Steal my productivity system.
Edition 12 of Forward+
1 big idea worth considering.
The topic of productivity lines the shelves of bookstores and fills Amazon’s coffers with planners, systems, of course…more books. But within that plethora of options there are common themes that work reliably and enable people to squeeze much needed focus (and sanity) out of their days. The 4-step process below isn’t just useful for you as a leader. It’s also a simple productivity system that you can train and empower your team with so they have agency over their work and time.
Grab a notebook. Let’s dig in.
Define “The Work” If there’s a non-negotiable to repeatable productivity, it’s this step. The Work is a term I use for defining the most important and persistent thing we can be doing to move our work forward. For me, that looks like creating content and networking. For a sales rep, that might be a defined number sales calls and emails. For a customer success rep, that might be a defined number customer conversations. For a developer, that might be a defined number of lines of code written. For you…it’s whatever you can do day in and day out to make progress in your role. The problem is that The Work oftentimes get squeezed out by whatever is happening right now - meetings, Slack messages, pop-up conversations, distractions. The sales rep knows they should be making sales calls and sending sales emails. But many days their calendar doesn’t reflect that. The key is to prioritize The Work on your calendar, and your team’s calendars, so that even the most chaotic days have a semblance of progress.
Mind Sweep Our brains are great at storing things but terrible at prioritizing them. Before your work week begins, take a few minutes to write down all of the things that have your attention and things you need to get done. To-dos, projects, follow ups - anything that is jostling around in your brain that you’d like to get out and organize. Once you feel like you’ve captured what needs to be captured, organize the list using these categories:
< 5 Minutes: Tasks you can do in 5 minutes or less. You can batch these 5 minute tasks into a time block (details in #3 below) to knock several out at once, which helps you make progress on them while giving some easy momentum to your day.
Next Actions: These are the most important or pressing items on your list. If you need to get an item done in the next few days, put it on this list.
Everything Else: This is…everything else on your list. These are typically things you need to get done at some point or things you don’t want to forget about, but don’t need to do anything with now.
Time Blocking Plan each day of the work week by blocking them into 30 minute increments. You can plan your entire week at once, or just plan each day as it comes. This is more of a personal preference. Fill in the blocks in the following order:
Add any existing calendar appointments you have - meetings, calls, etc.
Add The Work - remember that The Work should be prioritized on your calendar each day.
Add the most important or pressing Next Actions.
Fill in the remaining time with Proactive Recharges (next bullet) and any items you want to tackle from your Everything Else list.
Proactive Recharges Intentionally schedule in small blocks of time for recharging. The “what” and “how long” are personal preferences. I prefer taking walks or listening to a podcast, but what helps you recharge may look different.
This simple productivity system allows you to organize the to-do lists that build up in your head, prioritize the most important work, intentionally reset during the day to maintain your energy and focus, and move each day forward in a productive yet sane way.
If you do the 4 steps above, you’ll have more clarity and focus throughout your week, you’ll be more present outside of work when the day is done, and your stress and anxiety will be more manageable because you understand what needs to be done and what’s in your control.
2 questions worth asking.
Good questions are the root of good coaching, because inquiry has the power to spark ideas and uncover gold that lies just beneath the surface. Each week on Forward+ I share 2 questions that you can use with yourself, at work, or in your relationships.
Question 1: Does my calendar reflect my most important priorities?
Such a simple question and the root of this post. Yet so easy to overlook. If you want to understand what is important to someone, don’t ask them. Just look where they spend their time. This question can be a sobering and helpful nudge to getting back to the work that is so easy to neglect.
Question 2: Does past evidence support my anxiety about the future?
Many of the high performers that I coach have a common theme that creeps up - wondering if they’re on the right path toward their desired future, coupled with some level of anxiety about that thought. And my response is always the same. If you look back on your own life, has it worked out better than you thought it would? The answer is usually yes. None of us can predict the future. But our past is a pretty dang good predictor of it.
3 links worth exploring.
📚 What hunter-gatherers can teach us about the frustrations of modern work. (The New Yorker)
💡 Thinking something nice about someone? Tell them. (Derek Sivers)
🎧 Navigating conflict and difficult conversations. (Reboot)
That’s a wrap for this week’s edition of Forward+.
💡 Have an idea for a future edition or an interesting link worth sharing? Just reply to this email! I’d love to hear from you.
🔥 I’m looking for leaders and future leaders that are ready to level up with Forward Coaching and the High Performance Leadership OS™️. Is that you?