Five keys to reduce overwhelm and increase your productivity

There are so many things that need to be done every day in a growing business. When your business is small, a lot of those tasks fall to you as the business owner. It is very easy to start your day with a long TO DO list which grows longer throughout the day. You are achieving things, but never feeling like you have enough time to do everything.

Everyone has the same number of hours in a day and yet some people seem to be vastly more productive than others.

One of the reasons some people are less productive is that they become overwhelmed with all the things they think they need to do. They do not have an effective process for organising their thinking and their schedule to get things done.

On any TO DO list, there will be a few important things and a lot of tasks that are of lesser importance.

So how do you prioritise the most important things and make sure they get done each day?

There is no easy way to snap your fingers and make the overwhelming list of tasks go away. However, there are things you can do that will help. Over time, doing these things will enable you to reduce your overwhelm and increase your productivity.

Five keys to reduce overwhelm and increase your productivity

1. Get the big picture clear. You must know your vision and values. Become laser focused on your vision, what you are trying to achieve with your business. Understand what your values are and stick to them. Don’t compromise who you are for anyone. The clearer your Vision and Values, the easier it is to make decisions that help you rule in and rule out certain activities and tasks. In my experience, most business owners are not clear on these 2 V’s, and it is a big part of why they are often distracted, overwhelmed and unproductive. To attend my next Online Quarterly Planning Workshop book here.

2. Set clear goals. Once your vision is clear, it is easier to set goals. If you have motivating goals and effective plans in place to achieve those goals, it will be easier to focus on what is important and not waste your time on less important activities.

3. Get organised. We are all different. There are many ways to become organised. Everyone needs a system of some kind, or an assistant who does your details for you. Make sure you have a personal management system that works for you that you use every day.

4. Create a daily routine that works for you. We all have routines. Even people who say they don’t, really do. Without a daily routine that you discipline yourself to stick to, It is very easy to become distracted and then overwhelmed. I encourage you to try a few different things. If you want a template to help you, access one here.

5. Outsource what you can now. Any activity that you do not have to do in your business can be outsourced. Locally or overseas. Nearly every business owner I work with has outsourced staff in the Philippines or India. You can hire a VA (virtual assistant) to help with admin, bookkeeping, social media management, and other non-income producing tasks. If you don’t know where to start, please reach out to me and I can help you.

There is one more way to become more productive that we all need to be learning about right now.

6. Learn how to use AI – the future has arrived, and soon everyone will have an AI assistant rather than or as well as a human one to get things done. A personal AI concierge who can not only research things for you, but also action tasks for you. The biggest issue I see here is that to learn how to use AI feels like an overwhelming exercise. There is a lot to learn but for some short-term pain and learning, there will be enormous gain. In fact, for those business owners who resist and ignore AI, there will be a huge problem within the next 5 years. They will be left behind.

Not many of us see ourselves clearly enough to solve our own issues.

It is not easy to ask for help, but I find that I need a coach to help draw the best thinking out of me. If you are regularly working late, and wonder how you could be more productive, then can I suggest you reach out for a conversation. I love to help business owners think about how they can build a successful business that enables them to create a great lifestyle for themselves and their family. If you’ve got a level of success already, there will be things you already have achieved that you can leverage. I can help you develop those things that will enable you to have more time to create a great life. Your business can go even better with you doing less in it. I can help you to become one of those relatively rare individuals who do discover the freedom, flexibility, and fulfilment you were looking for when you first started your business.

To book a free consultation with John click here.

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