We all struggle with procrastination and the “busy-ness syndrome” where we confuse being busy with being productive.
If you feel like you’re mentally and physically exhausted after your workday, yet you’re not even making a dent in your work, then you need some structured techniques in your life to help you become more productive.
At the end of the day, we’re all just trying to get all that we need to get done, done! And trust us, we know that there’s so much to be done as a business owner.
So, here are 5 productivity techniques that you can implement to help to get the job DONE.
5 Productivity Methods To Give Your Business Structure
- Time Blocking
This is a technique that divides your day into blocks of time that are set apart for different tasks. They are made to help you focus on one specific task at a time. Instead of allowing a task to stretch out longer than it should, time blocking limits the time we can spend on them, helping to keep us focused.
How to do it:
Use a calendar board view for this. Time blocking works best when you can visually see your day as you block out your time slots. You can use simple tools such as Google calendar or Asana to do this. Block out a period of time in your calendar dedicated to a specific task and stick to it. - Personal Kanban
The Kanban method is a visual workflow that provides an overview of the progress of bigger projects, from start to finish. This is a great project management technique that helps you keep track of all the moving parts of a project.
How to do it:
It works by grouping project tasks into three (3) categories: To-do, Doing/In Progress, Done. A tool that is perfect for this is Clickup. Clickup allows you to manage your projects and group them into these three categories and more. - Eat The Frog
This method was coined after the famous quote by Mark Twain, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” Simply put, this technique suggests that we tackle the biggest, most important task (our frog) first.
How to do it:
Identify what your frog of the day is. How do you know what your frog is? It’s those bigger, harder tasks that you keep procrastinating on. Once you choose your frog, eat it first thing in the morning, that is, get that task done first. - The Pomodoro/Sprint Technique
This method is based on the concept of short, focused periods of work (hence the word sprint) paired with short breaks. This technique was born after Francesco Cirillo found a tomato (Pomodoro in Italian) shaped kitchen timer, and used it to time his study sessions.
How to do it:
Use a timer to break up your tasks into 25-minute intervals, with 5-minute breaks in between. One 25-minute interval would be considered 1 Pomodoro. So, create a list of tasks that needs to be done for the day or week, then get a timer and set it for 25 minutes to focus on a single task.
When that 25 minute is up, STOP no matter where you are and take a 5-minute break to refresh your mind. Those breaks are a crucial part of this method as it prevents mental burnout. If the task isn’t completed in the first pomodoro, do another. After four Pomodoros, take a longer 15-30 minute break. In the end, see how many Pomodoros you took to complete a task as a way to keep tracking where most of your time goes during the day. - The Eisenhower Matrix
This framework helps to eliminate time-wasters in your life as it encourages you to consider the urgency and importance of each task. Dwight Eisenhower quoted, “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”
How to do it:
This method tells us to break down tasks into four quadrants as it prescribes how we should deal with the tasks that fall into each one:
– The “Urgent & Unimportant” tasks should be completed immediately
– The “Not Urgent & Important” tasks should be scheduled on your calendar
– The “Urgent & Unimportant” task should be delegated
– The “Not Urgent & Unimportant” tasks should be eliminated
Conclusion:
There are many other productivity methods & techniques, but this article serves as an introduction to some of the most common ones that you can start implementing today.
Not all techniques would work best for everyone as we all have different needs, personalities, work environments, etc. So, it’s important that you experiment with different ones to see which works best for you.
We hope this helps you to be more productive and efficient in your business life. For more tips, check out our blog 5 Ways Hiring a Virtual Assistant to read more about how you can improve your work life.
See you in the next post!