I was having coffee with my favorite weather man, Sam Champion (GMA), this morning and saw that Florida is the only state that doesn't have some amount of snow on the ground. Snow shovel sales must be at an all-time high. With 18 inches of new snow on my doorstep this morning, I grabbed a shovel and met my husband in the driveway to get to work. He however, grabbed a really big shovel.....the tractor. One sweep of the tractor plow blade and bucket and the front walkway was done (check!). One shovel-full at a time would have taken me 20 minutes. Now, I'm back inside blogging and he is working on the driveway. But....this got me thinking.......how can we "supercharge" our productivity and get "tractor level" energy to dig into our day.
I found an article posted by Tony Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project and author of The Way We're Working Isn't Working. In his article, he offers 6 tips for supercharging your productivity. While not all of these resonate with me, I think there are some fundamentals here that we can all benefit from. So, take a look and see what you can do to list one more property, dig into information on Short Sales or sign-up for that continuing ed class that you KNOW you need to take, but keep putting off. Let me know what you think.
Oh...and I have a personal tip to add to #2 that works really well for me. I always keep a "To Do" list and get a lot of enjoyment out of crossing things off my list. I'm a Type-A (but this is another blog post all together). I keep a pad of paper on my nightstand so that, when I wake up at 3:30am and have that thing on my mind that has to be done and I can't go back to sleep, I just write it down and forget it. This simple change has helped me relax and clears my over-active mind...and, in a way, helps me with #1.
Enjoy..... and get those shovels ready!
Caroline
#1 Make Sufficient Sleep a Priority - Schedule your bedtime and start winding down 45 minutes prior. Ninety-eight percent of human beings need at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night to feel fully rested. Only a fraction of us get that much regularly, in part because we buy into the myth that sacrificing an hour or two may give us more productivity time to work on other projects. In reality, even a small amount of sleep deprivation takes a dramatic toll on our cognitive capacity, our ability to think creatively, our emotional resilience, the quality of our work, and even the speed at which we do it.
#2 Create One To-Do List - Make sure this list contains everything you want and need to do, on and off the job...and we mean everything, including any unresolved issues that merit further reflection. That's the essence of David Allen's simple but profound work, Getting Things Done. Writing everything down helps you get it off your mind, leaving you free to focus on what's most important at any given moment. (Caroline's input - See my note above about putting a notepad beside your bed.....it has really had a huge impact on my ability to "free my mind" at 3:30am!)
#3 Do the Most Important Thing First - When you get to work each morning (home office in bunny slippers counts), you're likely to have the highest energy levels and the fewest distractions. Decide the night before what activity most deserves your attention, then focus on it single-mindedly for no more than 90 minutes. Productivity isn't about the number of tasks you complete or the number of hours that you work. It is about the enduring value that you create. (Caroline's note: I've written this simple truth down and have it posted on the bulletin board in my office. I tend to forget and sometimes get caught in the numbers game.)
#4 Live like a sprinter, not a marathoner - When you work continuously, you are actually progressively depleting your energy reservoir as the day wears on. By making intermittent refueling and renewing important, you are regularly replenishing your reservoir and are able to fully engage at intervals along the way and maintain a higher energy level throughout the day.
#5 Monitor Your Mood - When demand starts to exceed capacity, one of the most common signs is an increase in negative emotions. The more we move into "fight or flight", the more reactive and impulsive we become, and the less reflective and responsive. The first question to ask yourself is, "Why am I feeling this way and what can I do to make myself feel better?" It may be that you're hungry, tired, overwhelmed, or feeling threatened in some way. Awareness if the first step. You can't change what you don't notice.
#6 Schedule Specific Times - If there is an activity in your life that you deem important, schedule the time. With so much coming at you at one time, it is easy to focus all day on whatever feels most pressing. What you sacrifice is the opportunity to take on work such as writing, strategizing, thinking creatively, or cultivating relationships which may require more time and energy, but often yield greater long-term rewards.
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