Fed up with feeling flat-out? Sick of seeming swamped? Irritated by never-ending to-dos?
(Yeah, we lost the trick a bit there at the end. Alliteration’s hard.)
Well grab a coffee, sit up straight and pay attention. We’re about to set you on a path to the New You.
New You isn’t drowning in tasks. New You is the master of time management. New You gets it all done with time left over.
Here’s how.
Your Personal Productivity Plan
Forget productivity hacks and sales reps promising you’re just one tool away from changing your life.
Being productive comes down to three keys: prioritising your tasks, protecting your calendar and managing your time. Master these and New You will have their feet up in a hammock in no time.
Step 1: Know what needs to be done
A goal without a plan is just a wish. New You doesn’t make wishes. New You is a person of action.
List your priorities and create actionable goals that align with them. Starting with your highest priority, reverse engineer the goal to outline exactly what’s needed to get there.
Example: If breaking into a new market is a priority, then your goal might be to close five deals this year in that market. If you typically close 1 in 10 leads, you need to generate 50 leads. Your action plan could include prospect research, targeted marketing and cold calling.
Prospect research tasks include scouring Pacifecon. Targeted marketing tasks include scheduling ad campaigns. Cold calling tasks include identifying people to call.
Now that you know what to do…
Step 2: Stop wasting your time
Unfortunately, the task list before you is still incomplete. Besides the things you need to do to reach your goal there are other things you need to do just to keep your life on the rails. Things like reading emails, balancing the books, having dinner with your spouse.
Ready for your first revelation? Just because things have to be done doesn’t mean you have to do them. 🤯
Sort everything you do and everything you need to do into Covey Quadrants. This will get you clear on where you should spend your time.
Urgent + Important: High-priority tasks that can only be done by you.
Not Urgent + Important: You need to do these things, but not right now. Decide when you will tackle them and schedule the time on your calendar.
Urgent + Not Important: Some things that have to be done are below your pay grade. Delegate them to someone else.
Not Urgent + Not Important: Busywork creeps into everyone’s life at some point. Let it go.
Need help? This post walks you through the Covey Quadrant exercise in detail.
Now you know what needs to get done and who’s going to do it. Congratulations! That’s half the battle.
The next half is staying on top of everyone’s progress. We recommend Asana as a project management tool, but that’s just us. You might prefer Trello, Clickup or some other platform. It doesn’t really matter what you use. Just find a project management tool that works for your team and use it.
Step 3: Control your calendar
You’ve let your calendar call the shots for too long. It’s time to take that power back. Your calendar is meant to serve you, not the other way round.
Start with rules. Set simple, predictable rules like “No Meeting Mondays,” “Travel Tuesdays” and “No internal meetings before 10 or after 2.” (We told you, alliteration’s hard.)
These simple rules make it easy to plan your week and return your sense of control.
Make the rules public so your assistant and subordinates know when they can schedule a meeting and what times to avoid.
Block your time. Busywork is drawn to free space on your calendar like moths to a porch light. The secret to getting tasks done is to schedule them as though they’re meetings. That fools the busywork into leaving you alone.
At the beginning of the week, schedule all your important tasks to specific blocks on your calendar. It’s a lot easier to get things done if you’ve set aside the time to actually do them.
For bonus productivity points, do this at the end of the week instead. Before going home on Friday, schedule next week’s tasks. On Monday morning, you can hit the ground running.
Save time for fun. You’re trying to be a productive person, not a robot. Block space on your calendar for down time, too. Whether it’s time for lunch, a midday walk or a nonnegotiable dinner with the family, your personal needs are as much a priority as your work tasks.
Step 4: Stop meeting mayhem
Meetings are a part of business life. Time-sucking meetings that don’t get anywhere are not. Whip your huddles into shape to make them fast and efficient.
5 Rules for Effective Meetings
Only meet when the topic requires discussion. Keep status updates in email and Slack where they belong.
Always have an agenda that includes the meeting’s goal and next steps.
Set an end time and stick to it.
Organise the agenda in order of urgency. If you run out of time, you at least have direction on the most important items.
Make sure each person leaves the meeting clear on their action items.
Step 5: Treat your time like money
Imagine starting a new project in your business without setting a budget. Everyone involved just spends willy-nilly as things come up. No one ever investigates where the money’s gone.
You would never run your business like that, right?
Time is even more valuable than money. It’s the only thing you can’t make more of. But managers all over the country watch money like a hawk and spend time like they have a bottomless supply.
Stop it. Start tracking time.
Time tracking helps you monitor task progress. If something’s taking longer than expected, you can find out early on if your expectations were off or if someone needs help.
Once you’re paying attention, you’ll start to see patterns in your day. You’ll notice when you’re at peak productivity and when you hit a slump. Armed with that information, you can organise your time blocks to take maximum advantage of your power hours.
There are bunches of time tracking tools available. Check out this roundup to find one that works for you.
Be the Task Management Rockstar You Were Meant to Be
Now you know how to put together a personal productivity plan. But a plan means nothing unless you’re ready to execute.
Here’s your challenge
This week, write down your priorities and top goals. Create an action plan for your No. 1 goal.
If you don’t already have them, set up a project management tool and a time tracker.
Next, use the Covey Quadrant to prioritise your tasks. List daily tasks in your project manager and block specific time on your calendar to tackle them.
Follow your time blocks every day for a month. Track the time you spend on each task and adjust the length and placement of the blocks as needed.
After one month, make an assessment. Are you progressing toward your goals? Do you feel more in control? Are you ready to add new action plans?
If you hit a roadblock, or if you decide to take it to the next level, email us or drop us a note on LinkedIn or Facebook. Welcome to Productivity City!
