I have a confession to make. I have become obsessed with something… Productivity!
I love reading any article that talks about the subject. I even have every Flipboard article on “Productivity” emailed to me so I don’t miss anything new!
What I find consistent with almost every article on the subject of Productivity is one thing:
Don’t Multitask.
Don’t even try, you can’t do it! Unless your Elon Musk creating underground tunnel systems in Los Angeles while simultaneously shooting a car in space for some unknown reason…you can’t multitask!
According to Chris Bailey – author of The Productivity Project:
“We can multitask, but only with the tasks that are habitual. We can walk, breathe and chew bubblegum while we step over the cracks in the sidewalk all at the same time. But when it comes to actively focusing on more than one thing at one time, we cannot multitask on a neurological level.”
This means you can’t really answer emails while paying attention to a conference call. Or write a blog post while sending out an email blast to thousands of agents (Guilty!) The goals that you want to achieve need an active focus. This means your full attention is on one objective until it is complete.
What goals should you actively focus on?
Well, I found that I depend on the Power of 3. What are the 3 main goals that I want to complete today? Write them down or type them in your One Note (see #TechTuesday blog for details) and schedule the time in your calendar to complete these goals.
Remember: Goals are NOT Day-to-Day tasks!
Day-to-Day tasks are daily routines such as checking email, answering phone calls, running reports, anything you have to do every day.
Goals are what you want to achieve to help grow your business, ultimately making your business more profitable. This could be:
- Get that newsletter written for client engagement
- Give 3 clients a follow up call to check on their current policies
- Cold call 10 new prospects to set up possible appointments
And these goals can vary day to day. Such as: cold calling on a Monday to get appointments to fill in the gaps in your schedule for the week. Or, writing “thank you for your business” letters to your long time clients on a Friday. These are very generic examples but hopefully this will spark an idea for you and your business. Come on, I can’t think of everything for you… I gave you the Power of 3!
There many ways to increase productivity! But I have personally found that being aware of my multitasking habits and creating active focus on my goals has greatly increased my productivity!
How have you increased your productivity?