Have you ever spent all day in front of the computer and then look up at the end of the day and wonder, “What the heck did I do today that was really productive for my business’ bottom line?” Yes, I’ll admit I’m guilty; I’ve had my share of non-productive days!
As I was planning my day this morning, I realized that a lot of people really don’t have a system in place to actually be more productive ALL day (at least the better part of the work day).
So if you regularly find yourself looking back at at your life wondering what in the world happened to all your time and why you have very few results to show for it, take a look at my action guide and see if it helps you (hopefully it does)!
How to Re-capture More Hours in Your Day
Here’s my simple process I use to accomplish tasks:
- Write down all the things you want to get done for the day. Everything from writing, creating content, or planning your next project to answering your email and balancing your checkbook. I like to keep my tasks online using Toodledo (affiliate link). Their free version is all most people would need though. Check it out!
- Assign a specific time to each task or group of tasks. Anything from 15 minutes to 1 hour. Chunks of 30 minutes or less work best.
- Select a task, start a timer (using freeware like XNote Stopwatch), and focus on nothing but accomplishing that task. This means you don’t answer the phone, you don’t get up for a drink, you don’t log onto Facebook – none of that. You remain focused on the task-at-hand! Note: It may also help to turn off phone/web notifications so you won’t feel the urge to check email or see who just sent you a Facebook message!
If you practice these three simple steps regularly, it will totally revolutionize the way you get things done in your life – guaranteed (yes, that’s a guarantee or you can get your eye juice back from reading this post LOL)!
Why Does It Work So Well?
I’m no psychologist, so I can’t tell you for certain why this system works, but I can share with you what effect using it has on my brain in order to almost force it to want to take action on a consistent basis.
It boils down to the fact that it uses these three key elements:
- An end-result or goal (each of your daily tasks) – Our brains love goals, big or small, because they’re built to be goal-seeking machines. Give your brain a goal, and it immediately goes to work finding ways to achieve it.
- A specific timeframe or deadline (the time you assign each task) – Once your brain has a goal, a deadline is the fuel that motivates it act! The shorter the deadline, the more revved up your brain gets.
- Believability (the order and structure of the system) – Instead of surrendering yourself to lackluster results because you see your day as an overwhelming, uncontrollable mess, this system breaks your day down into small, manageable pieces that you actually see yourself getting done with ease. When you believe you can, you will (okay that was a little cliche-ish but you get my drift)!
Your turn…
Set your timer and get to work on item number one. Yes, this is a race. Sit down, focus and do your best to get your work done in the time allotted. Once it’s finished, cross the item off your list.
Get up, grab a glass of water, stretch, then move on the item number two and repeat. Do the same for item number three.
Once you have this system down, feel free to add more tasks, but don’t go over 7 items or your list may start to feel overwhelming. Just work through the items on your list and then add more as needed.
Give it a try and watch your productivity increase!
What do you do to be more productive in your business? Please comment and share!
Great suggestions! Thanks so much.
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I think spending some time regarding on work, is not that easy, because we experience disturbance for example kids, television, and radio. if this happens try to find a workplace you can work perfectly, with no sounds or anything, try to concentrate to the give task, I am sure that this will help.
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@Veronica, absolutely…planning is key! Without it, one could feel like the day is going without any direction!
Thanks so much for all of your feedback!!
~Kesha
Hi Kesha,
I always plan my day ahead. It makes me focus to hit my targets daily. Being a home based entrepreneur is difficult to maintain focus. You can easily get distracted by the television or even the computer itself. By planning your day ahead, you could actually avoid this distractions. It works for me. I hope it will do the same thing to all of you.
Your suggestions are spot on.You know what you are about.Thanks for the info
@Ann, great questions! Here’s my 2 cents:
1. If you don’t know how long a task should take, it will be trial and error. Just guess, turn your timer on, and get started. If at the end of the time frame you are not done and know that you still are not even close to finishing it, guess again how much time you think you’ll need (take a break first!). The next time you do that task or something similar, you’ll have at least an idea.
Example, sometimes when working on websites, I underestimated how much time would be needed for correcting errors and such. So for web development tasks I always pad the time by about 30 minutes or so to give me time for the unexpected.
2. Okay, so you have to leave the phone on (this one surely doesn’t sit well with everybody!), so in this case, when the phone rings, do a quick assessment of priority and urgency. If you have to take the call, stop your timer and handle your business (do this for anything that interrupts you). If you feel it’s a call that can be returned after your task is done, don’t feel obligated to take it. Finish your task and return the call later (especially if you think it will require a significant amount of your time).
Here’s another example for me: because I’m a twitter junkie, I close down tweetdeck on my laptop and put my phone on vibrate (or just put the tweetdeck mobile app on silent) to really get into a zone, especially if I need about an hour of uninterrupted time. If I hear my twitter bird, you can best believe I’m trying to go see who’s saying what! So I have to turn my notifications off. I don’t turn off anything else at this point (like email notifications) because they don’t bother me as much…
In the end, once you start single-tasking more often, you’ll start to get the hang of it and it will become easier for you to gauge time, prioritize tasks, and get more time in your day!
Ann, I hope this helps. However, feel free to call me (number in sidebar), tweet me, FB me, email me – I’m everywhere
@Ty, thanks so much for your kind words!! I hope this blog helps you in your overall goal as well.
Because I also work a full time job, time management is very critical for me to do what I do and run my own business. So this is what works for me and hopefully it can help others manage their time more efficiently thereby “creating” more time in their days
btw: love the pink accent color on your blog
This is a great idea, but I have two questions. What do you do if you do not know how long a task should take? What do you do if you “have” to keep the phone on, take care of 3 dogs and a bedbound sister, take calls that might be for the sister or a charity I run and so on?
Clearly, you’ve got it right! I can only imagine how time management helps you in what you do online. Your blog is super informative.
Hey Rowena! Girl, that timer comes in handy, especially when I start researching something. I can be on the Internet for hours at a time – no food, no health breaks, nothing! So I definitely need a timer to remind me to get my butt up and away from the computer (like now as I’ve been going to bed for the past hour!!)…Talk to ya soon deary
Hey Kesha,
What a very practical and powerful guide you provided here. Like you, I believe so much in single-handling instead of multi-tasking. I somehow set a timer also, and try to really get that momentum going as in a race, but I still need more practice so it becomes a habit as you said.
No wonder you are able to produce so much in a day, Kesha. I appreciate you sharing your secret with us
.. I definitely learned a lot and I just installed Toodledo, pretty neat! 
Thanks Kesha, deary.
- Rowena