Ultimate Guide to Productivity: A Tip That Worx

Posted on June 6, 2007 
Filed Under Business Worx, Customer Service, Tips & Tricks

I’ve been tagged! One of my very good and long-standing clients, Gillian Hood-Gabrielson of Healthier Outcomes, has tagged me once again. The last time she tagged me, I didn’t have a chance to participate because I was busy launching two new products: a resource site for the virtual assistance industry and a series of books I wrote with Jaime Lee Mann of Mann Made Time. As you can imagine, these projects took every spare second of my time, and then some. I didn’t want to miss out on this topic, although it is a little late. But better late than never, right?

The topic for this tag is favorite productivity tips, which was started by Ben Yoskovitz at the Instigator Blog. I have to admit that I haven’t been as productive as usual for the past few months, so this will be a hard one for me, especially after just returning from a much-needed vacation. I’m very good at helping my clients get organized and get things done, but lately I’ve had a harder time getting MY stuff done! My business has grown so much—and I’m certainly not complaining—but I often find it hard to keep up because I’ve taken on too much or overextended myself, even after adding several subcontractors to my team. For months I have been searching for that perfect system which will allow me to communicate with my team members and clients in a cohesive environment, and nothing seems to fit the bill. I am now testing yet another system and have high hopes that this will be THE ONE!

So as I search for a perfect system to handle, track, promote, and collaborate, I’ll share this productivity tip with you.

In order to be successful in our businesses, we have to stay focused on what needs to be done. Sounds pretty easy, but here’s the problem: as business owners, especially solo entrepreneurs, we find ourselves drowning in email, client requests, phone calls, and instant messages, all while trying to perform our daily tasks, to complete client projects, and to develop new products. While all of these things are important to our businesses’ success, they are quite simply distractions.

Think about it—you’re working on a client’s project, you’re in the groove, focusing on what needs to be done, and your computer alerts you that you have several new email messages. Like most of us, you’re an email-aholic, so you decide to take a few minutes to read them just to make sure there isn’t anything important. However, you probably can’t resist responding to at least one of them (if not all of them), and before you know it, you’ve just lost an hour.

Or maybe you’re plugging away on a project and your telephone rings. It’s a client whom you’ve been trying to reach for a few days, and you need to take the call. By the time you’ve finished talking, you’ve spent 15, 30, or 45 minutes on the phone. At this point, you really must get back to the original project you were working on, but now you have to spend another 15-20 minutes figuring out where you left off and getting back into the groove—only for several more email messages to pop up, which you feel compelled to rush off and read.

Do you see the vicious cycle here? The fact is, in order to be productive, you need to maintain a schedule of certain tasks—and you need to stick to this schedule—otherwise, you’ll end up accomplishing nothing all day and wondering where your time went and why you are behind. I know this because I’ve been in that cycle before, receiving up to one hundred email messages a day. Some are important, some are not so important, but the cycle continues.

So how do you handle the email issue?
The best thing you can do is shut down your email client! Instead of reading each email message as it comes in, schedule two or three times a day to check your email, and appoint 15-30 minutes for each block of time. Once that time is up, shut down your email and work on the things you need to get done. You could schedule this as the first task you complete when you enter your office, then again a few hours later, and once more just before you end your day. Make it consistent and do not deviate. By doing this, there will be no more email notifications popping up throughout your work day. No getting off topic. No distractions.

But what if you need to send an email? If you are using an email client on your local computer like Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc., you can still send an email message without actually opening your email client. If you need to send a document, you can send it directly from the application you’re working in. Most email clients will simply hold the email in your outbox until you open your email client, and then it will send them immediately. If you prefer that your messages be sent immediately, you can change your settings to do this as well.

When to handle phone calls
How you handle phone calls is a personal choice, but they are still distractions, so this ties in to the whole email question. Set a specific time every day to return phone calls or make client calls. (Note: If you provide technical or computer support, then answering your phone is obviously a continual duty that cannot be ignored if you want your business to thrive.) If you don’t have any calls to make that day, then you’ll have bonus time to work on projects for your clients or for your own business. Pick a time that is best for your clients. If you are on the East Coast, then choosing to return phone calls at 9 a.m. would not be beneficial for your clients on the West Coast. If your clients live in many different areas, then schedule two times a day to return calls: early morning for clients in your time zone and later afternoon for clients who are several hours behind you.

Nothing is worse than ending your day feeling as though you’ve accomplished nothing except replying to email and making phone calls, so I hope this tip helps you become more productive during your working hours.

Now I get to tag some people! I am tagging Crystal Pina, Yvonne Weld, and Sally Kuhlman. You’re “it,” ladies! I cannot wait to see your productivity tips.

Here are the rules from the Instigator Blog:

  1. Write a post on your best productivity tips.
  2. Include links to other people that have written posts, or include their tips in your post with proper attribution.
  3. If you use Technorati Tags, then tag your post “ultimate guide to productivity.”
  4. Tag others in your post to spread the meme. Tag as many people as you like!
  5. If you link back to Instigator Blog and email Ben, he’ll be sure to include at least 2 links back to you.

Happy Productivity!

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