You’re only as successful as your performance today. Know why? Because the better your productivity, the more you get done. And the more you get done, the faster your business grows. Not to mention the fact that if you can get all of your work done in 6 hours instead of 12, you now have 6 more hours in which you can either play or grow your business even larger.
No matter what you’re doing, if you’re productive you’re not only building your business – you’re also gaining confidence. And studies show you’re also happier. After all, what feels better – relaxing at the end of a day in which you accomplished nothing, or a day in which you did everything you set out to do?
One more thing about being productive – the faster you get a task done, the more likely you are to want to do that task again. For example, if it takes you 3 hours to write one article, the next time you want to write an article you’re going to be sorely tempted to procrastinate because you remember what a long, tedious, arduous process it was for you last time. But if you can crank out an excellent article in 15 minutes, then the next time you write an article you’ll be enthusiastic and ready to jump in with both feet.
No matter how you look at it, being productive is a tremendous help to you, your business and your mindset. So what are some simple ways to get more done in less time?
Set a timer. Whatever it is that you need to do, set a time limit in which you will accomplish the task and allow nothing to distract you. Keep an eye on the timer so you can gauge your progress, and when the time goes off. success you are finished.
This single tip alone can double or even triple your success and productivity because work invariably expands to fill the time we allot to it. If we allot 5 hours, it will take 5 hours. But if we only allot 90 minutes, then that’s how long it will almost certainly take.
And surprisingly, the work performed in the shorter time frame tends to be equal or even surpass the quality of work performed in the longer time frame. Perhaps this is because we do not allow distractions to derail our performance when we know we’re under a time crunch.
Set a measurable goal each and every day, and then STICK to it. Don’t worry about long terms goals – the marketplace changes so rapidly that any long term goal is likely irrelevant. Instead, focus on short term goals and success – specifically, what exactly are you going to accomplish today?
Write it down, keep it in front of you, and at the end of the day ask yourself one question: “Did I meet my goal or not?” There are only 2 possible answers and absolutely no room for excuses because you either did or you did not. If you met your goal, congratulations success – you did exactly what you set out to do. Now set another goal for tomorrow. If you did not accomplish your goal, determine what went wrong and do not make the same mistake twice.
Accountability partners. Having a daily goal forces you to become more productive, and if you want to put this technique on steroids, get yourself an accountability partner. This is someone you phone or email your daily goal(s) to, and then at the end of the day you report back and tell them if you succeeded or failed in meeting those goals. Better yet, start an accountability group. There’s something about having an entire group of people keeping you accountable that will cause you to move heaven and earth to not only meet, but exceed your daily goals and enable success .
Forget perfection. If you’re one of those folks who can’t send an email or launch a product until it’s perfect, then it’s high time you got over yourself. Trying to be perfect is just another form of procrastination – an excuse to not get your work done until it’s just right, which it never is. This is the Internet, and doing things well enough is far, far better than not doing it at all.
People who email you want an answer now, not a perfect answer 3 days from now. People looking for solutions to their problems want to buy your product now, not in 6 months when you’ve proof read it a dozen times. And if you simply can’t seem to get past the need to make things perfect, then try this – procrastinate about being perfect. Tell yourself you will go back later and make it perfect, but for right now you’re launching this product or making this blog post or whatever. And if you’re worried about the nitpickers out there who will email you about the typo on page 22, place this disclaimer in all of your products and on your websites:
“Did you find a typo on this page? Congratulations! Sometimes I’m in such a hurry to get this great information to you that I make little mistakes along the way. Go ahead and email me the typo if you like, and thanks so much for paying attention – you’re the best!”
Those who feel it is their duty to find typos will feel applauded and may spend even more time on your web page reading your info and searching for more typos (they’ll love this!) And you know what? It’s like getting your proofreading done for free. Sly, I know. As for the vast majority who just don’t care about typos – they may have a good chuckle when they read this disclaimer and remember the last time someone pointed out their typos to them.
Impose the immovable deadline on yourself. Let’s say you want to create a new product: Determine how long it will take you and then email your list and let them know exactly when it will be ready. Better yet, get a fellow marketer to announce a webinar complete with sign-ups. For example, you’re creating a new product and you figure it will take you 48 hours. Either email your list or get another marketer to email their list announcing that you’re doing a webinar on the topic in 3 days or less.
Now you MUST finish the product on time or you won’t have anything to present and offer on the webinar. Begin creating your product by starting with the very best information first, and working your way down the information hierarchy from most important to least important. This way if you don’t get it all in, it won’t matter anyway because you will have the most important info in place, and that’s what your customers want anyway.
Do you realize you could create 2 new products per WEEK using this method? Now what would that kind of success do for your bottom line?