Day 6: Be productive, right now.

Productivity Action Day 6. Let’s do a quick check in.

Last week your actions were to: 

1. Determine the time you actually have to work
2. Take inventory of the Big Picture
3. Do your Time Estimation
4. Create the Small Picture
5. Establish your RGAs and your NRGA

Each of them could have brought a knowing, a surprise, an annoyance and many other thoughts and feelings.

What I find is that once you have a clearer picture of where you are it’s easier to make the changes you need to make.

On a recent call with my own accountability partner we talked about how there are so many things we are interested in doing but do they tie back into generating revenue?

Truth be told, not everything you do or will do will lead to money but 85-90% of the actions you take should. You are a business. Businesses make money.

Think of it this way, you want to be doing everything you can that somehow leads to money. This week we are going to begin narrowing things down for even greater clarity.

Mission Possible for Productivity Action Day 6, if you so choose to accept it is to:

Calculate Time Precisely

What you want to do is to get super clear, and I mean down to the second on your time.

Take that list you have been creating (make sure you did all of last week’s actions) of your categories, estimates and RGAs (and NRGAs) and beginning today (and all this week) as you take action, note down the time you start and when you complete your task. After you have that, calculate the exact time your task took you. 

You now have the true amount of time it takes you, right now, to complete a specific task.

Here is how to do this action:

• Take a sheet of paper and on the left side write out your action.
• Next to the action write down your estimate.
• As you take the action write down the time (or even set a timer).
• When you complete your action note the end time.
• Finally, calculate the exact time it took to complete the task.

This means you need to stay on task and not jump around. Oh I hear you! It’s hard to stay on task. However, multitasking is NOT going to give you the data you need for this.

Knowledge is powerful

Two things usually happen once you complete this action. You feel really good about yourself because you see that your estimations were spot on and maybe you even get things done faster than you thought. Or you feel defeated because you see that your estimations are way off.

This is a good thing. It’s where you can see how you may be squeezing 30 minutes of work into 15. Knowledge is powerful.

It is in this space that you’ll begin to shed the light on what is not working. Coming up, you’ll learn how to make specific-to-you changes so you run on all cylinders effortlessly and get your things done.

I know today’s action may have been challenging. Having this information is where you’ll be able to make your changes and see your improvements. From there you’ll learn how to best “manage” your time and your activities for TOP Productivity!

Additional References for you

Blog:  Competence or confidence?

Video:  Productivity Action Day 1 video

If we aren’t connected on social media, follow me over on Instagram where we’ll keep the conversation going.

Wondering how to get personalized help? Email me privately at kim@kimravida.com

Day 5: Be productive, right now.

Productivity Action Day 5. Whew, you did it.

You now know the amount of time you have to work and what you have been doing in that time (or not doing).

Today is the fun part. Well, it will be fun once you get over the shock of seeing it on paper.

Your Mission Possible for Productivity Action Day 5, if you so choose to accept it is:

Revenue Generating Actions

Get out your list. Next to each of your specific categories (make sure you have done Productivity Action Day 4‘s action) you are going to determine if it is a Revenue Generating Action (RGA) or a Non-Revenue Generating Action (NRA).

After you do that, you may have to pick yourself up off the floor. It’s shocking. I know. You will not be the only one who does things that lead to absolutely no income.

For now ask yourself:

• what can I do less of?
• how can I not do at all?
• is there something I can do MORE of?

Don’t give it too much thought. From everything you have done so far (remember that brain connection), answers will appear. 

You may doubt them and you more than likely will not like some of them. Trust them.

Be open to new thoughts and ideas

My suggestion for you is to be open to what comes to you. At first, we balk and think “I have to do that” and if that is the case, the question to ask is “but do I really have to do that?” 

If you still say yes. Ask: by doing this, what do I get from it?

There are so many more questions you could ask but for where you are right now, just continue to get clear on what you are doing.

As we go along and get into time organization and prioritization you’ll have a lot more knowledge, clarity and confidence over you and your business that you’ll find you make choices based on what you truly want even if they initially feel hard.

Well done! You have taken five Productivity Actions that are leading you to your TOP Productivity!

For easy reference, your first four Productivity Actions were:

1. Determine the time you actually have to work
2. Take inventory of the Big Picture
3. Do your Time Estimation
4. Create the Small Picture
5. Establish your Revenue Generating Activities and your Non-Revenue Generating Activities

You’ve done well! Enjoy your weekend.

Next, we’ll move into learning how to best “manage” your time and your activities for TOP Productivity!

Additional References for you

Click here to go to the blog to see each of the previous blogs posted for your review.

If we aren’t connected on social media, follow me over on Instagram where we’ll keep the conversation going.

Wondering how to get personalized help? Email me privately at kim@kimravida.com

Day 4: Be productive, right now.

Productivity Action Day 4. How are you doing so far? Are you noticing anything about what’s happening with your time?

At this point it is not uncommon for you to begin to see little threads of thought and wonder.

When I work with my private and group clients on the 3 TOP Steps for Productivity it is at this point they have begun to see some light. Meaning, they are now understanding why they can’t seem to be productive.

Your Mission Possible for Productivity Action Day 4, if you so choose to accept it is:

Create clarity.

Take your list that you created on Productivity Action Day 2 (and continued with on Productivity Action Day 3) and go over it with a fine tooth comb.

You want to do two things today.

1. Look at your categories, are they too broad, do you need to break them down
2. Is there anything you listed that you now know you don’t  want to do or be the one to do it?

Let’s say you wrote down Marketing and estimated two hours a day.

When you say marketing, what exactly are you doing for marketing? Are you going out of the office and networking, are you speaking, are you writing blog articles, are you having phone calls with others. What exactly are you marketing activities?

This is where interesting things happen and you’ll: 

• Realize you don’t even know what you are doing for marketing 
• Have no idea how to be effective at marketing
• See that you are doing way too much marketing with way too little results
• And many other things may come to light here

In order to create clarity, first break down your activities into the smaller activities. You may have automatically done this when you did your estimations. 

It’s easy to lump things together and that’s where it gets sticky. Creating a blog post and actually going outside your office to network have two completely different time parameters, actions and mindsets involved.

Your goal is to use your time effectively.

Remember your goal is to use your Time effectively and in order to know how to do that, you need 1) know how much of it you have for work and then 2) know what it is you are doing during that time.

That is what you have been working on this week.

It may sound granular. What it is doing for you is taking you from the big picture view that you created earlier to now a smaller picture view.

You could say, the view where the rubber meets the road.

It is necessary for you to see exactly where you are spending your time and how much of it you are spending.

Only when you can see both the big and small picture, will you be able to see why the things you are doing aren’t fitting into the time you have to work and why you don’t get things completed, have too much on your list and feel frustrated. Not to mention never getting to where you want to go.

By investing the time to do this now, you’ll save yourself so much time later.

Additional References for you.

Blog: Productivity Actions That Will Help You Be Productive

Video: It’s Not That Hard To Be Productive

If we aren’t connected on social media, follow me over on Instagram where we’ll keep the conversation going.

 

Day 3: Be productive, right now.

Productivity Action Day 3. How did yesterday go?

Did you do your list of everything you do in your business? If not, take about 10 minutes now and do that. Click here for your action for Productivity Action Day 2.

Today’s Productivity Action is going to build on what you did yesterday. It’s part of the first step of Time in your 3 TOP Steps for Productivity process.

Today, your Mission Possible, if you so choose to accept it is:

Estimate your time.

Take yesterday’s inventory and next to each line item, write down an estimate of how long you think that activity takes.

We mentioned things like planning time, administrative, networking, marketing, sales, meetings, phone calls, emails, text messages, social media, content creation, leadership activities, managing team (if you have a team) and everything you do during your day.

After you did Productivity Action Day 2 you now have a big picture view of what you are doing in your business and you may already see how after Productivity Action Day 1 you have too much to do. That’s ok, we are getting closer to your ultimate productivity and eliminating stress, overwhelm and frustration.

We are still looking at the big picture view of what you do during your working time so just do the estimates for today. This should take you no longer than 10-15 minutes.

If it takes longer, you probably have way too much on your plate. We’ll address that later. It’s a killer for productivity. But you more than likely know that already.

That’s it for today, just write down your estimates of the time it takes you to do the activities you are currently doing in your business. We want a real-live view of where you are right now.

Additional References for you.

Blog: How To Never Let Time Get Away From You Again.

If we aren’t connected on social media, follow me over on Instagram where we’ll keep the conversation going.

And as always if you feel you want personalized help for your specific business, reach out to me at kim@kimravida.com 

Day 2: Be productive, right now.

Here we are on Productivity Action Day 2. Did you take action yesterday? 

Yesterday you were determining the amount of time you have to work.

If you haven’t read Productivity Action Day 1 yet, click here.

Before you move to today’s action, it’s important for you to determine the amount of time you have to work. And please do not say “I work 9-5” because in truth, you don’t.

You may be at work 9-5 but you aren’t working a solid eight hours without a trip to the bathroom, lunch, social media excursion and so on. 

When you have determined the time you are actually working, it’s time to move on.

Your Mission Possible for Productivity Action Day 2, if you so choose to accept it is:

Take inventory.

Inventory, that is, of everything you do in your business.

I did say everything.

Things like your planning time (hopefully that is on your list to do), administrative, networking, marketing, sales, meetings, phone calls, emails, text messages, social media, content creation, leadership activities, managing team (if you have a team) and everything you do during your day.

Your business is specific to you so while you may do similar things that other business owners do, just list out what you are doing in your business.

This gives you a big picture view of what you do during your working time.

I believe in the power of writing. My suggestion to you is to use pen and paper for this initial activity.

There is a connection that occurs in your brain when you write rather than type. I know, I type way faster than I write too, yet that’s the point. You don’t want to just fly over these, you want to connect with what you are doing in order for you to become better at being productive.

As you are in the writing process, what more than likely will happen is, you’ll think “do I need to do that?” or “I hate doing this.” Make a note of it, you’ll use that valuable information later.

That’s all for today. Put your list aside (your brain will begin percolating on it in the background). This is good, let that happen.

Until tomorrow…

Additional References for you.

Article: The Power of Writing Things Down.

Article: 7 Reasons Why You Should Write Things Down.

If we aren’t connected on social media, follow me over on Instagram where we’ll keep the conversation going.

 

Be productive, right now.

Yes, you can be productive right now. This is the time to learn productivity actions that will help you be productive.

Think Productivity for Profitability.

There are three things that you need to do in order to begin to be productive.

I call them the 3 TOP Steps for Productivity.

1. Time
2. Organization (not what you think it is)
3. Prioritization

This month of February each weekday you’ll find a Productivity Action on the blog that will help you become productive right now.

Each step connects and expands to help you be your best productive self (without running yourself ragged, having things left over on your to-do list or wondering where your time went).

Most will be small, though there may be a few that you might wrinkle your nose at. When that happens, trust you will not be steered wrong. Do the action because at the end of it, is where things will change for you.

Think of it as Mission Possible. Are you ready? Ok, let’s go. Your first mission if you so choose to accept it is…

Determine what you have to work with.

Determine how much time you have to work.

Time can be so vague. We wonder where it went, how to use it, how to manage it, what to do with it.

We wonder how it’s now 2020 and where did 2019 go, I haven’t even done all that I wanted to do yet. Let’s stop that right now.

Your mission for today is:

• Find out exactly how much time you have to work.

You may already know how much time you have to work, as in I work 9-5. But you really don’t. Do you take a lunch? Are you taking breaks?

Do you work from home and get distracted by doing laundry? Your pets (I can raise my hand here)? Other things? Do you say you work at 9:00 but really sit down at 9:40?

Get really clear.

Be truthful. Find out what your time to work is.

Here is an example of a full day for me: I used to say and think I worked Tuesdays from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

When I looked at the time I actually worked, not getting water, letting the dogs in/out or looking at my phone (for anything and everything), I discovered I wasn’t using the full eight hours for work. Did I mention I ate lunch in there too? 😉

That is how I discovered that I wasn’t really working in all the time I thought I was or that I thought I had. No wonder my list for the day never got completely finished.

I had too much to do in a day that didn’t have enough time in it.

We’ll talk later about how time is a container and how to fit everything you want and have to do in the container but for now, just write down the amount of time you have to work for EACH day you work.

Additional References for you.

Blog: Why time is not on your side.

Blog: It’s not that hard to be productive.

If we aren’t connected on social media, follow me over on Instagram where we’ll keep the conversation going.

And as always if you feel you want personalized help for your specific business, reach out to me at kim@kimravida.com 

 

Your path to better productivity.

How do you become productive?

It’s easy really. You need to get into action and get things done. BUT…it’s not always that clear cut. Sometimes the stumbling block to being productive is knowing exactly what it is you need to do.

Where a lot of us get hung up is that we have a large task on our list or something that is a project. A few business examples that I’ve worked with my clients on are:

• Increase revenue
• Network more
• Have more clients
• Get organized

And while all of these can be key to reaching success, they are just a line item so to speak. There is no direction, time parameters, measurements and it certainly is not specific.

It’s really a wish list. That isn’t going to lead to better productivity. And since productivity leads to results, it “ain’t gonna bring you that either”.

So what will?

Learn 3 TOP Steps for Productivity.

Productivity actually means to produce. In order to produce you have to take an action.

I’m going to introduce you to my 3 TOP Steps for Productivity process.

1. Time
2. Organization
3. Prioritization

When you put all three of those together you get productivity.

We’ll cover each of them more as we go along and a previous blog was about why time is not on your side. You can read it here.

The key is how much time do you have in your day, week, month and even beyond. You may be able to tell me how much time you have in a day but what about a week or a month and beyond.

How much time do you have for your work? It is limited, even if you work for yourself.

That’s where people get tripped up. First step, know how much time you have. 

Because how can you schedule things if you don’t know what you have to work with. That is why so many people have too many things left over to do every single day, week and month.

Next is organization, once you know the time you have for what you are doing you can then begin to organize your activities into the time you have available.

And prioritization goes hand in hand with your activities. You’ll want to make sure you prioritize your to-dos ahead of time in order to create your TOP action steps that you will be easily able to produce the results on those.

 

Don’t forget to be specific.

When you use the 3 TOP Steps for Productivity be sure to know exactly what you mean when you say what you want.

Example: Increase revenue

What does increase revenue mean to you? When my clients give me something like that, I ask them, “increase revenue equals what?” Until they are clear on what it means, well…

It means nothing. You need it to mean something specific.

Like a math equation, when you say you want to increase revenue what does that equal? You need to know this so you’ll know what the action steps to do. So do you…

• Need more clients
• Raise your fees/rates
• Create new programs, products or services

And then from there you’ll again ask yourself, what does that equal? What do I need to do in order to get there? Start with one and then go from there.

Here is a quick example of my process:

1. Increase revenue = need more clients
2. Need more clients = how many more clients do I need
3. I need x more clients = how do I get them
4. How do I get them = make calls to previous clients or new contacts
5. Make calls to previous clients or new contacts = chance of new clients
6. Chance of new clients = chance of increased revenue.

Can you see how it works? From this example, you now know where you need to start, which is from the end. Make the calls and you’ll have a greater chance of increasing your revenues.

Your goal now is to make calls. How much time do you think it will take? Where will you put it in your schedule? And it should be clear that this is the priority for you each and every day until you get to your end result.

You get the picture.

I’m happy to help, if you need help with your productivity.

I offer a free 30 minute Design Your Success with Purpose session. I work with business owners to elevate and excel themselves to greater productivity and greater success. In this session, you’ll apply the 3 TOP Steps for your greater productivity and walk away with a very clear picture of what to do to get to where you are going. Schedule your free 30 minute session now.