Successful leaders, entrepreneurs and business professionals lead very busy lives and are always tempted to wear many hats to be productive. Most entrepreneurs are forced to wear different hats to be productive and work all day to grow their businesses.
But working all day does not necessarily mean you are being productive. Dealing with distractions, procrastination and over work can significantly improve the way you work. It’s easy to get distracted in the age of growing use of social media. Get rid of your distractions and you will be productive again.
My habit is to check your emails all day long and to answer them as they come in can hinder your progress in any day. How then do you stay productive everyday. The following are a few of the many things productive things that have contributed to the success of many entrepreneurs.
They start the day with the end in mind!
Start with the end in mind and focus on process that can get you there. Define a clear goal and work at it with all the resources you can gather. You should have a clear sense of what is important to you and get to work immediately. Start your day by working on the projects that inspire you most and you will be more productive and achieve your goal faster whilst minimizing procrastination.
They know when to take a break!
Most entrepreneurs can easily get burned out because of how they work. Give yourself a break, relax. You don’t want to break down, everyday of the week should not be another day at work in or outside the office. You could be working without knowing it because of the constant use of mobile devices. Plan to break and stick with it.
They single-task
The importance of focus cannot be overemphasized. In as much as most entrepreneurs want to multitask to get lots things done, it’s crucial to know what works best for you and what results in the best output. You could do a lot of things without necessarily finishing any of them in any day. But you can equally focus on just one task at a time each day by giving it time and sticking to your schedule in the day. Focus on one thing at a time.
You can begin each day with a goal that is properly phrased, once that is achieved, create to-do items and focus on achieving your goal for the day. You could organize your daily schedule neatly in Google Calendar, Evernote or your favorite to-do app.
They know the importance of productive apps
Successful entrepreneurs know when and how to use productive apps to help plan the day and get things done. An increased sense of productivity can make you more accomplished, organized, and in control. And the good news is that there are apps for that. You always have your smartphone with you, why not put them to productive use like every other successful entrepreneur or business professional.
You can start with free productivity apps like Sunrise, Wunderlist, Any.Do, Remember the Milk, Tempo, Mailbox or Google’s new to-do app, Google Keep. Starting using a portable calendar today. Check out some of the most productive apps here, here and here.
They know when to delegate
You could do most things but you can’t do everything. Most successful entrepreneurs know what they are good at and they focus on their strength and delegate their weakness to another person, another team member, another employee or even a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant can take care of your scheduling, correspondence and online administrative tasks. Successful people find a great Assistant and focus on their job.
They work on what they are passionate about
One of the best ways to be successful and enjoy what you do is to do what you love. Find your passion and turn it into business and it will not feel like work. You will be more productive if you can focus on your passion. It’s easier to be productive when you are passionate about your project.
Think passion and work will be fun again. Most successful entrepreneurs have build businesses around what they are good at, yet others found solutions to problems they had. They scratch their own itch. If you don’t love what you do, what in the world is going to inspire you to keep doing it?
You are the creator of your own universe, make the day count, don’t count the days.
