The Myth of Productivity
How do you define productivity?
- Completing tasks
- Checking one more item off the list
- Doing more than you did yesterday
- Adding one more thing to your day
- A feeling of accomplishment
A Better Definition
A meaningless task doesn’t become more meaningful if you do it more efficiently. When you forego the important work of building your business because your calendar is full of meetings, productivity succumbs to busyness. Your appointment to “Work on my business” gets kicked to the curb and relegated to “someday” on the list of priorities.
At Growth Simplified, we use different criteria to measure productivity:
Will it have an impact?
Time is our most valuable resource. We must spend it doing things that make a difference. Clear your calendar of busy work and open it up. Gasp! Blank Space!
Blank Space is a Key to Success
When you stop wasting your time on busy work, you are free to spend your time on things that will have an impact on your business. Here’s a history lesson from people who made an impact – inventors, athletes and policymakers, for example. Their greatest accomplishments came when they were tinkering in their workshop, cross-training with a buddy or spending time thinking outside the office box.
They took advantage of the blank spaces on their calendar. They made better decisions; they were better leaders, and they recalled their values to ground their emotions. These leaders used time – the time that was not scheduled – to achieve something that made an impact. They took a leap off the grid to find ways to contribute to society.
Does your Calendar Run your Life?
Passing the hours by ticking off time on your schedule turns you into a machine. Is that what you want? If not, think about your Zone of Excellence and ask yourself some questions:
- What tasks am I doing that are outside my Zone of Excellence?
- How can I use technology to complete these tasks more efficiently?
- Is there a way to hand off these tasks to other people who have that expertise?
The answer to #3 is, “Yes!” You can delegate tasks to other people in your organization. You can also outsource some tasks. Here is how it can work for you:
- Outsourcing means anything you hire someone else to do, and it’s more affordable than you think.
- Outsource repetitive or semi-skilled tasks including administration like bookkeeping or payroll.
- Outsource jobs that would take too much time to learn (we used video production as our example).
The other way to free up blank space on your calendar is by building a strong leadership team. Surround yourself with people you trust, then let them use their time and talent to do their work. Give clear direction, but don’t micromanage. Spend time creating and communicating actionable goals so they know what to do! Be clear and concise to avoid spending time explaining yourself over and over.
This is how you can clear your calendar – build in creative spaces – and spend time working ON your business instead of IN your business. Look for more recommendations and a deeper discussion in the coming months.
To learn more, visit us at: Growth Simplified – Conversations That Drive Faster Buying Decisions (gsimplified.com)
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