This month is all about productivity so I’m sharing what I’ve described as the 4 Gems of Productivity. These simple actions can help you get more done in less time and most of all allow you to feel as though you are winning the battle to be productive.
Last week’s Gem- Before you open your email or do anything else take 5 minutes with a pen and paper and “Set Your Agenda First”
Setting your intentions for the day will give you a jump start on productivity and most importantly allow you to accomplish something even when you feel your day has gotten away from you. My belief is if you have done that simple task for the past week you have already noticed a difference in your productivity.
So here is Gem #2
Create an Ideal Day and an Ideal Week
Take a few minutes to script out a perfect day from start to finish. What time do you wake up? What is your morning routine? What time to you start your workday? What are you doing?
Break out your day into 30- or 60-minute increments.
If you want to build in some time to work-out, put it into your ideal day or week. If you want to schedule some time to actually eat a proper breakfast, lunch or dinner, write it down at your ideal time and location.
Once you start creating this document you will notice that many of your ideal days look the same and much of your week is already scripted out for you. This is again about being intentional about what you are doing, and more importantly when you are doing it.
From over 20 years of coaching individuals on this simple task I already know what many of you are thinking:
“You don’t understand my job” of “I could never create this type of day or week in my business”
Here’s the thing about productivity. It starts with a mindset, then it’s about creating a plan. So let me ask you this:
If you cannot even script our what a perfect day or perfect week might look like in your world, then what are the odds that you will ever have one?
I once coached a senior executive from a major airline. She was having trouble leaving the office at a reasonable time to have dinner with her family. When I brought up the task of creating and ideal day and ideal week, she of course gave me the story that I didn’t understand her role, and that she couldn’t ever have that type of day.
With a bit of coaxing she created the document, and we reviewed it during our conversation. I mentioned to her that she wasn’t going to have to commit to this day at any point during our work together, but I asked her just to look at it a few times a week.
Two weeks later she showed up for our coaching call and burst into tears. At first I was worried if everything was ok so I asked her what was going on. She proudly shared that she had been home for dinner with her family 3 times over the past week, which was 3 more times than she had eaten with them over the past 6 months.
I asked her if her workload had changed. She said no. I asked her if she felt as though the quality of her work had diminished? Again, she said no. Finally, I asked her if she had missed any deadlines? And again, the answer was an emphatic no. This only happened because she decided to set an intention around creating an ideal day.
Look, I get it, there are days that will get blown up for any number of reasons, and your perfect schedule might get torn to shreds from time to time. But when you have a plan and create times when you would like to be doing certain tasks, your brain just has an amazing way of getting you back on track even on your most difficult of days.
Also remember that this is a living a breathing document, it’s not written in stone. Based on your workflow and the demands of your business, you may have to modify or adjust your ideal day and week from time to time in order to accomplish the tasks at hand.
Start today by creating your Ideal day and Ideal week.
Script out a perfect day in your world and find out if productivity Gem #2 can be a game changer for you as well.
Cheers to you and your Ideal Day-
One Quarter Turn at a Time
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