If you’re creatively inclined, then you probably enjoy most of your time coming up with ideas, but you’re likely less intrigued by the serious business side that requires a lot of focus and monotonous work.
Any creative projects require these aspects to become full-fledged products or ideas, as annoying as it may seem. Don’t panic when it comes time to set aside your creativity, because you will get back to it.
Instead, just focus on your intentions with the creative idea and work to bring it to reality. While ideas certainly have merit, they’re not particularly useful if they’re never put into action.
Often times, putting them into action can be a tedious process, but it becomes worth it to see your creative endeavor brought to life, able to accomplish the goals that you had in mind when you thought of it in the first place.
For example, if you came up with a great infographic to inform people about a topic that you’re passionate about, it wouldn’t get very far as a simple idea or rough draft. A completed product that was shared and spread online would be able to actually inform others and spread your knowledge, but it’s going to take work.
You’re going to have to do research and cite sources, make it look nice, and go through the work of getting it to be spread and shared around. These are tedious things, but since your intent was to spread knowledge to begin with, it makes it worth your effort.
You might also want to create something with the intent of generating some income for yourself. It might be something like designing logos for up and coming companies or making physical products that people can buy on websites like Etsy.
The thought process is fun when you get to utilize your creativity, but then comes the actual process of bringing it to reality. Gathering materials, stocking your inventory, shipping purchases – all of these things can be a hassle.
Regardless of whether or not it’s a pain for you to do, your intention was to make money. The only way for you to do that is to give them an actual product. Very seldom will people pay good money for the concept of something that they’ll have to actually create themselves.
Instead, they’re more interested in purchasing a completed product, something that they don’t have to put any more work into. That’s where your effort to backburner your creativity comes in handy.
While technology and all of the gadgets we have today are certainly useful and can help you work more efficiently, they may also be dragging down your creativity and focus.
Whether it be a ton of distractions on all your devices or the fact that you might be using them as a crutch, they can sometimes do more harm than good for your creative flow and ability to focus.
In these situations, it’s best to put all of the tech down and just focus with the bare essentials. It’s almost like a palate cleanser. While you spend hours and hours writing on Word documents or drawing pictures in Photoshop, you can just as well get it done with a good old fashioned pen and paper.
It might not be as efficient, but it helps in ways that you might not anticipate. The best thing to do when attempting this is to separate yourself from as much technology as possible.
Otherwise, you shouldn’t be listening to music or watching anything, and preferably it’s somewhere outside where you can really absorb the sights and sounds of nature. When you don’t have the distractions of technology, from constant alerts to easily accessible entertainment, you might find that you’re able to be much more focused.
You’re there with only your own work to do, and otherwise you have nothing to really focus on. If you’re having trouble focusing, this might be a great way to get you back on track.
In terms of creativity, technology is very helpful, but it can start to become more of a crutch than a tool. If you know that you can always reference random guides online and draw inspiration from all kinds of other designs, then you may start to lose your creative edge.
By isolating yourself from all of that, you’ll be able to use your own pure creativity to create something entirely unique, without the reliance on all kinds of other sources. You should always look at technology as a tool – a means to an end.
It’s an amazing tool that you can and should take advantage of, but sooner or later, you’re going to reach a point where you’re becoming overly dependent on it, at which point you need to take a break and reassess.
Productivity is often stressed above all else in businesses today. It’s the best way to put out product after product, which typically results in the highest profit yield. However, productivity isn’t everything.
You need to be able to put out something that you’re proud of, something original and creative, and too much focus on productivity may stifle that, leading to some rather negative consequences.
There are many companies that would rather put out as many products as possible instead of making high quality products a priority. There’s a balance to be found between the two.
You obviously can’t release just one small product every year, but you also can’t be rushing so quickly that you’re not putting enough effort into things. Once you start to rush through your projects without care, you’ll start to slip.
If they’re used to receiving quality products from you, ones that are made with much love and care, they’ll be pretty sour once they start receiving a ton of mediocre work.
At that point, word may start to spread, and you can actually end up losing business. Creativity takes time. That is a fundamental part of business – it doesn’t just come out of thin air.
It takes time and care for you to develop an idea fully and to polish it to near perfection. You can’t take all the time in the world to get it done, since you naturally have certain deadlines to meet, but you can put a bit of extra time and effort into it to get it just as you’d like, to make something you’re proud of.
Extended periods of time spent pumping out as much as you can without any true creative input can actually hurt you in the long run as well. It might get you some short term sales, but it’ll start to fall off.
Creativity is like a muscle. It needs to be exercised frequently in order to grow and develop as well as stay healthy. If you’re not spending some time honing your creativity over a certain amount of time, it will start to degrade.
Eventually, you’ll be left without the same degree of creativity that you had before, and it can be difficult to get back into your flow when you need it. Instead of focusing on pure quantity, make sure you’re actually putting some heart and effort into the things you produce.
Well, as I’m sure you can appreciate, there is a lot more to be learnt about increasing focus and productivity; far more than can be covered in this short post, but if you’d like to know more about this, then click on the featured resource below where you can pick up a free report, Stay Focused For Success, that covers this topic in more detail. Download, read it and take action 😊
We all have a hundred different ideas that we feel could be a smashing success in our industry.
Whether it be the idea for a new product or service, there’s more ideas than there is time.
This is where you need to learn to reign in all of those ideas you have and construct an action plan that not only fleshes those ideas out so you can weed out the likely winners from the duds, but it will help you focus on boosting productivity.
Why do you need to do this?
Because it’s been proven that the human brain can’t focus on more than one thing at a time.
When we try to divide our attention, we end up scattered. Our quality also suffers. While learning to multi-task may seem like a great idea, narrowing your focus so that you’re tackling one task at a time will always produce better results.
So, what can you do when you have more ideas to grow your business than you have time for?
Begin by jotting down the top ideas that come to mind. Don’t write summaries or get carried away with hashing out the details. Instead, write down titles for each idea.
Then, tear them apart, one-by-one. Be realistic with your expectations and the time you have to spend on each project. Think about your core audience and what they’d be most interested in.
Create a priority list based on all the ideas you have. Again, keep your audience in mind because the ideas you have may not align with what your market is actively looking for.
Otherwise, you’ll spend more time thinking about and analyzing ideas, versus bringing those ideas to life.
A project management system is a great tool when it comes to not only fleshing out potential ideas but in staying on track with the projects you’re working on.
Day-to-day operations can be exhausting to keep track of. With a system in place that makes it easy for you to assign value to projects, allocate time and be able to generate a quick snapshot at where you are during each project will make it easier to stay focused on your end goals.
There are countless project management tools available to you including Asana and Basecamp.
You can easily create schedules using Google Calendar found here:
https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center/tips/calendar
By now you probably realise that there are different ways you can improve focus and subsequently, increase productivity and quality output and I have covered a number of them in this and other blog posts.
And now I want to give you a few more tips and strategies that I hope will help you. You can never have enough ways to boost your productivity, right?
Previously I have mentioned the importance of narrowing your focus down to one main goal at a time since it’s been proven that our brain responds better when we are working on one project at a time, rather than attempting to multi-task.
Use project management tools such as Asana or Basecamp to help you stay on track.
What projects aren’t panning out? What do you feel is less likely to be a success?
What tasks could be wiped off the to-do list? Take a step back and evaluate the things you’re spending your time on, staying on the lookout for ways to free up your time and improve your focus.
This is an important one when it comes to staying focused. If you’re finding yourself burned out working on tasks that you are simply not interested in, chances are the quality of your projects won’t be up to par.
Instead, learn to delegate the tasks that you don’t personally enjoy. Not only will you be able to increase output, but you’ll be able to provide a higher level of quality to your customer base by turning to the experts.
Struggling to complete a task because you lost focus?
And finally…
We all struggle with focusing on tasks, especially repetitive or mundane ones. Even the most organized of us all has those moments where no matter what we do to try to refocus on our goals, it feels as though we’ll never get ahead.
So cut yourself some slack when this happens. Acknowledge the fact that you can only do so much. Sometimes taking a step back and giving ourselves permission to simply take a creative break is enough to boost productivity and re-focus on the bigger picture.
Here are some steps to take that may help you with that:
Well, as I’m sure you can appreciate, there is a lot more to be learnt about increasing focus and productivity; far more than can be covered in this short post, but if you’d like to know more about this, then click on the featured resource below where you can pick up a free report, Stay Focused For Success, that covers this topic in more detail. Download, read it and take action 😊
It seems counterintuitive to state that you could be more efficient by wasting time. But, the truth is, when you allow yourself some flexibility in the process, you have the potential to make efficiency happen.
The phrase wasting time is actually a misnomer in this case. What you are doing is setting aside some time to be creative or to get some exercise, etc. It could even be a time that lets you clear your head by taking a walk or sitting in a room by yourself to get away from the grind.
People make proclamations that they are too busy to waste time in the manner specified. But, that could be a huge mistake. When you set aside that time to do something out of the ordinary or spontaneous, you often discover ways to do your main tasks better.
For instance, suppose you went to the gym during your lunch hour, and you took a class. In the class is someone who is involved in the same kind of business you are in but works for a different company.
You both get to talking and become friends. Then, you exchange ideas and in the process discover information that you incorporate into your work.
This exchange may not have happened in your workspace. Sometimes, it takes outside entities to get our creative juices flowing. Therefore it’s always a good idea to look for different ways to accomplish the same tasks or talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to on a routine basis.
You will need to make sure this time-wasting process if it can be called that, is limited to a small percentage of your day or your to-do list. You still need to get your work done.
But, there is a reason why companies don’t harp onto their employees when they take some time to socialize in the coffee room, etc. Even within different departments, you can expand your knowledge base, and that is good for the company as a whole.
Some people will go overboard with this and end up being late on their deadlines. Avoid this at all costs. Set goals for the day that give you a certain amount of time for yourself after completing a large portion of your daily routine.
When you learn how to be more efficient, you get more work done, and you tend to do it better, all things being equal. This makes your boss happy which means you won’t get in trouble for not getting your work complete. You may be given more responsibilities as a result, but as long as you maintain your efficiency, you should be able to add those to your workload.
Efficiency also means getting others to help you out. As you prove your effectiveness and your responsibilities increase, you should be able to get support for having others pitch in.
When you get support from your boss, it will be more difficult for your colleagues to resist your authority. Besides, when you show them how to be more efficient, it will get them on board. They will likely ask others for help when that happens.
This increase in efficiency is going to mean more work gets done, but it will take less time. You will constantly look for ways to do things better, whether it be via automation, or use delegation, etc.
Since you are getting more done with less, your stress levels will decrease, and you will be happier at work.
This can get to the point of adding to your stress levels if they don’t support you. For instance, if they discourage you from delegating these new responsibilities, or they don’t give you the tools you need, this will overwhelm you and add to your stress. If talking it out with your manager won’t help, it may be time to look elsewhere.
The good news is your increased skills in being efficient will help you land a new job quicker.
When you learn how to be more efficient, you have greater control of your workload. Most people find they actually free up time when this happens due to economies of scale.
This free time gives you breathing room, and you won’t be so flustered all the time. You won’t be scrambling to get your work done by the deadlines.
Efficient people tend to have more opportunities available to them, in their current employment situations as well as outside the organization. They will always be in more demand. The great part about this is it won’t add to their stress levels.
One of the reasons people hate going to the gym is because they have to spend hours there to get any benefits. But, there are ways to make your workouts more efficient, which means you won’t have to spend as much time at the gym.
Do some of your exercises at home. If you have some dumbbells lying around, keep them in your family room or whatever room you spend most of your time. While watching television, stand up and use the dumbbells for one set. Do this on commercial breaks.
You can also do a set of sit-ups while watching television or whatever you do in your spare time. If you can get several sets in while you are home, you will have less to do at the gym. By staggering these exercises, you will be more inclined to do them.
Consider using the services of a personal trainer. These people go through a certification which means they learn the best exercises to do in the shortest time possible.
They will also show you how to do them right and correct you when you are not. The downside to this is they tend to be expensive and require you to work with them on a weekly basis.
It’s probably a good idea to keep the number of people you work with small. The larger a group is, the more they become distracted with talking too much, etc. This can still happen when you work with one person. If it does, you can try to choose someone else as your workout partner.
Another way to make your workouts more efficient is to come up with an actual plan for your workout. You could choose to hire a personal trainer just to come up with your plan and then do the workouts on your own.
But, there is also plenty of information on the internet that can help you structure your own plan. Try out different plans you may find and write them down. Make sure you are consistent in working your plan and have a way to measure your success.
Make sure that you factor in your diet when you are working out. Many people believe they can eat whatever they want since they are working out. This is false, and you will not get as much out of your workout when you do this.
Want to learn more about increasing efficiency and productivity? Then check out the featured resource below to grab a free report; download, read it and take action 😊
So, you’re anxious to reach those goals you’ve set for yourself and your online business, but you quickly realize that there’s only so much time in the day. No matter how hard you try, you feel as though you’re always one step behind.
One thing becomes very clear: You need a plan.
Without a system designed to place a value on each hour you spend working on your business, you’ll find yourself frantically scrambling to meet deadlines, follow through on launches and prioritize what is most important to your business.
This article has been written to help you get more done in less time by levelling up your productivity score quickly and easily.
The strategies contained in this article are designed to help you learn to value your time, make informed decisions about the kind of work you’re focused on and ultimately, beat the clock.
Let’s begin. There’s no time to waste. 😊
One of the reasons so many people seem to struggle to gain traction in their business is entirely due to the way they manage their daily activities.
This typically points to one major problem: People are stuck in an employee mindset!
They’re so used to that 9-5 grind that they aren’t equipped to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, which will help them make the transition so they can train themselves to focus on the most important tasks: prioritizing their time and assigning value to the time they spend building their business.
As an entrepreneur, you’re solely responsible for your business, so your ability to value your time and make every minute count will have a major impact on how successful you’ll be.
Fail to make this important shift in the way you spend your time, and you’ll always struggle to get to where you want to be.
Thankfully, it’s not all that difficult to break that cycle and transition your way of thinking from that of an employee to a boss. It starts with preparing yourself for the realities of being an entrepreneur.
This means you need to:
Set Realistic Goals. You must be honest about what you’re capable of getting done on any given day. Then you need to determine how many hours you’re willing to invest in your business and then assign those hours to specific projects.
Break tasks down into smaller, focused projects. Tim Ferris, author of “The 4-Hour Work Week”, refers to this as “chunking”. We’ll talk more about the importance of this in a bit because it’s a great way to boost your productivity and get more done in less time.
Cut out Distractions. Your work environment will change drastically from what you may be used to as an employee, and you need to optimize your workspace so that it’s supporting a focused, productive workflow.
Identify the Truth Behind Procrastination. This is one of the hardest things to acknowledge at times, especially if you’ve gotten into the habit of procrastinating for reasons you aren’t aware of.
We’ll talk more about this in an upcoming chapter because it deserves a section of its own. It’s that important.
Be Ruthless in Prioritizing. Does your email really need to stay open while you work so that all those notifications cause you to continuously check your inbox?
Now let’s take a closer look at how you can learn the chunking technique, which will immediately boost your daily output and keep you focused on meeting your goals.
For years, I would fire up the laptop and start my day doing several different things at once. I’d check email, then maybe do some writing, then head over to social media, and then back to email yet again.
Chunking is where you decide to focus on just one major task at a time (or even per day). Depending on the type of business you’re involved in, this might include one day exclusively focused on graphic design, then one day dedicated to marketing.
Consider creating a detailed task list of all the important aspects of your business; the things that keep it all afloat and absolutely require your time.
This can be tricky because we tend to things all things are important, but the reality is, they’re not.
When it comes to any business, there are a handful of critical tasks that need to be taken care of daily, and the rest just adds a little more gas to the tank. They can be done later once the main tasks are out of the way.
You need to learn to place a value on every ounce of “fuel” you have left. That’s where chunking comes into play.
Don’t be tempted to multi-task because this is a productivity killer! So many people make a big deal of being able to multi-task, but all you end up with are a number of tasks that are partly done and an increasing amount of frustration because you never seem to be able to clear things off your to-do-list; sticking to one task at a time is much more productive, believe me!
And remember, one way to stay productive is to be focused and many people struggle with this. If you want to learn more about staying focused, check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 😊
We live in an era of information overload. We are bombarded with media, technology, entertainment, and notifications every day. It seems there are hundreds of people and things competing for your attention at any given time. There is no wonder why in the last few years, our attention spans have become shorter and our ability to focus has decreased.
Let’s begin by examining some productivity maximizers that make us more productive. We will discuss tips and techniques to help improve your focus. Then let’s look at how holding yourself accountable can help you to improve your productivity today! Finally, we’ll look at how you can start to set time limits on projects to keep you on track.
Hacking your mind to increase your productivity is just one part of the process.
The next relies on maximizing that productivity. You’ll need to decrease burn out, as well as focus on the end results.
In addition, learning to turn your goals into processes will help you get more done.
Burnout is a very real problem that affects your productivity. The work-life balance is hard to achieve, but it is necessary.
Symptoms of burnout:
It’s clear that a burnout period can make it even tougher to get your tasks done. Thankfully, there are some tricks to help you get out of this slump.
Some of them involve taking time for yourself.
Not only will these activities help prevent burnout, but with them, you can overcome it. You’ll end up much more productive as a result.
What’s the end result of the items on your “to do” list? By focusing solely on the goal instead of the individual tasks, you’ll be more likely to get everything done.
The end result can be either big or small.
By changing how you think about your tasks, you’ll be able to achieve more. The process stops being about getting one thing done and instead focuses on meeting a goal.
Stop thinking about your goals as events, and instead, consider them processes instead. The difference lies in learning how to enjoy everything that it takes to meet those goals. Once you love what you do, you’ll want to work harder.
Now let’s take a look at accountability.
If you’re struggling to get things done, it’s easy to switch up your routine believing that will help you get back on track.
Sometimes this is effective, sometimes it only makes it harder to refocus our attention where it’s needed most.
What can we do to refresh and refocus so that our attention and energy is going on the things that matter? And where is that time going?
Were you spending too much time in email or on social media trying to respond to customers or provide instant support?
If so, consider outsourcing support inquiries to a live agent or support desk so that you aren’t constantly distracted by people who need your time while still being able to provide prompt service.
P.S. Want to know more about outsourcing? Click here for a great post to read and you can also get a detailed outsourcing report here .
Did you fail to prioritize tasks and goals and ended up losing focus because you are constantly multi-tasking in an effort to catch up?
If so, consider using a product management tool that will guide you through each workday. The key is to develop a regular routine, along with work habits that improve your focus and workflow.
It’s also important to know when your struggle to focus is your body’s way of saying it’s had enough.
Instead, give yourself time for creative breaks so that you’re able to reenergize and boost that productivity.
Burn out is a real thing and it’s the #1 focus killer so learning to hold yourself accountable while still also giving yourself room to take those necessary breaks so that you’re able to boost creativity and output is important.
It’s easy to get caught up spending more time on a project that you initially planned. We can always find ways to tweak and improve our brand, services and products – but the problem is that not all of this time is wisely spent.
Let your market dictate the time you allocate to your projects.
Here are a few tips to help you improve focus and boost productivity:
Set time limits on every single task – no exceptions.
Lay out the groundwork for each project you are working on, including a complete overview of how to get from start-to-finish. Then, create to a schedule and stick to it!
Not only will doing this help you get more done in less time, but it will immediately improve your focus because you are allocating a specific amount of time to one thing – and following through with it.
We can easily waste a ton of valuable time by trying to get everything done at one but without creating a priority list that outlines the most critical steps in the process of reaching your goal, we can end up struggling to meet deadlines.
WANT TO Doesn’t Mean You HAVE TO.
When you’re running short on time and you’re struggling to focus, a priority list becomes even more important.
And by breaking your tasks down into chunks that are assigned a clear value, you’ll be able to zero in on the parts of your business that need more attention while freeing up valuable time.
Prioritization is a crucial skill to master so take the time to get used to it.
This is a critical step in staying focused. It begins with creating a strategy and regular routine based on when you are most productive, creative and able to produce without distractions.
Do you have to shut off your phone, close your email, or fire up a playlist in order to spring into action?
Your work environment is just as important as your overall workflow. You should do everything possible to separate your personal life from your work life so that you are able to eliminate distractions and focus on your priority list.
Boundaries are very important for productivity so try to make use of them if at all possible.
If you’re allowing negative thoughts and self-doubt to lead the way, you’ll never have enough faith in your abilities to see things through.
You’ll not only take longer to get ahead, but chances are you’ll never reach your desired destination.
Well, there is a lot more to be learnt about increasing focus and productivity; far more than can be covered in this short post, but if you’d like to know more about this, then click on the featured resource below where you can pick up a free report that covers this topic in more detail. Download, read it and take action 😊
