Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, the Internet of Things, robotics, cloud computing, and edge computing. These are just a handful of technological innovations that have gained popularity over the last few years.
Technology is in a natural state of evolution because man wants to make processes faster, easier, simpler, and more convenient. Ironically, technological evolution has come to a point where it has created a technological dichotomy:
More efficient processes mean we do more things in the same amount of time, not fewer.
In short, we’re doing more work in the same amount of time in 2024 as ever before.
What Makes Time Productive?
Let’s say you’re in the real estate business.
Below is a list of tasks that will help grow your business:
- Building your leads list
- Showing properties to prospective buyers
- Attending auctions with clients
- Meeting with prospective buyers or sellers of properties
- Networking for property buyers
- Completing all of the requirements for the sale of a property
- Meeting with your team of real estate agents to game plan for sales prospects
In contrast, here is a list of tasks that are essential for your business but don’t contribute to building your bottom-line:
- E-mail filtering
- Checking social media
- Setting appointments
- Fixing your calendar
- Checking your bank balance
- Preparing your payroll
- Calculating commission payouts
What’s the difference?
The first list of tasks are ones that you best handle. The second list of tasks can be outsourced or delegated to an Administrative Assistant.
If you have to handle the second list of tasks, each hour will be loaded with activities that will take time away from the core functions of your real estate business.
Knowing which tasks contribute to the growth of your business – the core functions – will determine how the hours in your workday will become productive.
Similarly, you can’t handle too many core functions at one time. You’ll end up rushing to complete some tasks and you won’t get the most out of the effort you put in.
For example, you might be in a rush to show potential buyers that you had to forego verifying the property title for another day.
Because we can just download an app to handle a specific task, upload a file on the cloud, while being on a conference call from a mobile phone, we think we can do everything.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Packing every hour with as many tasks as possible isn’t productive. You’ll end up stressed out and frustrated because you had another unproductive day.
7 Best Tips For A Productive Day
We’ve experienced these situations at some point in our lives. Unless we prioritize productivity in our daily schedule, these events will continue to happen.
In this section, we’ll give you hacks you can use to avoid the unproductivity trap so you can get more out of your waking hours every day.
1. Plan Your Day the Night Before
Planning your day the night before is a standard feature of any productivity strategy. Former US President Barack Obama was a known night owl who used the uninterrupted evening hours to plan and review his itinerary for the following day.
While there are productivity and calendar apps you can use to schedule your day’s agenda, an old-school tool might be more effective in jump-starting your day.
Write the day’s itinerary on a whiteboard.
Place the whiteboard in a location that’s immediately visible when you enter the office. Include your goals for the day and your plans of action to accomplish each of them.
And speaking of goals…
2. Limit the Number of Goals to Only 3
In soccer, the winner of the game is the team that puts the highest number of balls through the net. Each ball that goes in is called a “goal” and adds to the score of the team. Thus, a goal represents the accomplishment of an objective.
However, it takes time to score a goal. A game could go on scoreless for an hour before someone kicks the ball into the net and everyone shouts “Goal!”
Accomplishing goals in business is like scoring in a soccer game. There could be challenges to overcome or processes to meet. In some cases, you’ll have to do research or need the assistance of another party.
For this reason, limit the number of goals that you want to accomplish to only 3 per day. If for some reason, you didn’t complete it, work on it the following day. The important thing is that you were able to move it forward.
Limiting your goals to only 3 allows you more time in a day to focus on it. Again, always think of quality work. It’s not the number of hours you spend working per day that determines your productivity but how those hours were spent.
3. Identify the Most Important Task of the Day
Knowing the 3 goals to accomplish for the day starts by identifying the most important task you have to complete for your business.
Going back to our example about a real estate business, if your buyer has paid goodwill money to the seller as a reservation fee, then gathering and verifying the property documents should be your number one task for the day.
You want to keep the transaction moving forward because you’re steps away from a done deal. The sooner you can get the papers verified and cleared by the registry, the faster you’ll get paid your commission.
After you’ve identified the most important task, pinpoint the next 2 tasks that are important and also doable given the time you have left in the day.
Staying with our example of a real estate business, those 2 tasks could be showing potential buyers new properties to consider and ending your workday by meeting with your real estate team.
4. Outsource Non-Core Tasks
According to a study by Porch Media, 58% of consumers check their email first thing in the morning.
There’s nothing wrong with that. We’d like to know if something new has come up that might affect the day’s schedule. Checking email becomes a problem if you have to do it several times a day.
The same can be said about setting appointments for the week. Not everyone you’ll call for an appointment will be available to speak with you. You might end up burning 2 hours on the phone without booking a meeting with any prospect.
The best option for managing these non-core tasks would be to outsource them to qualified third parties such as virtual assistants or freelancers.
Bestselling author/entrepreneur/public speaker Tim Ferris claimed outsourcing work to virtual assistants put an end to 14-hour workdays and made his days more productive.
The extra free time opened up opportunities for Ferris to take extended vacations.
A bonus benefit of hiring virtual assistants or freelancers is that you save money. When you hire remote workers, you only pay them for productive hours or actual hours worked. You don’t pay them for taking breaks.
You can also set the number of hours in a week that they’ll work for you. For example, you can set the work hours of a Virtual Assistant to only 10 hours a week.
5. Don’t Hesitate… Just Do It!
Sometimes your most important task of the day seems so daunting and overwhelming that you find yourself hesitating. Don’t hesitate… just do it. When you hesitate, doubts creep into your head.
These doubts become fears and negative thoughts. Before you know it, you’ve “thought” yourself into not pushing through with the task. Hesitation leads to procrastination and procrastination leads to lost opportunities.
Let’s say the property developer you’ve been contacting for months finally gave you a schedule to present your real estate agency to their company:
“We’ve booked you for a presentation in 2 weeks.”
You accomplished your goal but the celebration is short-lived because you realize that 2 weeks might not be enough time to get ready.
What do you do? Should you decline the invitation and tell the company that you won’t be ready in 2 weeks?
Sometimes opportunity just comes around once. If the door is slightly open, you must kick it down. This could be your only chance. You have to make the presentation in 2 weeks and it starts NOW.
The first thing you have to do is to confirm your attendance. Second, contact your team and start game planning.
Delegate key tasks to specific people. Set a timeline for the completion of each task. Schedule a meeting at the end of each workday for the next 10 days to keep everyone abreast of their progress.
The only way to handle pressure is to work on the situation every day. The more relevant tasks you accomplish, the more pressure is relieved.
6. Set a Time Limit Per Task
Did you know the human brain generates 23 watts of electrical power? That’s enough to power up a light bulb!
However, as powerful as the human brain is, it can’t sustain the level of energy for a long time. How long? According to the studies, the human mind can maintain its focus for no longer than 52 minutes.
The Ultradian Rhythm theory establishes 90 minutes as the ceiling for the human mind to maintain focus before it declines.
Whether you can stay focused for 52 minutes or 90 minutes, the fact is, you need to set a time limit per task so you can rest your mind. Once time is up, as our teachers used to say, “finished or not finished, pack it up.”
Take a 30-minute break after each task to reset and recharge your mind for the next few tasks.
Choose the activity that helps you relax the most. We recommend taking a quick nap, having your lunch, or going for a short walk. After all, a light bulb will flicker out if it’s overused.
7. Sometimes “No” is the Right Answer
The great thing about being an entrepreneur is that you get out what you put in. You’re no longer just limited to a salary and benefits.
If you have a customized tailoring business, the number of orders you can handle per year will determine your annual income. If you’re a freelancer, the amount of income you can earn depends on how many clients you can handle.
There will come a time when you can’t handle an additional client because you can’t allocate enough hours to do a good job.
When you’re at that point, you have to say “No” to any offer that’s presented to you… unless you can find a way to manage time without compromising the quality of work.
A client might also ask you to do an additional project. The extra pay is nice, but if you’re 100% certain that taking on the additional project might affect your performance with the earlier projects, you should respectfully decline.
Clients won’t mind you declining additional work. It’s just a matter of explaining to them that you’re concerned about maintaining the quality of deliverables.
Saying “no” isn’t just about maintaining the quality of work. It will also give you peace of mind and less stressful days.
5 Best Habits To Help You Stay Productive
“I don’t have time”
That is the number one reason people give when they’re asked why they don’t exercise regularly, eat healthier meals, get enough sleep, or have time with the family.
“I don’t have time” is proof that you’re not being productive with your day!
Make time for your health and for the people you love. The time you spend fortifying your health and relationships will go a long way in helping you become more productive in business.
1. Get Quality Sleep
Sleep is your body’s natural way to recharge itself. If you’re not getting 7 to 8 hours of good quality sleep, your ability to focus and stay alert will be compromised.
If you can’t properly focus on how to handle a situation, panic mode might set in and you’ll become emotionally distressed.
Stress releases a hormone called cortisol which functions to enhance your body’s ability to respond to a troublesome situation. However, cortisol can break down muscle tissue if it lingers in your body.
Drinking a pot of coffee won’t compensate for lack of sleep. Make sure you get a good quality of sleep every night.
2. Exercise Regularly
Exercising regularly is a great way to relieve stress. Exercise releases mood-enhancing neurotransmitters called endorphins that will help you develop a positive disposition and an optimistic outlook for the day ahead.
Regular exercise will strengthen your muscles, bones, and the various systems in your body, in particular, the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the immune system.
The CNS is like the CPU of your body. It creates motor units that help your body function. That’s why sedentary people have a hard time doing basic tasks such as getting off a chair. The more active you are, the better you function.
The immune system is in charge of protecting your body from foreign invaders – viruses, bacteria, and other contaminants that can seriously affect your health.
Studies have shown that regular exercise will protect your body from the damage associated with stress.
3. Eat Healthy
Eating fast food and highly processed foods has become the norm because people say they don’t have the time to prepare healthy meals. The truth is, that preparing healthy meals doesn’t require much time at all.
- Plan out your meals per week. Set aside 2 days in the week to prepare them. Once the meals are cooked, pack them in containers and store them in the refrigerator.
- Sign up for delivery services from companies that prepare pre-packed healthy food. These companies deliver food to you in bulk. You can have them delivered to your home or office.
- Choose healthier options at a supermarket or restaurant. For example, instead of getting a slice of pizza, get a pre-packed container of freshly made sushi or a quarter serving of roasted chicken with vegetables.
It’s okay to indulge in your “guilty pleasures” once in a while. However, you have to work for those treats. If you stay disciplined 80% of the time, go ahead and have a slice of pizza.
4. Spend Quality Time with the Family
When things are getting tough at work, spending time with the family will remind you why you’re going to overcome all of these difficulties.
Don’t just spend time with the family. Make sure it’s quality time or time that’s well spent.
- Treat your family to a restaurant you’ve always wanted to try.
- Engage in an outdoor physical activity such as frisbee, trekking, mountain climbing, soccer, pickleball, or kite flying.
- Have a backyard BBQ dinner.
- Take a short out-of-town 3 day vacation.
- Go to a sporting event.
Time with family is all about having conversations. Tell your children to keep their mobile phones away when the family is together. Don’t dredge past slights or bring up contentious issues. Keep everything fun, light, happy, and positive.
5. Observe Me Time
If you sleep for 8 hours, you’ll have 16 hours left in the day to get everything done. If you’re practicing our productivity tips, you should be spending no more than 6 hours at work. That leaves you with 10 hours for the rest of the day.
Regardless of how much time you spend with the family, for exercise, and for preparing healthy meals, always leave time in the day for yourself.
Sure, you can go ahead and watch Netflix or Prime Video if it relaxes you. However, it would be better to engage in activities that add to your list of skills.
- Learn a musical instrument.
- Study a new language.
- Catch up on your reading.
- Assemble model kits or puzzles.
- Learn how to paint or draw in charcoal.
Why not go for a short walk around the neighborhood or find a quiet space and meditate? Reflect on the day’s events and contextualize the outcomes against your overall goal.
Just like the hours you spend at work, spending time for yourself won’t take more than an hour or 90 minutes. For sure, you’ll greatly benefit from the few hours or minutes you have with yourself.
Conclusion
Technology can do wondrous things but it can’t manipulate time. Technology can’t give you 25 hours in a day. Every hour is still equivalent to 60 minutes. You still get seven days in one workweek.
Considering that time is fixed, you can’t be productive if you do too many things in the same amount of time. Eventually, you’ll reach a point where every unit of work per unit of time will yield diminishing returns.
Thus, crossing out more tasks from your to-do list doesn’t guarantee you a productive workday. If your hours aren’t productive, you’re missing out on opportunities to grow your business.
When it comes to having a productive workday, always think about the quality or the importance of the tasks you’re attending to per hour. These are the tasks that directly contribute to the growth of your business.
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