Productivity Tips From Incredibly Busy People

Smarter Event Planning

Title: Productivity Tips From Incredibly Busy People Productivity Tips From Incredibly Busy People 1. Have a single purpose focus. "Pick one thing and do that one thing—and only that one thing—better than anyone else ever could." We can derive a great deal of power from developing a laser focus on our top business priorities. It's one of the attributes that sets apart the average businessperson from the more successful one. 2. Ruthlessly block out distractions. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova says, "I concentrate on concentrating." For those of us who don't have the willpower to be self-accountable, there are several technology solutions for blocking out distractions. 3. Set a strict time limit on meetings. People generally don't need as much time as they ask for. Meetings are time vampires. Be ruthless in managing this endemic productivity drain so you can focus on high value tasks. 4. Set up productivity rituals. Set up rituals to automate behaviors that will make us more productive, without depleting our energy reservoir. One of them is prioritizing one key task to accomplish per day, and starting your day focused on that task. Look at Seth Godin and Zig Ziggler with Law of 4 "Force yourself to prioritize so that you know that you will finish at least that one critical task during the period of the day when you have the most energy and the fewest distractions. 5. Get up earlier. Use the mantra "mind over mattress" to motivate yourself to get out of bed to pursue your goals. 6. Group your interruptions. see how you can ask others on your team to group questions, requests and other non-urgent inquiries so you're not distracted by interruptions that don't add value. 7. Outsource personal chores. Highly productive people are selective about how they expend their energy. They don't waste it on tasks that others can do. 8. Set up email rules to maintain sanity. Analyze your email habits and institute time-saving policies that work for your particular situation. 9. Capture all creative ideas. Most leaders and entrepreneurs are visionaries who generally don't lack good ideas; however, capturing all these ideas is often a challenge for busy people. Evernote is a popular, free program for collecting ideas. 10. Increase your effectiveness through technology. There's a wealth of programs to make a small-business owner more effective in increasing productivity. A few popular tools—some of which are free—include Dropbox to store files online; GoToWebinar or Zoom to host a webinar; Canvas Planner, and Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule your social media postings. BONUS. Learn from others. Subscribe to this show and leave a 5 star rating :-) 2. Be productive / what we learned from some of our best guests. 3. Leading a Remote Team Successfully To lead an effective remote team successfully, managers must learn new techniques for communication, task direction and team building that do not require physical proximity. 4. Essential Keys to Leading a Remote Workforce: Leading a team during a crisis is a test in and of itself. When that team is remote, it can be more challenging. Here’s a few suggestions above and beyond what you might already do as a leader under normal circumstances and above and beyond the steps you may be doing in the execution of your business continuity plan.

1. Clear communication is crucial. Leading remote teams is hard enough but during a crisis it can become much more difficult. Clear communication is crucial. And it should use multiple means including phone, video call, email, chat and other methods (e.g. posting to an Intranet, etc). Be crisp, simple and when necessary repeat your communication. Now’s not the time for you, as their leader, to go dark.
2. Be decisive. Employees hate it when leadership waffles or is unable to make decisions. In a crisis try to be decisive to mitigate doubts your staff may have. Make a decision, explain it, and move on. If it was the wrong decision, adjust.
3. Be understanding. Your employees are probably feeling very unsettled. Their spouses may be very nervous. Their budgets may be tighter now. Maybe they were able to get stocked up, maybe they weren’t. Maybe they panicked and overspent and now are going to maybe miss their rent payment. Be understanding if they are a little distracted.
4. It’s about more than mission accomplishment. When speaking with staff resist the urge to limit your conversation to work related topics (e.g. do you have enough to do your job, or how is it going working remote). Sure, asking those work related questions is important, but don’t stop there. These are uncertain times. Ask your staff if they have enough food. If their families are holding up. Have an interest in their total well being – not just their work status. And it should be more than lip-service. Actually care about them and show it (if you don’t, already, you shouldn’t be in charge, btw).
   1. For example, instead of asking “Is everything ok at home?” ask “Are you caring for anyone who’s at risk?” “Do you have enough food and supplies?” They may not want to tell you they are more concerned or may be embarrassed.
5. You may have a dedicated office, but your staff may not – be ok with that. I have a lot of young employees who work for me. First job out of college type folks. Many still live with their parents and/or have young families. They live in 2 bedroom apartments. They have a few kids, etc. They may not want to turn their camera on because they are embarrassed by the chaos of their lives. They may have some background noise. Be ok with all of that, as best you can.
6. Consider daily or weekly stand ups to keep folks more connected. This will vary based on your specific business circumstances, but consider holding more frequent meetings with your now-remote team. This will help keep your staff connected and feel less distant.
7. Don’t forget to take care of yourself. Chances are you have a boss too. Don’t be unwilling to voice your concerns to your boss and ask for help if needed. If she/he is a good leader they will be ready and willing to assist.

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