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| Do you feel like you’re spinning your wheels lately? Not accomplishing much? Looking for some kind of break through? Something’s gotta give, right? If this is you, it’s time to look at whether you are just keeping busy, or actually being productive. Can you recognize the difference? If you’re feeling exhausted, not motivated, on the verge of burn-out, you need this. If you’re spread too thin, have a lack of focus, can’t get out of your own way, you need this. If you’re spending too much time on things that will never get you where you want to be, you need this. Acknowledging the necessity to LOOK at how you spend your time is a great start! Be honest with yourself. BUSY? Or PRODUCTIVE? “This is your wake up call, pal…Go to work.” Gordon Gekko, Wall Street Here are three quick keys to shifting from busy to productive. START HERE: 1. Prioritization: What is most important to you? Think about that for a minute! Identify what that is, the tasks that go with it, and tackle these first. FIRST! Bring your biggest goal to the NOW. Work on accomplishing this in the beginning of the day, when you are MOST productive! Everything else is a distraction till you’ve accomplished what is most important that day. 2. Time management: Uninterrupted time blocks, intentional scheduling, and power hours will keep you from working aimlessly. Allocate dedicated time for focused work. You make time for that show, that spin class, that friend for coffee, why not for your productive work? Substantial time blocks dedicated to your most important thing for that day should be multiple hours long! You will need to protect those time blocks fiercely! Let nothing (non-emergency) sidetrack you from your allocated time. They are non-negotiable. And they create their own momentum as you string together a chain of days, weeks, months in a row that you keep true to them. *Note*: Avoid multitasking. Multitasking is not real. Doing one thing at a time will keep you laser focused, save you time, make you proficient and more productive. Ding! Ding! Ding! #missionaccomplished! 3. Self-care and balance: I say it all the time, PROTECT YOUR ENERGY! Take care of your physical and mental well-being to maintain productivity in the long term. The LONG TERM! This is a marathon, not a sprint. Enjoy the journey… (enter more cliches here). How do you cultivate a healthy work-life balance? By feeding your MIND, and your BODY, and your SPIRIT. Start your day with these. All three of these! It’s a trinity! Be intentional about it. Knowing you will not always be perfect with it. But you’ll keep at it! You’ll keep trying! Feed these areas as part of your routine, putting your good habits into action. Then get to work! Keeping the balance going! We all fall into the “busy” trap every now and then. Consider this a reminder, a wake-up call, to take a look and assess the situation. Once we recognize what’s actually going on, we can make a mindful shift in the right direction. Toward being less busy, and way more productive! |