7 Action Steps to Pass Your Time Productively

Has your industry been deeply impacted by COVID19, such as education, travel, tourism, or event sales?

Are you stuck at home with little to do while you wait for the other coronavirus shoe to drop?

Many of us are experiencing unprecedented levels of disruption to our personal and professional lives.

We fear for our futures and wonder what we can do to make the best use of our time and position ourselves for immediate success as soon as the storm passes.

Here are some strategies for what to do with your newfound time:

Work on that neglected project – We all have things that we’ve wanted to do FOREVER, such as write that book, build that webpage, organize that event, whatever it is. Use the newfound time at your disposal to do that thing as if it was your actual job. Schedule it with meaningful time blocks and pursue it as if you have a deadline. Divide the job into chunks (such as X number of words typed per day) and stay focused on your goal until it is achieved. Click here for more about setting SMART goals that convert.

Becoming the New Sales Boss

New sales leaders face a unique challenge. They rise from the ranks of top salespeople — the ones making the sales — to then be the one who must coach others to close more sales. They also pivot from being part of a group — often having five to 50 peers — to a more rarified air with fewer peers and no same-level colleagues to lean on.

Often, this shift occurs with little-to-no formal training, with the only insight on proper protocol being that which the previous leader did or failed to do. From metrics to staffing to accountability, the upwards move to sales leader is unlike anything these sales professionals have ever done.

Doing For Maximal Productivity

It is critical that you go all in on specific tasks and avoid multitasking like the plague. Multitasking has become popular with those who see it as a way to kill multiple birds simultaneously. For example, we try to return calls or listen to messages while reviewing and editing reports. Research has clearly shown that not only do you get less done than you might think, the divergence of mental focus will often lead to poorer job performance and a feeling from others that you’re not sufficiently focused.

To help my clients address this important issue, I have divided the path to increased productivity into 5 steps:

Sharing For Maximal Productivity

Workplace productivity is a huge challenge for nearly every company, business and organization. Leaders struggle to get their own work done (and do the RIGHT work,) while also guiding, empowering and motivating their people to achieve maximal productivity. While the projections vary, estimates suggest that businesses worldwide lose hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars annually due to underproduction.

To help my clients address this important issue, I have divided the path to increased productivity into 5 steps:

Planning for Maximal Productivity

Workplace productivity is a huge challenge for nearly every company, business and organization. Leaders struggle to get their own work done (and do the RIGHT work,) while also guiding, empowering and motivating their people to achieve maximal productivity. While the projections vary, estimates suggest that businesses worldwide lose hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars annually due to underproduction.To help my clients address this important issue, I have divided the path to increased productivity into 4 steps:

Plan it. Plan the process in advance to get really clear on task, process and outcome

Share it. Involve others in the work through meetings, communication and delegation

Do it. Get the work done by removing distractors and optimizing your time and energy

Sustain it. Develop a mindset and self-care approach that ensures continuity

Each “step” contains five action items, for a total of 20 items.In this post I will address Step 1, “Plan It.”

Delegate But Don't Abdicate

Leaders want to delegate so they can clear their desks and get more done.

But many make the mistake of punting away the work, or abdicating, and not offering those that are helping them the tools they need to succeed.

Learn how to empower and support your people to help ensure the success of your next delegation project.

Delegate to Accelerate Lesson 4: Empower and Monitor to Ensure Success (DTA Registration is open!)

This fourth and final “Delegate to Accelerate” recording addresses how to empower your people and monitor their progress to ensure a delegated project is completed properly.

We cover these topics:

Granting authority
Learning to trust others
Being prepared to assist
Monitoring progress
Correct or redirect as needed

Listen in to the below recording to learn more and to bring yourself that much closer to true acceleration!

Oh, and by the way, I describe a special offer in this video that you don’t want to miss!

Delegate to Accelerate Lesson 3: How to Plan the Delegation Process to Ensure Success

This third “Delegate to Accelerate” recording (first can be found here; second can be found here) addresses how to plan the delegation process to ensure its success.

We cover these topics:

Why we need to develop a delegation culture
How to decide what to delegate
Building others’ skills and efficacy
Be clear on tasks and outcomes

Listen in to the below recording to learn more and to bring yourself that much closer to true acceleration!

Oh, and by the way, I mention a special offer in this video that you don’t want to miss!

Feedback from My "Delegate to Accelerate" Survey

I am so excited to report back on some of the survey feedback I've been getting for my upcoming "Delegates to Accelerate" Masterclass. The feedback has been incredible. So many of my friends and connections - thank you if you are one of them - for taking the time to complete the survey, and just to answer a few critical, though simple questions about delegation. One question was, what is your biggest challenge? And we all have challenges when it comes to delegation. So what is your biggest challenge? And what must this Masterclass include if it's going to be most impactful for you? What questions, what concerns, what issues must it address for it to really deliver? So even though it's dreary outside, you may be able to see behind me and you kind of hear the rain coming down and all of that, I am juiced. And I want to share this with you.

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Oh, and by the way, I describe a special offer in this video that you don’t want to miss!