Maximizing your productivity as an entrepreneur is critical to your success. These productivity tips positively impact an entrepreneur’s ability to produce. You may have a great idea and you may have an ability to communicate your idea, but you need to back it up with effort and actual production. Business owners with good work=life balance maximize productivity. Here’s how..
Entrepreneurs are typically big thinkers and high energy people, but those factors help motivate and inspire you and your investors, but don’t necessarily lead to an output in terms of a sellable product or service. Productivity helps you reach your goals, and the related efficiencies also directly impact your bottom line.
Entrepreneurial productivity in action looks like to-do lists and prioritizing tasks.
Entrepreneurial productivity tips!
1.) Have an actively use your business plan.
Plan to succeed.
Heed the sage advice from Ben Franklin, ‘If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
This is easy. It’s not a chore. It’s your business.
Put it in writing and execute your SMART goals against this plan. Successful entrepreneurs use tools like the ones we share. It’s basic stuff leading you to do one thing at a time. Follow through.
- Vision
- Mission
- Executive summary
- Opportunity
- Target Market
- Competition
- Sales & Marketing
- Operations
- Milestones
- Company
- Financial plan
It doesn’t need to be a complicated process. We act as a resource for entrepreneurs because we’ve been there. We’re still there.
2.) Ensure your workdays are in alignment with your business plan.
Your business ideas will come to life through execution.
Common sense, right? Well it doesn’t always happen. Often time tips and tricks designed to help entrepreneurs can also lead some to think it’s easy. It’s not!
Entrepreneurs who want to improve productivity need to break down their business plan into areas of focus during each week – in other words, building blocks.
- Business plan (as discussed above)
- Quarterly update
- Weekly plan
- Daily plan
This is not meant to take a lot of time. A quick hit on planning and then move you into prioritized execution vs. your goals.
3.) Follow a clean desk policy.
Companies like Mars Inc. have clean desk policies to safeguard information but also to enhance productivity levels.
Kind of like maintaining your car and your home. If areas are a mess, fine, but organization matters. Knowing where things are matter. You knowing where it is works most of the time, but it’s much more difficult to enlist help and delegate tasks if you don’t streamline.
The rules are simple:
- Begin your day with purpose.
- Access your calendar and take 15 minutes to assess and plan your objectives for today.
- Touch a task once and then file it as future, in progress, or completed.
- Clear your desk at the end of each day.
I do not agree with the humorous quotes about messy desks being better.
Organization keeps you focused on a single task and minimizes distraction.
Personally, I also have messy areas and I’m okay with that, but the inside of my car is clean, and my desk is clear. I feel more organized and ready for whatever happens when using those two organized, clean areas.
My parents and relatives who had nice homes and lives well lived were clean and organized. They cared enough to take care of themselves – it had nothing to do with show or anyone else.
As far as the desk – I started my own career at Mars Inc. and was there when the owners would swoop in and throw out anything that wasn’t supposed to be on a desk after hours. It literally could have been a multimillion dollar check or your wedding band. Whatever it was, went into the trash. The policy was the policy.
That said, I have kept it as my own personal policy ever since. Many companies that I worked for did the same.
- It was about privacy if prying eyes were in the building after hours.
- It was about cleanliness.
- It was about tomorrow’s productivity.
4.) Choose to mono task not multitask.
Monotasking is basically the opposite of multitasking. I know… you already know this.
It had gotten a bad wrap in the past and we were so proud of being able to multitask and juggle many priorities at the same time. Not everyone was so good at this, and after some time, professionals realized multitasking was actually unproductive.
Multitasking led to literal errors and errors in judgement, while monotasking led to:
~ thorough work due to focused time
~ jobs well-done with an effective use of resources
~ and improved efficiency when performing a number of task separately
Prioritize!
Use the to-do list. Focus on one task at a time!
5.) Pay attention to detail and follow up.
That’s all.
PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL.
and
FOLLOW UP.
6.) Prioritize tasks to manage distractions.
Based on your business plan and how you broke down your plans for the month and week, you know where to focus.
Why is it so important?
- So you don’t forget
- So you never have to say “oops/so sorry, I forgot.”
- So you aren’t continually off track due to continual notifications.
Others taking you seriously begins with You taking You seriously.
Prioritizing tasks and time blocking allows entrepreneurs to perform focused work and increase efficiency.
~ Your time is limited.
~ Your time is a valuable resource.
It’s much harder to achieve your goals – even with an early start – if you keep switching between tasks and even more so if you actually have trouble when attempting to stay on task!
Manage your time properly and focus on what needs to happen for your business, and you’ll have an easier time reaching your goals and achieving work-life balance.
When you aren’t too busy explaining and making excuses, you’ll actually get to rest and recharge – and enjoy the experience!
7.) Optimize with time management.
Do all of this:
- Start on time.
- End on time.
- Work your plan.
- Work in blocks of time.
- Take breaks.
- Take your vacation.
Implementing productivity tips for entrepreneurs are some of the best ways to improve business!
8.) Collaborate, delegate, and seek expertise.
Peak productivity will likely be reached through your business relationships and your focus on continually learning new skills. Use your resources!
- Collaborate with industry experts.
- Seek out partnerships.
- Appreciate mentors.
- Delegate to others when they are more skilled or if your time is best spent elsewhere.
- Use productivity apps.
- Utilize a virtual assistant.
9.) Learn something new each week.
Be open to continuous learning.
The more open you are, the more you’ll notice opportunities to learn.
I hope this quote resonates with you –
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship.” ~ Louisa May Alcott
10.) Consciously prioritize your health.
Entrepreneurship and meeting a goal to increase productivity are maximized when you maintain your health and your healthy outlook on life.
Focusing on your health and allowing yourself to recharge will go a long way in avoiding burnout and allowing you to handle the workload each workday.
- Hydrate
- Exercise
- Preventative medicine
- Meal prep
- Vitamins
- No 24/7 access to you
- Take your breaks
- Take vacation
The workflow remains. The deadlines keep coming.
Meet them, yes. But learn how to prioritize them into each working day – while prioritizing YOU into each working day.
There are plenty of ways entrepreneurs can boost productivity without boosting stress levels. Following best practices helps improve your effectiveness and also helps manage, if not alleviate, work-related anxiety and stress. Stay focused and let your greater productivity lead to business growth.
You got this.
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