Entrepreneurial Health Series – Productivity For Entrepreneurs

As entrepreneurs, to remain competitive today, we have to maintain peak productivity; 

because higher productivity yields to higher profitability.

I have been often asked a question: “ Kelly, how do you manage your time?”  As people see me accomplishing more projects, get more things done in last 14 years than the average crowd: while we were relocating among 3 continents, Caribbean, plus 3 States, and not to mention I had my 2 pregnancy on the go.

The answer is I don’t manage my time. I can’t! I have 24 hours a day just like you do.  The only thing I can take charge is “myself”.

In other words, I manage myself in time. It is one of the top secrets for high Productivity For Entrepreneurs

In order to have high productivity, just like everything else, you cannot take all activities as they come, that’s reactive, not proactive. When we are reactive, we are controlled by the environments and circumstances.  When we are proactive, we take charge of the above!

I have been observed from some high-achievers in real life, and learned from the common threads of patterns.  Here are some key strategies:

1.Self-Disciplined planning ahead

“Your success is  determined by your daily agenda.”  ~John C Maxwell

I see this 1st hand of my father-in-law, a well accomplished banker and investor in Switzerland.  Exclude the vacation time otherwise (we are the ones ruined his schedule:),  without exception, papa has his planner filled at least over 6-month period of time. He knows exactly what needs to be done everyday in these 6 months.  That includes countless business meetings, social gatherings, family parties, business trips, house-maintenance..etc you name it…we often book our flight from USA to Switzerland for Christmas gathering in APRIL, because he asked us to!   While sometimes we “complained” to him that it is not easy to be able to know things ahead, the principle he has taught and demonstrated to us is invaluable, take proactive attitude towards life in general, not wait till it is front of your face, then react to it. No time management, but manage ourselves in time!

So my question to you is: How far ahead you plan for your business activities? Are you proactive or reactive?

Yes, we are talking about Productivity For Entrepreneurs!

2. Schedule EVERYTHING!

As today’s multi-media age, it is so convenient for us to access the information we desire. In fact, it’s probably too convenient to get us off track of things we should be doing. Have you ever wandered around Facebook, phone calls, texting, browsing the web…or stop by a store just to to get one things, 2 hours later come out with the whole bag,…in the end of the day, feel tired and defeated, ask yourself, “What I have done today?”  I am not against spending time in social media, phone calls, or go shopping…the problem is when you don’t schedule it, you easily lose the track of time and the focus of your activity.

How about exercise, learning new skills, vacations, date nights…chances are if you don’t schedule it, you will not do it effectively or whole heartedly.

As you are grabbing your calendar to start scheduling what we mention above, some of you might need to “detox & batch” your calendar.

Look closely all your activities and ask yourself this question: Do I really need to attend this event? Should I say “yes” to help out this time again while I am already overwhelmed with my plate now…at the same time, batch as much as you can for all errands, doctor appointments on certain days of the week,  you’ll be amazed to find out how much money and time you will save!

So, grab your calendar out, and get to work! (schedule everything, including “distraction allowance” time)

3. Say no to “Multi-tasking”!

We are not made for it, period! We cannot do two tasks with attentional focus at once. What we are really doing isn’t multitasking, but switching tasks in our brain. According to wikipedia:

“Because the brain cannot fully focus when multitasking, people take longer to complete tasks and are predisposed to error. When people attempt to complete many tasks at one time, “or alternate]rapidly between them, errors go way up and it takes far longer—often double the time or more—to get the jobs done than if they were done sequentially,” This is largely because “the brain is compelled to restart and refocus”  It usually involves skimming the surface of the incoming data, picking out the relevant details, and moving on to the next stream. You’re paying attention, but only partially. That lets you cast a wider net, but it also runs the risk of keeping you from really studying the fish. This kind of processing is called [continuous partial attention] is multitasking where things do not get studied in depth.”

Think about it:

What we do is we switch focus back and forth between tasks. So oftentimes when we switch back one of the tasks, we asked “Where was I?” It is very costly and ineffective.  Therefore, stop “multitasking”!

4. Set up your zones

In order to be most productive, your working environment is very important. Let me ask you a question, “Will you cook meals in your bedroom?” , or “Will you entertain guests in your restroom?”  I know it sounds ridiculous and surely not effective, same principle when it comes to set up your working space.  Many people think as long home office is set up, then it should do it. Oftentimes it is not the case.  For example, I do a lot of writing and video creating in my dining room or upstairs;  in my home office is my communication center I called it.  It is the place I host webinar, skype with my coaching clients and business partners.  Planning schedule…but not for content creating that much.  I also found out that when I am driving, in the isolated space, some creative ideas will flow…so I prepare a notepad in the car to catch those ideas when it is red light.  You got the idea, for you, it might be going out to library, or coffee shop for a change; just to be more aware of what environment works for your productivity, and set schedule for the tasks, you will be surprised how much you can get done just by paying more attention to your environment settings.

5. Your time worth

To brutally realize how much is your time worth, and boost up “Productivity For Entrepreneurs” (you)  is to place a dollar amount upon your time.  For example, if you desire to make $10,000/month, let’s say you work 8 hours a day for your business, however, stats shows out of that 8 hours, only 30% is the revenue-producing period of time, so it means about 3 hours/day you are producing income.  3 hours x 5days/week x4 weeks (1 month)= 60 hours /month you are working on producing income for your business.

$10,000/60 = $167 /hour worth of your time.  So whenever you wander around any hour, that is what will cost you.  Now will you then be more conscious about how you use your time moment to moment? Of course you do!

I trust you will implement the above strategies, and try it for at least 30 days, and see what kind of transformation will occur to your productivity! I am looking forward to hearing from you!

As always, if you find the above content helpful, please do SHARE, VOTE, and COMMENT below, I appreciate much your feedback.

much love,