Top Ten Questions Small Business Owners Ask
#10 How Can Small Businesses Be More Productive?
The biggest lie that small business owners tell themselves is that there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. This is the adult equivalent of the excuse that “the dog ate my homework”. In fact, there is enough time to get everything that is critical to your business accomplished every day.
People confuse being business with being productive. Being busy is doing stuff; being productive is getting the critical actions done daily. What gets in your way is your lack of attention; we battle through a series of interruptions every day from phone calls and notifications from all sorts of applications. Eighty percent of the interruptions at work are trivial. To push through it, we try to multitask. This only serves to get more things done poorly.
The truth is that we are unable to focus our attention for longer than 8 seconds (a goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds). If we don’t get interrupted in that short time, we actually go looking for them in the form of checking social media feeds, email or other distracting activities.
Too many small business owners start the day with no committed plan. If they do, it typically gets blown up in the first 15 minutes of the day when they check their email or social media feeds.
Here are actions small business owners can take to be 100% more productive:
Choose two tasks. Use five minutes at the end of the day to make a prioritized list of two things that must get accomplished the next day. Do these first before opening up email, checking social media or doing anything else on your long to-do list. Choose these two items by answering the question “What two tasks, if I completed them today, would make my day productive?” Use the first hour of the day to complete these.
Get an accountability partner. When we commit to someone we will complete a task, we are more likely to do it. Find a local person or go online to use an accountability app.
Turn off notifications. Stop being reactive. Make sure you control your electronic devices want and that they do not control you with nonstop notifications. Turn all these off including your phone for set periods during the day. If you work in an office, put up a sign to prevent interruptions at certain times.
Stop multitasking. It is a myth that helps you to get more done. It actually allows you to partially complete more tasks poorly. The brain can really only focus on a single task well. Instead of completing two things with average proficiency, do one thing “fantastically” well. In this way, having a split focus makes you less productive. I have a sign on my computer that simple says “FOCUS” which has helped me alot from I have trouble with my attention.
Ruthless prioritization. Label every task important and/or urgent. The important and urgent tasks need to be done now. If it is important but not urgent, schedule it for later. If it is urgent but not important, then delegate it. If it is not important and not urgent, then delete it off your list.
Stop the carbon copying virus in your company (cc or bcc). This is causing more work for everyone. Usually people CC people on emails as a CYA (Cover Your Ass). Only CC someone if they need to be kept in the loop because they will later have to make decision on that email discussion.
Delegate. Delegate tasks to people that work for you. Don’t allow them to give you to do’s when they come to you with problems (tasks monkey). Insist on them coming with problems and solutions.
Track your time. The only way to truly know how you are spending your time is to track it. Use time tracking software on a smartphone or desktop to become aware of your work habits, so you can actively change them. When you see what you are actually doing, you’ll be amazed how much of it isn’t productive and how many times you switch tasks hourly. ScreenTime and Office 365 automatically give you reports on your activity.
Hold 15-minute meetings. Most subjects can be handled in less than 15 minutes. Put all smartphones on the table so no one can use them. Standing during meetings will always shorten them.
Get your inbox to zero. Most inboxes are a mess. Do a massive inbox cleaning weekly. Delete messages and organize them into separate folders to get to the goal of having zero unread messages in your inbox weekly. Unsubscribe to unnecessary newsletters you never read. After this massive clean is done, commit to handling every email only once. After reading it, reply, delete, file or set for follow up to get it out of your inbox.
Take a break or get some rest. Take a break about every 90 minutes. Continuously monitor yourself and your productivity level. Getting up from your desk to grab a snack or water can be just what you need cut that hour-long task in half.
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