1) Stop accepting one hour meetings and shorten them to ½ hour increments

2) Stop doing administrative tasks (like expense reports & scheduling) and delegated it

3) Stop ‘working out of your email inbox’ (i.e. stop checking email as it comes in by closing out of email or turning off the ‘new email alert’ feature).  Instead, check & respond to email a couple times a day.

4) Stop doing something manually that could be automated

5) Stop committing to back to back meetings, limit your number of daily meetings

6) Stop keeping your ‘to-do list’ in your email inbox by using a prioritized task list or calendar

7) Stop micro-managing staff and let people learn on their own.  Even if you allow minor mistakes, sometimes these self-taught lessons are the most effective.

So what are you going to stop doing in order to make room for what you really want to accomplish?

1) Visualize the ideal outcome if your goal was achieved, get a clear picture of this in your mind & think about it often.

2) Ask yourself what simple steps would I have to take to achieve this?  Write down what actions you can take to get yourself closer to your vision and any steps you might take to overcome any obstacles you foresee standing in your way.  If this step seems difficult, solicit help from a friend or co-worker, brainstorm the list together.

3) Get your calendar out and start scheduling time for yourself to take these small steps you noted from #2.

4) Now schedule time on your calendar in a few months to review your goals & your progress.  Goals that aren’t reviewed regularly are seldom achieved.  You might be hesitant to do the review if you haven’t taken any actions yet, but review them anyway.  When your goals are at the top of your mind, it helps to steer your daily actions in the right direction.   Do this “review” quarterly at minimum.

5) Decide on someone you are comfortable asking to help hold you accountable.  Ask them to check in and see how you are doing with the goals you set every 3 months or so.  You will be surprised how much more you’ll accomplish when someone else knows what you really want to achieve and you know they’ll be asking you about your progress.

The key is not to cancel the quarterly reviews.  It is never too late to start working toward your vision.  No matter what month it is, simply look at where you are compared to your goals and re-calibrate what you can do now given your current situation. Even if you don’t hit each target, you’ll move yourself a lot closer to your vision.

When you have a big project such as “website” on your to-do list, you will move it to tomorrow’s to-do list over and over.  Why?  Not because you are procrastinating but because “website” as a “to-do” is overwhelming!

Take a moment to divide your big project into “bite size chunks”.  A good rule of thumb is to break it into one hour tasks.  For example; a) research web designer, b) outline web pages, c) draft home page content, etc.  Now put ONLY one of these tasks on your to-do list each day.  Do this with all of your projects to complete multiple undertakings simultaneously.

This is a common roadblock that I see with clients.  It is easy to get overwhelmed with unfinished projects and then beat yourself up because they haven’t gotten done.  Don’t be so hard on yourself – just take it one step at a time.

We got used to snail mail along time ago but we are still getting accustomed to working in the midst of incoming electronic messages.  The day will come when we are well practiced at getting things done, even with a full email inbox of unopened messages.  Think of it like mail in your home mailbox, you never hear anyone complain because they aren’t able to finish a project because of too much mail (from the postman).  It will still be sitting there when you get done with your important task. Believe me, if something is urgent – people will get a hold of you.

So prioritize what needs to get done and tune out the noise for a few hours today.  Share your progress with me here as we all learn to be productive in the midst of noise.

Naming the challenge is half the battle. Once you know what the problem is and make a commitment to solve it, you are half way there. Solutions begin popping up out of the woodwork because once you identify the obstacle you want to overcome; you are more alert to hear important cues on how to move through the issue. Helpful hint on how to define the problem: it is what you continually complain about to your spouse, friends or peers. It is what nags at you and “bugs you” about coming to work. It is what keeps you up at night.

Solutions are plentiful – Be open to them. Take the time to brainstorm solutions. Be open and listen to other’s ideas and feedback. Listen to your intuition. Daydream about what is possible. Talk it through with a trusted advisor, mentor or peer group. Write or mind map if that works for you which is a problem solving technique that uses words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central idea. Get out of your own way and find a solution. Helpful hint: It helps to let go of your preconceived notions, attachments to norms and instead think brashly about what could be.

Take a bold step forward – the one you have been putting off. What are you waiting for? Typically it is the answer you have tossed around in a “someday we’ll do that” scenario. The one you easily talk yourself out of making. The one that scares you. If you are going to have to take this bold step at some point to achieve your vision, you might as well do it now. You will be so glad you did!

Does this sound familiar? Are you and your colleagues hiding anything under the rug? I challenge you to address it and here are some quick tips on how to get started today:

• Look at it objectively from the perspective of – “how is this getting in the way of achieving our objectives”?
• Take the personal out of it and look at it as a business challenge.
• Have a conversation about it using only the facts.
• Talk about how this is causing a problem and what it is stopping you from achieving.
• Get it all out on the table.

Ask:

• What are some possible solutions?
• What behaviors need to change?
• What are the common goals that all team members can agree on?
• What can we do to all move in the same direction toward our objective?
• Do we all agree on our objective? Why or why not?
• What are we worried about?

These are just some starter questions to get you going. If at all possible, have a mediator of some kind present to keep you on track. The bottom line – address it and stop sweeping it under the rug. You’ll find you will be better equipped to conquer the next challenge.

Here’s an easy exercise to help you focus your time on the things that truly matter:  In the morning, make a short list of a couple important tasks that will make a real difference to your business if you get them done today. Now, take charge of your day. Work on one of those for an hour before you even check your email. Close your door, put your phone on do-not-disturb. Devote the time you have available throughout the day to your important tasks. When a seemingly “urgent” request comes in, stop and think. Weigh it against your few important tasks for the day. Ask yourself – which is more important to my business? Make a conscious choice, and then dive in. The more you practice responding to requests based on importance rather than merely reacting to them, the easier it gets. You will be amazed at how much more productive you are and how your business will thrive.

The secret is – structure can mobilize you and free you from work while you reap the benefits of achieving your goals! For example; I recently spoke with a manager about a goal he wanted to achieve for years. It kept getting shuffled to the bottom of his long ‘to do’ list. We decided to sit down with his team and have them jot down what they wanted to achieve, assign owners and target deadlines to each and meet regularly to monitor progress – within a week, poof the project was done!

The manager did nothing except show up to each meeting; reiterate the vision and the “why” (including WIFMs for the team – “what’s in it for me”), redirect folks when they got off track and help them troubleshoot obstacles. Little time commitment – big results.  If you don’t have a team, this same structure can work with vendors, interns, or temporary staff.