by Rex Richard | Jan 21, 2013 | Business, Personal Development
Does 30 days sound like too long of a time toward a more productive you? Toward a way to get more accomplished while at the office? It doesn’t matter whether you work in a cubicle or from a home office or from the front seat of your car, getting more accomplished during the course of the day leads to a sense of accomplishment and is a feeling that propels you toward even higher productivity.
I have five tips to offer as a way to get you down a road of productivity and a sense of well being and accomplishment:
- Commit to 30 days. You don’t have to wait until the first of the month to start this. Start today and commit for the next 30 days going forward. Having an end in sight may make you more likely to stick to it a goal/project. If you find the steps you’ve implemented aren’t working, feel free to toss them or look for new ones at the end of your 30 days.
- Make certain your goals are realistic. Yes, we’ve heard about those rare individuals that can pen a bestselling novel in 30 days or reach a six figure sales goal in a month… those individuals are few and far between. Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals. Remember, you’re looking to change your work habits and you can’t change yourself overnight. Don’t let a missed goal make you feel like an under-achiever; instead determine whether the goal was truly reachable.
- Baby steps are critical to making it to the top and achieving success with your goal. Remember, it’s easier to eat an elephant one bite at a time than to tackle it all in one meal.
- Find an accountability partner. Having a goal-buddy keeps you both accountable and helps you stay on task. It’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off of when you’re feeling stymied and run down.
- You need to believe in yourself, your capabilities and your skills. Be confident in who you are and what you do and that will go a long way in helping you reach your 30 day goal.
What will you set as your 30 day mile marker?
by Rex Richard | Jan 14, 2013 | Business, Personal Development
To do lists and adhering to a schedule can lead to productivity and a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day, but how do you get there? Here are my top five tips to getting, and remaining, productive:
- Are you going into a meeting? Is there an agenda? If there isn’t, call a time out and ask for an agenda. Walking into a meeting without an agenda is a recipe for spending time unproductively and walking out feeling frustrated.
- Hello? Do I know you? If I don’t know you, chances are I will not answer the phone when you call. Send me an email first as a way to introduce yourself. Too many times, business owners get bogged down on phone calls that go no where because… see number #1… and because we simply don’t know whether we can work together.
- Don’t get bogged down in emails. You need a system that works for you for not only answering messages, but for following up and for even knowing whether you need to answer, delete or delegate the message. The system you come up with is one that will be unique to your business’s specific needs. There is no one size fits all even though there are steps that can be taken to formulate a system to prioritize messages.
- Turn off email alerts while you’re in the midst of a mentally intensive project. If you’re constantly checking emails because it sent an alert, you won’t be fully invested in the project in front of you and therefore, you won’t give it your all. If you have to, let people know that you turn your email off from the hours of 9 am and noon or between 2 and 5 pm – whenever your most productive times are. Just because you get an email doesn’t mean you need to respond right now!
- Take a break. You read that correctly! You need to take time to get up from the computer screen and give both your mind and your body a break. Physical and mental exhaustion can set in quickly and you need to be prepared. Staying healthy and active benefits you and your clients!
What will you do to either get – or stay – productive?
by Rex Richard | Jan 8, 2013 | Business, Personal Development
January is the time of rebirth, renewal and resolutions. So many times, people set a goal or make a resolution only to see them unfulfilled. A goal unrealized can have the power to take you down a path of despair and the inability to complete other tasks on your list. Conversely, a resolution met propels you forward toward greater project completion.
Here are five ways we make resolutions we can keep:
- What is the end goal? Write that down. Break that into smaller steps then check those off as you complete them. Set a timeline, if necessary, to keep you on task.
- Note a target date and chart your progress toward reaching it. Build flexibility into your plans to account for setbacks. Don’t look at a setback as a failure – it is a chance to revamp the target itself.
- Document daily progress. In addition to writing a to-do list, there is power in crossing items off that list. The daily progress documentation keeps you on target and is a great motivator.
- Accountability matters. Find a trusted colleague to pair up with and work to keep each other on track. Report in several times a week. Share successes and come up with solutions to targets unmet.
- A minor setback is just that — a set back. It doesn’t mean that you need to scrap the project, it just means you need to rework your timelines and deadlines and the steps you need to reach the goal.
How well are you doing with your resolutions?
by Rex Richard | Dec 31, 2012 | Business, Personal Development
Whether you work for an employer, are self employed, or are simply looking for a way to get more productive and organized in 2013, here are my top three time-saving success tips:
- Take time to clean out your inbox. Opening your email and staring at hundreds or even thousands of unread emails is a stressor. Set aside a large chunk of time before year’s end to undertake this task then keep up with it by setting aside an hour a day to keep up with emails. Answer them or delete them; it’s that simple.
- Look at your to do list and see what you can get off of your plate. Look for items that are unnecessary to your career path and cross them off. Delegate projects to others. Look for tasks that you have made more complicated than they need to be and simplify them.
- Learn the power of saying both “yes” and “no.” When you’re asked to volunteer, take on a new task, attend a networking event… take a moment and ask yourself whether this task will enhance your career or your life; will it fulfill you or drain you; does it take you further toward your path of success or will it draw you away from it?
Make 2013 the year you take control of your time and your life and set boundaries. As a solopreneur you need to learn to take charge of your success; as an employee you need to be a valuable part of the team without taking on so much that you burn out.
by Rex Richard | Dec 24, 2012 | Personal Development, Spirituality
Attitude is everything — at the holidays and year round. Consider the phrase, “A person is about as happy as he makes up his mind to be.” If you think about it, it’s true. If you’re unhappy, your negativity will follow you and impact those around you. If you project a positive attitude that will surround those around you and feed on itself.
Adopting an “attitude of gratitude” is about more than counting your blessings on the holidays, it is about starting the day with a round up of your blessings and stopping to count them during the day. Embracing an attitude of gratitude means that you recognize your blessings as they occur throughout the day, week, month and year. Keep your mind and heart open to those blessings and expect them to come to you as you go about your day.
Remember, your attitude is the spyglass through which you view your day and your world. Your attitude is something over which you have the power to choose — good or bad — it is no one’s choice but your own. Is the glass through which you view the world clean and shiny or streaky and dirty?
Take a few minutes now, when you wake up in the morning, and before you go to bed at night to write down the blessings with which you’ve been favored. Your blessings and your attitude define your character and help you become the person that you are and the attitude through which you view the world.
by Rex Richard | Dec 17, 2012 | Business, Personal Development
Did you reach your personal and professional goals for 2012? Do you have new goals to set for 2013? Now is the time to put them into place and put them in writing as 2013 is fast approaching. To improve the likelihood that your goals will come to fruition, they need to be clearly articulated, achievable and most importantly, written down and put in plain view.
Try this Who, What and How approach for goal setting:
WHAT is the goal(s) you want to achieve? What steps do you need to take to consider it a successful goal? If your goal is to increase productivity by five percent, what is that “five percent”? Is it an increase in clients? Revenue? Both? If it is measurable, you will more easily see if you’re reaching the goal you’ve set.
HOW will you implement the steps to make the WHAT an achievable goal? Do you need special training? Do you need to diversify your offerings? Work with a new client base? Are there small, incremental goals you need to take to reach the larger outcome?
WHO is accountable for the goal? Do you have the staff and/or bandwith to reach your planned goal? Is there a person in charge of the projects toward the ultimate goal? Is there a team champion?
It’s easy to let a day or a week or even a month slip by without having checked a goal off your to-do list. Make 2013 the most productive year for meeting your goals. Are you ready?
