The life of an entrepreneur can feel overwhelming at times. There’s so much going on, even while working remotely. It’s truly the cliché saying, there’s so much to do with so little time. So, how are we busy entrepreneurs supposed to get anything done? A great start is this blog that you’ve landed on.
We know the feeling all too well and we see it among our eWN community more often than not. Start considering these productivity hacks we’ve put together to be your most productive self:
Work Around a Schedule that Works For You
Choosing a reasonable schedule that helps you balance business and personal life is one of the best things you could do for yourself as an entrepreneur. This doesn’t mean to schedule concerts and marathons in the middle of your week to work around your free time. It means to schedule your free time around the work you need to do. You should also be considerate of what times of day you work best. If you’re more productive at 7 a.m., get an early start to your workdays. If you find more focus and inspiration at 2 p.m., then schedule free time activities before and then hone in on work.
Be open-minded to the process if you’re going to test out what schedule works best with your preferences. Once you know when the best times are, make sure to stay consistent with maintaining that schedule.
We personally like to get an early start to our day around 7 a.m. We also prioritize important things that will take more brainpower at the beginning of the workday, which we’ll get into later in this blog.
Stop Multitasking
We know as entrepreneurs sometimes we feel the need to do 10 or more things at once. You may think this makes you more productive and saves time, but it actually does the opposite. Only 2 percent of people can effectively multitask, which leaves the other 98 percent of people actually lessening their productivity without even realizing it. It’s vital to nip that in the bud right now before you make a habit of it and find yourself running around like a chicken without a head on.
Bottom line, if you don’t multitask, you’ll be able to retain more information, work more efficiently, and save time (and possibly money). Just focus on one task at a time!
Define Your Important Tasks
Understanding which tasks you need to get to first and which can wait if you’re unable to that day will help productivity over time. Keep in mind that it’s also best to start your workday with tasks that are going to take more thinking than others. All you have to do is set 10 minutes or so aside every morning, or the night before, to identify what tasks need to be at the top of your list. Even if you only get these tasks done and don’t get to your whole to-do list, you can be at peace knowing that you’ve had a productive day.
We personally like to do this the night before so the moment we wake up, we have a solid plan to follow for the day. Knowing what you’re going to do prior to starting the day will help you focus your time better - work smarter, not harder!
Limit Distractions
In today’s day and age, it’s pretty easy to get distracted. There’s always so much going on from social media to electronics, especially with those who check their phone every five minutes or so. It takes an average of 25 minutes to return to an original task after an interruption. So how do you avoid these time-consuming distractions when working throughout the day?
Start with being aware of when you’re getting distracted. Are you switching from a task to check your emails and drown in a sea of newsletters? Do you find yourself paying more attention to the T.V. when you have it on in your office? Realizing these habits will help prevent them from happening as often in the long run. The next step is to figure out what you’re going to do to minimize it. You could set a certain time of day to do those things or take out distractions altogether.
Take baby steps if you don’t want to fully commit. Start with choosing certain days of the week to do so, but be sure to track your progress. You’ll be surprised by how much more productive you are when you have fewer distractions and can fully focus all your attention on your tasks.
Always Be Prepared to Take Notes
Have you ever had a brilliant idea that you swore you would remember and when the time comes it completely slipped your mind? We certainly do. It happens more often than not because we can only retain so much information, especially during other tasks. But you can avoid this by carrying something to take notes whenever something comes to mind.
You need to record everything that comes to mind the moment it comes to mind. Keep a notepad, journal, or utilize the Notes feature in your cellular device whenever this situation arises.
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