You want to get more done every day, but you’re already doing so much that the thought of adding anything makes you feel sick to your stomach. How do you get more done without getting bogged down in the daily “urgent” tasks like email and meetings?
Years ago when I started my business I was stuck in that daily grind of emails and appointments that I simply couldn’t get out of. They all felt important but only a few items actually pushed my business forward. The rest was just busy work.
It took me instituting 3 things to get my time back and start pushing the truly important projects forward. Today I want to share those 3 things with you so you can start putting your focus on the right things in your life.
1. Say NO.
This is the most important aspect of getting more productive without burning out. Before you move on to the other things in the list you need to make sure that you’re focused on the right things in your life. Just because someone wants to work with you or sends you an email doesn’t mean that you need to work with them or respond to the email. That request is simply an indication of what they think is important for you to use your time on.
2. Delegate.
Unfortunately, despite your best efforts there are always going to be some things you can’t say no to. Maybe it’s your taxes. Few people enjoy doing them or are gifted in tax prep, but it’s something we have to do or we can expect the tax agency to come visit you.
If you have any repetitive tasks, delegate them. It’s going to take investment up front to build the training material, but then you don’t have to touch that task again.
Getting these tasks out of your list means you can stay focused on the things that you do best.
3. Automate.
A close cousin to delegation is automation. In fact some people say that before you look at delegation you should be looking at automation because if you can automate a task, it means you don’t need to delegate it.
What tasks do you do regularly that can be automated? Do you send essentially the same email to every client at the beginning of a project? Save it in a tool like TextExpander and never write it again.
Most importantly, do a serious evaluation of what you’re doing and make your default answer to new requests “no.” Only say yes to opportunities that you’re passionate about and fit in with your focus.
Doing these three things is going to give you new energy in your life as you only need to focus on the things that matter most to you.
Read the full article from Lifehack.org: https://www.lifehack.org/365883/3-ways-increase-your-productivity-without-burning-out
