First Published 13 July 2023

How to get more done…

When was the last time you felt really productive?

Do you go into flow and get loads done, perhaps losing track of time?  Or does it come in short sharp bursts for you?

I think I find that for me, it varies – kinda like my favourite answer to a lot of stuff… “it depends…”  🤣 

I was on my ‘get stuff done’ call this morning – a roughly weekly session where myself and a few like minded small business owners get together to discuss what’s going on for us in our business and bounce ideas and then we get down to work.

I was finding myself kinda distracted but one of my fellow business owners was so focused she was continuing to blitz through her action list after we finished our call.

So – is it a motivation thing? And are there any good ways to keep in the productive flow when you get there?

As you will likely know by now, I do love a good list – so here are a few tips to think about when you are in a procrastination/avoidance spiral (been there done that and these usually help pull me out of it!):

• Set a clear goal – work out what done looks like and once you are really clear on that, it can be so much easier to get in to the task.
• Break it down – I know if it’s a huge piece of work I can find it quite daunting so my best tip is to chunk it down in to manageable ‘bites’.
• Reward yourself – once you have done something reward yourself! It could be a 5 minute stretch, take a wee break to watch a Ted talk (make sure auto play is switched off at the end otherwise the 15 min video can quickly become hours!), or stretch your legs/get some fresh air/have a snack or make a coffee.
• Eliminate distractions – switch off e-mail/phone notifications and step away from anything that will steal your focus – once distracted it can easily take 15-30 mins to properly get in to flow again.
• Delegate – if there is something that you really don’t like or are not good at, can you delegate it?
• Set a timer – I use https://pomofocus.io/ to make me focus for a set amount of time – until the timer goes off I am not allowed to do anything else!
• Find a mentor or a coach – hello 👋🏼 <shameless plug!>

Using the tips above can help with focus, motivation and productivity – so pick the ones that you think will help you – and remember, some will be more useful to you than others.  And nudge nudge, if you need a coach or a mentor, grab a quick call with me and lets see how I can help.