7 Ways to Boost Productivity
You’ve been working and working for hours, days, weeks. You feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over again, but you’re less productive. What you used to do in a few hours now takes you a day.
We’ve all been there. Whether you’re feeling burnt out or you’re in a rut, I have 7 strategies to help you boost your productivity.
Prepare your space
Your workspace should be sacred. It needs to be dedicated, but it also needs to include everything you need. Have everything you need in your space or strategically placed where you can access it. A well-organized space can eliminate searching for the right tool, your favorite notebook or pen, or a folder that you need. In preparing your space, think about your need to shift occasionally. I like to keep a notebook to house my doodles when I’m feeling inspired.
It might seem like it’s a distraction, but how often do you spend obsessing over an idea that you didn’t write down? And from those doodles, you might find greatness. Studies also show that white noise can increase productivity. When we have non-distracting music in the background, we lose the random distracting sounds, and we engage in the flow of the music. You can prepare your space once and revisit it. Your space should be organized enough that you rarely have to change the layout, and your notebook and music are ready when you are ready to be productive.
Maximize your time
There are several ways to maximize your time. First, you should have a system to set up your day. Perhaps you sit down the same day of the week to plan out your week or the same time of the day to plan out your day. If you know your high-energy times, you can schedule around that. I suggest time-blocking. You block out times for specific tasks. For example, your day might start at 9 am. You block out 9-9:30 am to prepare your top tasks for the day. You block out 9:30-10 am to respond to emails. You block out 10-11:30 am to complete research for a project you are working on. From 11:30 am-noon, you meet with your accountability partner. From noon-1 pm, you take lunch outside of the office. The rest of the afternoon is blocked off for client projects.
Time blocking is a great way to organize your day, but if you time-block your week, you increase your productivity even more. Schedule breaks as well. Research suggests completing the most difficult tasks earlier in the day to get them out of the way. That can mean tasks that require more effort or tasks that you dislike. You can also maximize your time by using systems and staying organized.
Set up your workflow
Workflow systems are the smartest way to boost your productivity because it automates processes. You don’t have to worry about systems that are automated, which increases your productivity. I encourage every business owner to have a CRM/CMS and a PMS. These systems take a lot of reflection on your needs and process as well as time to set up in the beginning. Setting up your system takes time, but once it’s set up, it almost runs itself. You set up your CRM to automate documents and workflow with your clients. You set up your PMS to track progress and materials for projects.
Your systems are set up in phases that can be completed that trigger another phase. Workflow processes are life-changing. Programs like ClickUp (PMS) even offer time estimates. You can estimate how much time a task should take. Having the clock stare you down while you’re working on a project increases the pressure to complete it during that time frame, which will increase your ability to get it done. I also suggest that you use and create shortcuts. Remember the first time you learned CTRL + C and CTRL + V? Whatever processes you use often, you should create shortcuts for.
Organized your everything
Organization is the key to being successful and productive. Each of these suggestions has some element of organization in them because it’s that important. I use my CRM and PMS to stay organized, but you should have a central Storage Management System (SMS) as well. Google Drive and Dropbox are great SMSs. Another strategy is to create cheat sheets and templates that can be used to cut out additional time on projects. You might have a cheat sheet with processes that you regularly use or templates for invoices, guides, or emails. Organization is key to quickly navigating through your day.
Reflect on your business
So often we get caught up in our day-to-day that we forget to reflect on our days, systems, and progress. We even forget to reflect on our short and long-term goals. Schedule a time every week or two to reflect on what is working and what isn’t working as well. Use that time to reflect back on your goals. Then, strategize on how you can improve what isn’t working to get closer to your goals or set new goals. It’s important to do this more often, so you don’t get so deep into something that it becomes a bad habit. It also helps you track what is working, so when something goes wrong, you have notes to look back on. If you ever mentor someone else or hire others, it’s also a great method to track what works and what doesn’t in your business. It takes a bit of time and a lot of thoughtful consideration, but the long-term benefits are great.
Connect
It’s incredibly important to have others who we connect with professionally. These people do not have to be in the exact industry that we’re in, but they should be able to understand some of our frustrations. Often, we call these people our accountability partners. Sometimes, we have an issue we need to talk through with someone else. Sometimes, we need someone to tell us we’re being ridiculous and need to get over it. Sometimes, we need advice. Whatever it is that we need, others need that as well. I suggest having an accountability partner or two who you can connect with every few weeks. If you have an immediate need, you should be able to connect with these individuals, but you also have to set boundaries and respect their boundaries, too. Connecting with others helps us reflect and refocus.
Disconnect
It’s also important to occasionally disconnect from others and from our business. We need time to breathe. We need time to reset. We need time to deal with whatever else life is throwing at us. We see teachers get really excited to go back to school after the summer because they had time to reset. We see medical professionals who are fresh after their 2-3 days off because they had time to reset from their 3-4 days of 12-hour shifts. Business owners need time to reset as well. If your service is great, it’s difficult to do that because you are in demand, and the money is nice. But it’s so important to disconnect to be better. It’s like when you have an amazing night of sleep. You feel so ready to tackle the world the next day. Disconnect. Reset. Reconnect.
If you’re looking to boost your productivity, it’s important to figure out why you’re not being as productive. We also have to be honest with ourselves. Are you really disciplined enough to avoid distractions? Are you really capable of getting organized and setting up your systems?
My final tip to increase your productivity is to admit when you are stuck. If you’re struggling with client acquisition, system setup, content, marketing, or whatever aspect of your business you can’t get past, there are professionals who can help. Being brave enough to ask for help will also increase your productivity and your profits.
