5 Reasons to Work Less (and Get More Done)

Why is it we think the solution to getting something done is to throw more time at it? You know what I mean. Just 5 more minutes. If I just keep pressing through I will actually get it done.

Five more minutes turns into 2 hours, and we are no closer to finishing than we were before. Then, of course, we usually think there is something wrong with us. What’s wrong with us that we can’t get through this? And we can’t even think straight we are so tired!

I have had this conversation with every single client this week. Every. Single. One. Which leads me to believe that there is an epidemic of busy-ness going on. Frankly, I’d rather see BUSINESS happening.

So here goes. Since you seem to need someone to give you permission, here are 5 reasons to work less:

You are not a machine

Machines are designed (if they are well designed) to work continuously once they are turned on, until they are turned off. Humans are not designed that way! We work best when we work in pulses – periods of focus and concentration, followed by periods of rest and renewal. Even the best of us – those at the top of their game – can only work at peak intensity for about 90 minutes before needing a break. Plan out your day to include brief breaks at least every 90 minutes.

You get your best ideas when you are relaxed

It is only when you stop concentrating / focusing intently that your brain begins to make all kinds of connections. Those connections are what produce those lovely sparks of insight. That’s why so many of us get genius ideas in the shower, or while taking a walk, or doing something other than sitting at our desk trying to force the idea!

You can focus on your unique area of genius

When you stop trying to do everything (and everyone else’s job) you can focus on what you do best. That is also usually what gives you the most satisfaction, and what produces the most significant results for your business. Imagine: how much extra time you could have if you only focused on your job?

You will be more productive

When you allow yourself to focus on just one thing at a time, for a short period of time, you will get more done. Multi-tasking only gives the illusion that you are getting more done. Study after study has demonstrated that it actually takes longer to finish tasks when you are multi-tasking than if you just did one thing and then the other.

You will make more money

For most of us, being more productive will mean more revenue for our business and more money for us. Who doesn’t like that idea?

Now, when are you taking your first little break?

(c) Terry Monaghan, 2012, All Rights Reserved

Want to use this article in your ezine or website? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Consultant, coach, speaker, trainer and entrepreneur, Terry Monaghan, publishes Now What, an ezine for entrepreneurs and professionals who want to double their productivity, improve their performance, and have a life! If you’re ready to jump start your performance and your results, then get your free tips now at www.TimeTriage.com.

Where will you carve out time?

It stands to reason that if you want different results, you may have to do some things differently. Many of us find that to be an intimidating idea – because we think we may have to change everything – and that is just an overwhelming thought.

But, what if you only changed one thing? What if the one thing you added was one block of time each week devoted to one of your goals? Notice – I did not say one block of time each day – I really mean one block of time each week! And it doesn’t have to be a large block of time.

What if you set aside one hour each week to work specifically on one of your goals. Yes, only one hour! Do you have any idea what you could accomplish if you devoted one hour to it each and every week? Well – if you devoted one hour each week to reading for example, you would have read more than 10 books by the end of the year. Which, by the way, is way more than most people will do!

What if you set aside that one hour each week to make calls to your clients, prospects and contacts? I am not talking about having long conversations – just a quick touching base type of call. You could easily reach 30 people during that one hour (and leaving a message counts as reaching them). What do you think you might be able to create if you knew that you would reach out to 1500 people over the course of the year?

Not bad for one hour!

Where will you carve out the time?

Because, really, without a life, what’s the point?

(c) 2010, Terry Monaghan

Want to use this article in your ezine or website?
You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Consultant, coach, speaker, trainer and entrepreneur, Terry Monaghan, publishes Now What, a free weekly ezine for entrepreneurs and professionals who want to double their productivity, improve their performance, and have a life! If you’re ready to jump start your performance and your results, then get your free tips now at www.TimeTriage.com.

Back to the basics

Have you ever noticed that there are certain times of year that fly by? And other times just drag on forever? Summertime seems to be one of those times – alternately flying and dragging. Mostly flying though.

Have you already gotten summer brain? You know what I mean: it’s hot, it’s mid-July, everyone is on vacation (even those still at work), and it seems like there is no point doing anything because nothing is really going to get done until September.

I was thinking about some work I was doing with a client last year on planning. We were meeting in early June, and school was almost out for her kids. She wanted to create a great plan for the summer – one that allowed her to have a vacation as well as get all the work and other stuff done without being a stressed out maniac.

As we were talking, I started asking about what had to be done to get the kids ready for school in the Fall. At first, she was confused and didn’t even want to talk about that.

After all, school wasn’t even out for the summer yet, and I was asking her about the next school year!

But as we looked in more detail, it became clear that if she didn’t think and plan now for the end of the summer and the start of the school year, she would be that stressed out maniac sooner than she wanted to be.

In early June it can look like September is months away. And it is. But remember, summer flies by and September comes far sooner than we’d like.

By taking a little time right then, she was able to arrange the back to school medical checkups quickly. She also pulled together the rest of the paperwork the school always wants, and which always can’t be found in August.

So, when school let out the next week, she was able to take her summer long vacation with absolutely no concern about what had to be done when she returned. It was already planned, scheduled and would be waiting for her when the time came.

Planning. A schedule that works for you. These are two of the fundamentals I keep coming back to. They establish a foundation on which you can build your business, and your life. Without that foundation, you are building sandcastles. Beautiful to look at, and they can be quite elaborate and impressive. But not stable. Not lasting.

You can get a jump on everyone by taking a little time to refine your plans, to re-define your schedule, to look at how things are getting done.

When was the last time you inspected your foundation?

Shameless plug: I am re-running my Productivity Basics teleclasses in late July and early August. There will be two session on developing a schedule that works, one session on planning, and one session on taking control of your email. Details are available at EVENTS.

In the meantime, have a great summer – but remember – time flies!

(c) 2010, Terry Monaghan

Want to use this article in your ezine or website?
You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Consultant, coach, speaker, trainer and entrepreneur, Terry Monaghan, publishes Now What, a free weekly ezine for entrepreneurs and professionals who want to double their productivity, improve their performance, and have a life! If you’re ready to jump start your performance and your results, then get your free tips now at www.TimeTriage.com.

Delegating (or, I need more clients!)

If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say “I know I need to delegate some of this stuff, but I can’t afford to do it right now. I need more clients first.” – I would be a very rich woman.

Look, I get it. Cash flow is tight. Every cent is going back into the business. Credit is so tight you are even putting in your own money to keep going from time to time. Taking on an extra expense makes no sense.

But let’s really look at it. You are working your heart out in your business. You spend your days networking, working with clients, developing relationships, getting your job done.

And you are spending your nights and weekends doing your bookkeeping, keeping your papers filed, sending out invoices, typing cards into the database, creating your newsletter, sending thank you notes, making phone calls, and on and on and on.

And if you are not spending your nights and weekends that way, you are worrying about all that stuff needing to get done, and feeling guilty and overwhelmed, and thinking you are a hopeless case because you are so far behind on that.

If you remember to have lunch it is only because you scheduled a lunch meeting. You have given up on having a full night’s sleep. And you can barely remember what a day off feels like – it has been so long.

And you are convinced everyone else is doing it better.

You are already working at or over capacity. And yet, you think that “if only I could get some more clients – then I would be able to get some help.”

When, exactly, are you going to work with those new clients? You have no time!

You think you need to increase your capacity for serving your clients before you increase your structures. But, you have no additional capacity. And you will have no additional capacity until you revise your structures!

One hour of work by a good virtual assistant, or bookkeeper, or intern will usually give you back 5 hours of your own time. (Both the time it takes to get the task done and done well, plus the time you spend worrying about it.)

I remember when I hired my first part time assistant. I was really worried about being able to afford her. I initially committed to 10 hours per month of her time, and I put that amount of money aside. My deal with myself was if I didn’t generate at least enough work to cover her time, I would not continue.

I don’t know about you, but paying someone $25, $50, even $100 an hour (for an expert) in order to have 5 to 10 more hours in my day or week is well worth the effort. Every single time I have expanded my underlying structures my business has increased exponentially!

Right now, for every dollar I pay a virtual assistant or other team member, I am making back about 20 times that in increased business. So now, when I really want to increase my capacity for new business I look at what else can I delegate?

Works every single time.

(c) Terry Monaghan 2010

Managing expectations (part 2)

In an earlier post, I was talking about managing interruptions.

The first step was to identify the interruptions (phone calls, email, drop ins, etc.).

Second was to identify the expectations (prompt response, things done on time, etc.).

Finally, identify the communication needed that would allow you to manage the expectations.

Managing the expectations of other people who would want or need to communicate with you throughout the day is a simple matter of communication.

Think back to the last voicemail you reached when you were calling a colleague. Did it say:

“Thanks for calling. I am away from my desk. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”

How useful is that message? How much confidence do you have in your call being returned. And when will it be returned anyway?

What if instead the message said something like:

“In order to keep to all my deadlines, I am not answering my phone right now. However, if you leave a complete message (including why you are calling), I will return all phone calls between 11-12 or 3-4.”

And you knew the person would actually do that? I don’t know about you, but I am more inclined to leave a message (and only one message) when I get a voicemail like that.

And it is the same issue for emails. If you have already set up your email protocols (and I hope you have), and you are not checking email all day long, then all that is needed is a simple auto-response letting people know when you will be checking and responding to your email.

Two simple steps to free you up to get more done. Worth a try?

Managing interruptions = Managing expectations

Have you noticed how many interruptions there are in any given day? Maybe you even find yourself grumbling about all the interruptions?

“I could get this project done if the phone would just stop ringing!”

“I had so many emails coming in I just couldn’t get focused on anything today!”

“Even though I had my door closed, people kept popping in with ‘this will only take a sec!’”

“My desk is such a disaster, I spent half the day looking for the report I needed!”

Been there. Done that. It is no wonder we are a culture operating with a high level of inability to focus! It is pretty clear that more and more we need to be very proactive in managing the interruptions. But how can we do that?

Part of it, I think, comes from being able to manage expectations – our own and others’. What do I mean? Well, if you expect to get a certain piece of work done, but you know it will take 8 hours of focused action, and you (1) only schedule 4 hours, and (2) allow yourself to answer the phone and check email during that time – then you are not doing a very good job of managing your own expectations. And you will be disappointed.

If you let your phone go to voicemail, and don’t check your email, and you haven’t set up anything to manage the expectations of the people attempting to contact you – you will end up with multiple messages from the same person, most probably expressing an increasing level of frustration and annoyance, and you could end up alienating a key client, friend or colleague.

How can you overcome this?

First, identify the interruptions:

• phone calls
• email
• having to locate resources
• people dropping by
• your preferred method of procrastination
• etc.

Second, identify the expectations:

• a prompt response to phone or email messages
• resources are available
• project/task will be completed on time
• etc.

Finally, identify the communication needed that will allow you to manage those expectations.

More on that in the next post…

It is a wonder we ever get anything done!

I keep hearing about this study and that news piece talking about how much time we are spending doing tasks that are not at all productive.

For example – the study that says that the average executive is spending 1 hour a day looking for files that are misplaced (either paper or electronic). That adds up to 6 weeks every year!

Or, what about the reports that the average office worker is spending 15 hours a week dealing with the email inbox (and this is not talking about the actual work – just getting through the average 470 emails each week). That is another 19-1/2 weeks every year.

I did the math. 25-1/2 weeks each year dealing with misfiled documents and our email inbox!

It is a wonder we ever get anything done.