People ask me all the time how I accomplish so much on a day to day basis: business operations and marketing for two businesses, attending rehearsals as a professional dancer, event planner, celebrity massage therapist, team captain of Salsambo Dance Company, choreographer, taking time to learn new skills, maintaining friendships, and still making time to be a dedicated wife & dog mommy. It’s a never-ending joke amongst my friends who frequently call me Wonder Woman, the Atlanta “it” girl, Super Wife…well, you get it, the nick names go on and on.
Honestly, I’ve been this way as long as I can remember. My “I can take on the world” attitude is part of who I am. I believe that I’d simply go crazy otherwise. I will admit that this trait is probably one of my best qualities (and one of my worst). I cannot sit still. Really, I have to constantly me moving, doing something productive, or learning something new. This is an inherited trait that I blame (and thank) my mother for. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some incredibly successful people who have further enhanced my thoughts and habits of how to be as productive as possible.
Here are a few of my tips for getting things done.
- Plan: Take a “at a glance” look at your day before you get started with anything. This gives you a chance set your priorities.
- Eliminate: Part of being productive is weeding out things that waste your time. Get more done by eliminating unnecessary things. When you have a task in front of you, ask yourself: do I need to do this? If the answer is no then eliminate it from your “to do” list.
- Touch it once: You waste more time by putting things off. Things stacked in a pile, rarely get accomplished quickly.
- Focus on one task: This goes hand in hand with tip #3. I pride myself on being a phenomenal multitasker, however I have found that constantly multitasking is tiring, and switching from one activity to another without focusing on one task is not always this most productive way to get things accomplished quickly. In other words, do one thing at a time.
- Organization: I use google calendar for everything. I’ve used it to structure my day, my clients, and to schedule in some “me time”.
- Learn:The internet has empowered us with information at our fingertips. If you need to learn something. Google it. Improve your searching skills which will help save you time and energy. Google Search Features: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html
- Be Realistic: Get into the habit of setting challenging but realistic targets.
Start by taking some of these simple steps and you’ll see that you will achieve more and more with less and less effort. Improving your personal productivity is an ongoing process but when you begin to experience the results you’ll be able to stay more balanced. In turn, you’ll have an energizing effect on others while accomplishing more than you ever thought possible.
