I’m crazy about it but I have found a process which works quite well.
When I speak with other business professionals that don’t seem to have it “together”, they often ask how I keep everything in order. So today, I felt like sharing one of the many things I do to ensure the most productive days possible. But before I offer the practical, I need to address a few other things.
- We are not superheros. It sounds so simple, yet we often bite off WAY more than we can chew and in doing so, we overwhelm ourselves and all but destroy any chances of being productive. And when we do have that productive day, the quality often lacks because we had to blow through things.
- We aren’t in this alone. Even when you are a solo-preneur (one man shop), you still have resources available to you. Don’t take it all on yourself. Ask a friend, family member, or colleague for help.
- Time management and productivity don’t change overnight. Many of the things necessary to get good at them require habits. And for any of you that has a bad habit, you know that it takes time to break them. So whether you need to break a bad habit that holds you back from being productive, or you need to form a new habit in order to manage your time well, give it time and celebrate the small steps you are making towards achieving your goal.
- You will fail, A LOT. I say this often, but failure is just part of the game. You will try your best (hopefully) to implement new things but because you aren’t used to them or good at them, you will fail. Takes those failures as learning opportunities and tweak the things you need to in order to get done what has to be done.
Ok, so there are a few things to be aware of when attempting to become more productive.
Now let me give you five things that I believe will help you be more productive, starting today.
- What needs to get done? List all your tasks. Include things like checking email, posting to social media, etc (see one of my days below). I use Asana and I love it.
- What have you been doing that you don’t like to? List all your “don’t like to’s.” These should be discarded or outsourced, but that’s separate blog post or conversation (email me).
- Where are your priorities? Assign a number of importance to each task (1 being most important). What happens if “x” doesn’t get done.
- What have you wasted time on? Look back and see what you’ve done the last couple weeks. Identify the things that helped and the things that didn’t. Trash the things that didn’t help your productivity.
- Why should you try something new? In many things, especially when they are task related, we focus on the how, or when, or what. But the why is central to changing it up. We must recognize why we are doing what we are doing, and then evaluate whether we want to continue.
I know that is brief, but it is a good start. If you want more help in improving time management, email me or call me (below). I would love to help you structure your day to become more productive, which will eventually make you more successful.
Email – ryan@ryanjamesmiller.com
Phone – (714) 240-5675
Example of my typical day’s schedule built in Asana.
What do you think? Will this help you? Do you have a different setup? I’d love to hear about it!