How to move from
Productivity Problems to
Productivity Powerhouse in 15 Minutes!
What if I told you there’s one thing that you can do that will be a game changer for you? The one thing that, if you do it, your personal productivity would shoot through the roof. Would you: a) want to know what it is? And b) do it?
Brushing your teeth is non-negotiable (you want to have friends, right?). Besides brushing your teeth, what is non-negotiable for you? I mean NON-NEGOTIABLE. Can you think of anything? Maybe washing off your makeup before bed and applying your treatments? Maybe taking your vitamins?
If you want to see your productivity level dramatically change, the one thing that you can do is this:
Plan your week on Sunday night.
Take 15 minutes and plan your week. If you want to take it up even a notch further, do the planning before you close down on Friday afternoon. If you do your planning on Friday, you will notice that your weekend will be more relaxed because you have a plan for the week. In either case, you will hit the ground running on Monday morning.
Ok, you say. Plan your week. What do you mean by that EXACTLY? What I mean is: TIME BLOCKING your week. You know I am obsessed with Cal Newport who wrote Deep Work. In order to get deep work, REAL WORK done, you have to plan your time. If you do that, you know when the different demands on your time will be dealt with. This frees up your brain to focus on what it needs to focus on.
For example, support this week you need to call 8 new people, sell $500 worth of product, drive your kids to their sports events, plan meals and shop and prepare, exercise, meditate, and meet one prospect for lunch on Thursday. You take your weekly Time Blocking calendar and begin by blocking out what you know for sure: what are your office hours, when do you have to drop off and pick up the kids, walk the dog, go grocery shopping, prep the meals, … everything you can account for put it on your weekly calendar. Then you can see your available time. From there, fill in what you have to do. If you need to connect with 8 new people what is your plan for that? Can you call a friend and ask for some referrals? How are you going to get that done? Plan 60-90 minutes focused time to talking to people and generating leads. Take the time to think through what you have to do and how you will do it, and map it out. Remember to add buffer time for transitions between activities! This is important. And driving and parking time as well.
Try this for a month and see if it makes a difference in your life! Below is a sample plan filled in and below that is a downloadable form you can…need I say… download and try!
This has made a HUGE difference in my life and I am working with my kids to get them to use this same system with their studies, so they know exactly when they will focus on each assignment and plan out writing their papers as well.
All I can say is, Thank you, Cal Newport! (Megan Flatt taught me to use the colors so I can quickly see something important!)
(OK… I SWEAR I have read at least 3 books since I read his books this summer, but this was frankly life changing!)
BUT: THE SUCCESS IS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION!
Be the Nike star and JUST DO IT!!!
Best,
Alicia
Here is an example of a completed time block schedule.
http://file:///Users/aliciaberberich/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail%20Downloads/7D7FE69E-DA86-48E0-9FB7-BC0FE82A1857/1Week_DetailedNotes_Planner.pdf
There is a super complicated link to get a clean copy. If it doesn’t work, just ping me and I will email you the form!
REMEMBER: If you don’t schedule it, it won’t get done!!! Schedule schedule schedule!!! |
