Share priorities and plans with people who can contribute to your small business productivity.

Once you understand your time usage better you can focus taking back control of your time with a few productivity tips.

In part one If You Want to Accomplish Something Become Productive Not Busy we covered the following:

• Being Busy is Not Being Productive.
• The definition of busy: busy includes ‘having a great deal to do’, ‘being occupied’ and even ‘being industrious’, and even ‘devoted to work’.
• According to the definition of productivity: productivity involves “being able to generate, create or enhance goods or services”. To be productive you need to have a “material impact on something or produce something”.
• Personal Time Analysis – Understand How Your Time Is Spent
• A simple way of tracking your time includes taking a ‘day planner’
• Six apps you can use to effectively track and then analyse your time usage.

Seven Steps Towards Productivity

1.  Focus on your health:

Yes, I am starting with this one because it is a fundamental element of productivity. You cannot be productive if you are burnt out, tired, stressed.

Build into your routine time to exercise, sleep and eat well. Find and establish the routines you need to maintain your health and prioritize it each day. Benjamin Franklin scheduled himself 7 hours a night for sleep. It is important that the sleep be restful sleep and not just laying in bed tossing in turning.

Taking brief naps and periods of mindful rest can also help maintain your physical and mental health.

2.  Assess your priorities:

How well do you know and understand your goals?

Chasing the wrong new customer or chasing a small savings might seem a good way to make or save money but not if it costs you something else that is important, like your health or trusted relationships.

Each day and every week as part of the routine you have established, put aside a short burst of time to question the importance of the things that are keeping you busy but may not be helping you advance towards your goals.
3.  Clarify and evaluate your goals: By understanding your end goals and where your activities fit into your goals you can evaluate where tasks fall in your priority list. Align each task with a purpose to determine if you should continue, alter or drop the task from your week.
4.  Build healthy routines: Routines can increase your productivity, when you establish routines that help you create good habits.

To change your ineffective routines into productive ones you need to put time in over a few weeks to make the change stick. Try creating routines that involve blocking time each day and week to complete specific tasks, to review communications and respond as needed, to regularly delete email messages, to rest, have fun, and more.

Honor time for yourself and with people who are important to you. Try to be proactive and not reactive in how you are spending your investment in time.

Next- Productivity steps 5 through 7