In recent posts we have reviewed some tips on how to stay on task to get your projects done. Click on Get Unstuck - Steps to Increase Your Productivity Part One, Get Unstuck - Steps to Increase Your Productivity Part Two and Get Unstuck - Steps to Increase Your Productivity Part Three if you missed the previous posts.

We have three more steps to focus on today. I am sure these will help you get your projects done.

Time to Time - Get a kitchen timer and use it. If you find yourself frequently lost in Facebook or YouTube, set your timer for the amount of time you have designated for that task and log out when the timer goes off. Pretend you are on MasterChef and throw your hands in the air. If you have an ongoing project that you are working on one-half or one hour a day, set the timer and focus on that task until time is up.

Put a Number on It - Set numbers for the amount of contacts you need to make every day and knock them out at one time. I have a giant stack of cards I collected before I started my business. I choose five cards each morning. I add their information to my contacts list and send them an email introducing them to my business and asking them to join my email list. Someday those hundreds of business cards will be zero and I am getting more subscribers on my list. If you need to make cold calls, pick a number 5, 10, 20, 50, and make the calls each day. Do not switch to another task until all your contacts are made.

Just (Do Not) Do It - Take the time to determine the tasks that are revenue generating that only you can do. Take all the other tasks and delegate any that someone else can do better, quicker or that you just do not like to do. College students are a great resource for part-time or temporary help; just keep in mind their availability changes from semester to semester.

Try these out this week and see how they work for you. Next time we will review the last three tips on my list so be sure to check back.

Until next time...

Have a great day,
Susanne

Click here to get help developing or implementing your strategic plan.

In the previous two posts we have reviewed some tips on how to stay on task to get your projects done. Click on Get Unstuck - Steps to Increase Your Productivity Part One and Get Unstuck - Steps to Increase Your Productivity Part Two if you missed the earlier posts. We are going to jump back in with three more steps to help you get your projects done.

Become a Hermit - Schedule “work hours” for those tasks you can not be interrupted during and still complete efficiently. For example, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, ignore your email and shut off your phone. Let your clients know that you have these set hours when you are not available. Hire a babysitter if you need to and spend this time cranking out project tasks.

Embrace Your Inner Night Owl - Most of us have that time of the day when our brain really fires on all cylinders and that time of day when we are 23 crayons short of a box. If you are most creative at 3:00 a.m. plan a few weeks of staying up late or getting up before the roosters. Let your significant other know you will not be available for much cuddle time and burn the midnight oil. I am pretty fortunate because my best time is between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. so I do not even have to turn off my phone.

Birds of a Feather - Plan your tasks in batches of complimentary functions. When shooting video, try to film as many different subjects as you can. Write a few weeks worth of blogs at a time. Set a couple of times a day for email and resist the urge to check it otherwise. Use a third-party manager to post to your social media accounts and schedule posts for a week or more at a time.

Believe it or not, I still have six more tips for you. Try these three out and come back for more.

Until next time...

Have a great day,
Susanne

Click here to get help developing or implementing your strategic plan.

In my last post you were introduced to some common reasons business owners get stuck on projects and given three steps you can use to stay productive. If you missed it, click this link Get Unstuck - Steps to Increase Your Productivity Part One.

I hope you had time to test those strategies out. We are going to dive into another three steps in this post.

Stay Single - There is so much to do to manage our businesses, especially if you are just starting out. Do not try to do all these productivity steps at once or you will go into brain overwhelm. Try them one at a time. It is the same with business tasks. If you are starting social media, pick the platform that best reaches your target market and do just that one until you have a good follower base and system and then add a second. You might have three great ideas for new products. Unless it is three variations of the same product, develop them at different times.

Dropdead - I confess; I procrastinate. Having a drop-dead date really works for me. Recently I created some workshops. I scheduled the workshops before I had the exact content created. I finished my materials the day before each workshop, but I did get it done. Now when I offer those workshops again, the heavy lifting has already been done. Set a date you can not wiggle out of to focus your time and energy. 

You Are Dispensable - If you already created a task list when you implemented the Be Brutal step in part one, pull it out now. If you do not have one, make a list of tasks you do during your work hours. (List all of the hours you work your business, even the time “after hours”.)

Ask yourself these questions for each task you currently do:

• Does this task create immediate revenue?
• Could someone else do it?

If the answer is no to the first question and yes to the second you have two options.

• If you are having cash-flow issues, put these tasks on hold until you are consistently cash-flow positive.
• Outsource these tasks. If you are spending 10 hours a week on non-revenue generating tasks that someone else can do consider the math. If you can make $30 per hour by doing revenue-generating tasks for those hours, you can pay an assistant $20 per hour and still come out ahead.

Focus on the tasks that will create the most revenue that only you can do.

In the next post we will check out a few more ways to get unstuck.

Until next time...

Have a great day,
Susanne

Click here to get help developing or implementing your strategic plan.

Do you ever get stuck on a project? You get so many ideas in your head for possible paths to complete your project that you just can not make any forward progress. Sometimes your project stalls because you do not have any ideas on how to move forward. If it is a project that will bring in immediate revenue, every day you do not finish costs your business money.

Getting stuck is even more likely when you are starting your business and it seems like you are only working on project after project. Some of your projects are creating business systems that do not put money in your pocket but will be time savers in the future as your business grows. Some of your projects are content creation to attract clients and also do not bring in much money until you build a larger following. It is very difficult to prioritize between projects that will bring in immediate revenue and these business structure projects.

For the next few posts we will consider some steps you can take to get those projects done.

Be Brutal - Take a few hours or even a full day to review how you spend your work hours and ask yourself these questions for each task you currently do: 

• Does this task directly improve my business systems?
• Is this task truly necessary to operate my business?
• Will this task bring me future revenue?
• Does this task bring in immediate revenue?

If you can not answer yes to one of these questions for any task, it does not need to be done. Quit doing it. Keep your task list handy to use as a template in case you feel the need to Be Brutal in the future.

Eat the Liver First (If you love liver imagine a food you do not like instead.) - Do your least favorite tasks early in the day while you have plenty of energy and focus so they can be knocked out quickly. The exception to this is if you have a task that sucks the life out of you. If you can move that task to the end of the day and still actually do it, do so. It is better not to do such a task when it can interfere with other tasks.

Destination Finish Line - You know you have heard it before, you have to set your goals if you want to succeed. Create a task calendar to schedule your days. If you have a multi-task project, work back from your finish date and put the individual tasks on your calendar. For example some people that post in-person videos will batch shoot them. To do this you might plan or write several scripts on one day, shoot the videos a few days later and edit the videos the week you post them.

Try these steps to see if they work for you and in the next post we will consider more steps you can take to get those projects done.

Until next time...

​Have a great day,
​Susanne

Click here to get help developing or implementing your strategic plan.