12 Productivity Tips: Get More Done In Less Time And Scale Your Business

“The secret to real happiness is progress. Progress equals happiness. And if we can make progress we feel alive inside.”

 

– Tony Robbins

 

It is common to be busy as an entrepreneur. But being busy doesn’t automatically mean you are productive. There is a big difference between the two.

It is not about how many hours you spend at work, but the number of significant results you get. So the question is, are you spending your time right?

Employees And Employers Aren’t As
Productive As They Think; It Is All Fugazi

 

According to Forbes’s 2017 employee productivity report, only 7% of workers feel productive at work. The remaining gross 93% roam around without really achieving anything significant.

Even with tools that help us stay on track at our fingertips, many employees and organizations promote the wrong concept of productivity.

Set-ups that base the workers’ salary on hours and presence alone are still standard. More frequently than any manager would like to confess, we award locking yourself in the bathroom watching Netflix more than achieving something efficiently.

Consequently, many employees end up wasting time.

“Being busy” or “putting in a lot of hours” is still often seen as something positive and admirable. Well, it may be, but often, it’s all a fugazi.

12 Effective Ways To Be More Productive And Get Better Results

So instead of getting too caught up in the hours you and your team spend at work, let’s look at how you can work smarter as an entrepreneur.

Here are 12 tips to help you reach your maximum productivity level.

 

Accept That It’s Impossible To Be Productive 24/7

If you’re spending all your day working at the moment, start by accepting that you probably aren’t as productive as you think.

Research indicates that the maximum number of hours most people can concentrate at work is five to six.

Overworking yourself beyond that time can drastically reduce the outcome. In other words, you will spend more time than you should and achieve less.

Studies show that staying within the range of 5-6 hours helps you to manage stress, get tasks done faster, and improve work-life balance. Remember this next time you’re thinking about skipping that break!

 

Embrace A Productivity Mindset

Another key to productivity is your mindset.

Your mind is a powerful tool that can make or break your career. As an entrepreneur, learn to feed your mind with thoughts and visions of positivity; build a “yes I can” mindset. A growth mindset helps you push boundaries, boost creativity, and see setbacks as opportunities to learn and improve. If you’re managing a team, embracing a growth mindset also supports a culture of playfulness and motivates people to perform better.

Moreover, practice simplifying. If you’re ambitious by nature, is easy to make tasks unnecessarily complicated in the strive for perfection. As Greg McKeown preaches in his best-seller Effortless, ask yourself – can this be done in an easier way? Hint: often it can!

Track How You Spend Your Time

 

To manage your time efficiently, start by getting an overview of how you currently are spending your days. Many time management tools can help you, such as Rescue Time, Focus Keeper, and Toggl.

Do the time you spend on certain tasks match the outcome they contribute to? If you notice that there is room for improvements, admit it, and take a solution-oriented approach.

Are things taking longer than they should? Are you spending too much time on clients that aren’t a fit for your business? What tweaks are needed to improve your productivity and results? The 80-20 % rule is cliché but true!

 

Remove Distractions: Think About Time As Gold

Distractions are bound to come your way. Learn to avoid them and take control of your time. Removing notifications, regular screen-free time, and meditation are a few simple tricks that make it easier to focus.

You can also transform distractions into something that supports your professional development. Instead of scrolling mindlessly through your social media feed, remember that channels like Youtube, Twitter, Quora, and LinkedIn also are great for networking and learning. It all depends on how you use them!

Every time you choose to do something, you’re also choosing not to do something else. Netflix or working on your business? There is no right or wrong answer, just remember what you chose when you feel like you don’t have time.

 

Focus On The Right Stuff And Find Your Flow

Stephen Covey once said, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

There is nothing impressive about “being busy” with the wrong things. This will only drain your energy. Instead of trying to tackle too many things at once, set the right focus for yourself. Prioritize your tasks and move forward in the most important direction.

Also, remember that productivity starts with intention. If you have a clear overview of your goals, tasks, and why you want to achieve them, it will be easier to focus and get into a flow state. With flow comes efficiency, fun, and a sense of purpose. Work feels effortless, we lose track of time, and our productivity level reaches new peaks!

 

Plan Less, Do More

While it’s important to have a strategy in place when you want to achieve something important, making things happen is one of the main factors that differentiates successful people from others.

Many spend so much time developing their skillset, researching, and fine-tuning “the last details”. However, things change quickly and extremely these days. So instead of getting stuck in trying to plan every detail for years ahead, prepare for change, and start taking action. Get out of your own way. Approach planning as a continuous activity and remember that even the most perfect plan is useless without action.

 

Stop Doing Everything Yourself

One of the key attributes of successful entrepreneurs is that they are willing to work hard. While this is great, trying to manage every single task in your business by yourself isn’t.

Learning when and how to take help from others is key to boosting your productivity and results. You are not always the best person for the job. Know when to reach out to others, ask for help, employ more talents, outsource, and team up with other experts.

Investing in expertise from someone who has done it several times before will often reduce costs more in comparison with you trying to figure everything out by yourself.

 

Know When You’re Performing At Your Best

To boost your productivity, figure out when and how you perform at your best.

Priceonomics 2-year study on productivity rate concluded that the majority are most efficient between 9 am and 11 am. Another comprehensive study identified the sweet spot for performance as right around lunchtime. It also changes as we age (hey, do you remember being able to stay up all night without any consequences the next day?).

The key takeaway: what’s needed for us to be able to perform at our best vary.

So whether you get most done in the morning or in the afternoon, remote or on-site, etc., use these insights to your advantage. Schedule your important tasks during your peak hours and do what you can to support yourself in performing at your best. Sometimes when you’re not at your top, you might be better off reading a book or watching inspiring videos.

Also, do what you are good at and what comes naturally to you.

 

Let Tools Make Your Life Easier

Embrace tools to increase your productivity level and make your life easier. Solutions like; Asana, Trello, Zoom, Smartsheet, Airtable, Teamwork, ProWorkflow, Slack, Wrike, and many more are available at your disposal for free or at a low cost.

The amount of software designed to make the collaboration and performance management of distributed teams more efficient is also only expected to increase.

Can something be re-used or automated? Then it probably should!

 

Team Up And Run Get-sh*t-done Sessions

Collaborating with others is another great way to speed things up. A problem that may take you days to figure out, could get resolved in just a few hours when others add their perspective and expertise. Teaming up with others that complement you helps boost creativity and productivity, as you’ll be able to come up with more ideas and ways of doing things than what you would be able to do by yourself.

Even if you’re working alone on a project, you can still schedule productivity sessions with others who also are focused on achieving their goals. Working with ambitious people will help you stay motivated and get stuff done more efficiently.

 

Stop Questioning Decisions That Are Good For You

Implement and commit to good habits without questioning them. For example, if you’ve decided to work out every day, do not wake up every morning wondering whether you should work out today.

Just work out – you’ve already made up your mind!

If you want to ask yourself something, ask positive questions that motivate you. Like, “what kind of workout should I do today?” And not, “do I really have to work out today?”. This helps remove resistance.

Don’t waste time on re-considering decisions daily that you know are good for you.

 

Give Yourself Deadlines

The Parkinson’s law of time management states that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

To avoid spending more time than required to get tasks done, create deadlines for yourself. Follow up using your favorite project management tool to avoid procrastination and to “overdo it”. Plan in advance, map out the steps, and set off the time and resources needed. Take action immediately to meet deadlines.

That’s it for how to get more done in less time and scale your business! Now, the only thing left is to figure out what you’re going to do with all this extra time. 😉

For more inspiration on personal development and becoming the best version of yourself, check out our other lifestyle design resources.