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Productivity: Expectations vs. Reality
People often ask me about how I manage to find time to run my business, write my blog, keep up with the “untangling” of my clients, work on publishing my book (It’s going to be my first one, pause for a moment of YAY!), make creations in my art studio and have time for fun and loved ones. And my answer is always the same. There are no life hacks or secret techniques that any one person can employ to boost productivity. Productivity is just the result of a mindful yet action-based lifestyle.
And to me, it’s all about these things I implement in my day-to-day life (business and pleasure).
So, today’s blog post is a bit of a breakdown of just that …
Prioritize your tasks because not every task is of equal importance (even though it may seem so at the time). Taking a few minutes each day to sort and prioritize the tasks at hand will give you more free time and brain power to focus on what is more important. For me, I like to do things the day before after my business day ends (or sometimes before bed if I need a break from “the office”). This way my brain is clear for sleep-land and when I’m ready to start work the next day, I already know what needs to be done because my plan is set in place – right in front of me.
Do not chase perfection as disappointment resides in the gaps between your expectations and reality. I will admit I get stuck with this one sometimes. But only because I am so passionate about what I do, while wearing my heart on my sleeve because I really truly do care about my client’s needs just as much as my own. Remember, perfection is not real. It’s just a word.
As Chris Myers, Co-Founder and CEO of BodeTree, states …
As humans, we all have a tendency to strive for the things hat are unattainable. However, if we’re looking for perfection, we’re less likely to produce anything. It’s better to settle for “good enough” and keep moving forward than allow the search for perfection to grind you to a halt.
Have a thinking position (or spot) that you find absolutely exhilarating so you can brainstorm and come up with your most genius ideas. For me, it’s a position during the day and a spot in the evening. (Not sure how that works but it just does!)
Have a devoted workspace/place so that you have a place you can call your own. Especially if you work from home as the last thing you need is piles of papers and post-it notes all over the house disrupting your loved ones and your lifestyle. You do not want to feel like you are working while you are trying to relax with a nightcap of Netflix. Out of sight, out of mind (temporarily of course).
Find your golden hour and make use of that time wisely. Remember, you’re an entrepreneur for a reason which means you no longer have to be stuck to that sticky-icky 9-5 schedule! Some individuals are night owls and sleep all day. Yet some rise at the crack of dawn and are out of the house, living their best lives by noon. Then there are individuals like me, who like to rise early but take my “morning time” work my butt off all day then take some life time in the afternoon and go back to the office a couple hours after dinner to “tighten things up” and take care of business (whether client or own business needs). I do things that way as it works for my lifestyle and gives my creativity some breathing room.
Your golden hour is the time when you’re at your highest peak. When you’re most alert and ready to be your own productivity Queen (or King). When your to-do list is your Bit*h. Make your golden hour your own – blissful uninterrupted work time — and protect it with all your might!
Do not burn yourself out because you need you. Your clients need you. Your business needs you. It only takes 90 to 120 minutes for you mind and body to get tired of a task you’ve been working ever so hard on with extreme uninterrupted focus. Take breaks! And try to keep this in mind as you prioritize your tasks.
Beat procrastination and those millions of excuses and distractions that take you away from the task(s) at hand. I truly understand that it can be a constant battle to stay productive, organized and for some, even tidy. I myself slip off the “untangled” wagon once and awhile. To beat procrastination, I have found in my daily practices (and much research) of being the Queen of productivity and organization (Thank you Danielle Desiree Gomez for assigning me the greatness of that title!), that’ it’s better to tack action the minute you see an issue. No matter what it is. When you just do it, just dive right on it, you will often find that the process wasn’t nearly half as bad or grueling boring or tedious as you originally expected.
Productivity stars weed out the fluff. They don’t get bogged down on timewasters. ~ John Brandon, Contributing Editor at Inc.com
Practice makes perfect was not just something our parents said to us when we were younger, learning to play that boring ass flute in band class. With almost every single thing in our business lives (personal too!), practice really truly does make perfect. I am not trying to contradict my earlier statement of not chasing perfection. But the term perfection is being used loosely here. The point I am trying to get at is that if you truly want to live a life in a going forward motion, you should first try to unlearn the bad habits you’ve picked up along your entrepreneurial adventure. Start by making small changes to your daily habits and take full control of productivity … And your life!
As most of you already know, productivity (putting design to the wayside for a quick moment) is a bit of an obsession for me. I am always trying to streamline my time, get more done but it’s also hard to not get stuck in that loop either and end up spending more time trying to be more productive than being productive. What I am trying to say is that there is no secret formula to productivity. Or organization. Or success. It’s just knowing which golden keys to place into what doors so that you can succeed at not only your business but your lifestyle.
So, let me ask you this …
- What is your top priority right now?
- What are the roadblocks preventing you from getting there?
- What should you be skipping that’s currently a timewaster (weed the fluff)?
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Crystal Kordalchuk
Crystal is an artist, a writer, an organizer, a dreamer, a doer, and down-right proud of it NERD!.
Struck with a love for #AllThings creative at a very young age, Crystal dreamed of a life fueled by her passion for creating and bringing the stories and images in her mind into reality.
As she worked toward her dreams, she earned a diploma as a Computer Applications Specialist then another in Graphic Design and from there began to develop her extensive background in multimedia and the arts. She began her worked in the magazine industry as a layout designer and had a succession of design jobs thereafter. It was her role as a graphic/web designer that gave her the first real glimpse of her future. Soon she began a side job as a freelance designer while keeping one foot in the corporate world. A spark was lit! She turned her freelance gig into a full-time business combining design work with her other passion: creating organization from virtual chaos.
Crystal is one of the most organized individuals on the planet. She is by all means a Zen master of her crafts. She excels at helping others become “untangled” and provides her clients with tools to run their businesses smoothly while she takes care of the details behind the scenes. Thus Virtually Untangled was born. A successful business where her work as a top notch creative in graphic and web — with a twist of virtual assistant — married into one amazing place where clients can come with their virtual messes and become magically untangled. Crystal can always make sense of even the most unorganized chaos and offers a virtual detox of order and peace, so her clients can get busy doing the work that they love the most.
