When you are a small business owner, it's so easy to start your day like a race, running as fast as you can and jumping hurdles as they appear in your way. All of a sudden, it's lunch time - maybe we take a breath and maybe we race through that too. In the middle of the afternoon you realize you're TIRED! Even when you feel "busy" all day long, it's possible that some of your habits are really working against your productivity and draining you of energy. Let's have a look at a couple of these habits and see if there are some changes you could make to get more done and have some energy leftover at the end of the day. A Messy, Cluttered Working Environment: The same principle applies whether you work at home, in an office, or a combination of both - Clutter Will Suck Energy! I've met people who feel that a clean, organized workspace is evidence that not much is being accomplished; after all, where's the evidence of all the work being done if there are no piles of folders, papers, and sticky notes everywhere? If you work in a space that is cluttered then you are spending unnecessary time looking for things. Your physical clutter is also translating to mental clutter. You would be shocked at how much time you spend just looking for things. This applies to both physical things in your house or office, as well as what's on your computer's hard drive. You'll find that all this time adds up to a couple extra days over a year's time...maybe a couple days of your vacation - just looking for things. To put an end to this, set aside some time to get things cleaned up and organized and then get a system into place to keep it that way. You'll see your productivity soar! An Open-Door Policy: By "open-door" I mean that both literally and figuratively. When you are working, you must learn to value your time. If you stop to reply to emails or take unscheduled calls throughout the day then you are allowing other people to schedule your time for you. Some experts say that for every interruption in our day, it takes between 15-20 minutes to regain focus and get back into the swing of what we were doing before being interrupted. You can do the math - just multiply those 20 minutes by the number of times you are interrupted. Set blocks of time when you will answer emails and return phone calls. An excellent and useful tool is any kind of voicemail. You may even leave a nice message that you return your calls at 11:30 and 4:30 each day, for example. If you work at home, this may be especially hard to change. If you have children and a spouse who feel they can interrupt you at any given moment, it will be hard to change that. But it is possible. Start with an after-hours chat about it and explain and ask for your family's support. Set your business hours and then keep to them. Think about taking time to share your plans for improvement and your goals with them and even invite them to be part of the plan, also enjoying your achievements with special bonuses, such as a night out or perhaps a small weekend getaway or a vacation. Productivity will become easier when you make it a top priority; when you stop to assess where your time and energy are being siphoned off. Take immediate action to make some changes and tweak your current systems.
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