We all know how amazing it feels to be productive. How come sometimes it feels like we’re the most productive on Saturday mornings when we don’t necessarily have to be? Being productive at the office can be a challenge, but it’s not impossible.
Setting yourself up for success is crucial to getting the most out of your time. The following tips include small changes that factoring business owners can make in their day-to-day activities to maximize their productivity.
Turn on an alarm clock
Most of us only use our alarm clock once a day (or more if you’re a repeat snooze-offender): when we wake up. However, most of us have different periods of ‘peak productivity’ throughout the day. Ask yourself: when do you feel like you’re consistently capable of getting the most work done? First thing in the morning before distractions come at you? Maybe late morning when the coffee has been absorbed into your bloodstream? Either way, set an alarm clock for this general time period so that when it goes off, you know it’s “go time.”
It’s basically like scheduling a meeting…with yourself.
Just like you wouldn’t skip another important meeting or allow yourself to become easily distracted during it, you should treat this time the same way. Put up an “out of office” message if you have to or block off your meeting calendar and don’t let colleagues disturb you. This will help you establish consistent and stable time-management skills, and allow you to have some task-specific focus time every single day.
Have a plan
It’s hard to get somewhere if you don’t know where you’re going. Planning for your week is essential to staying on track and more importantly, being the most efficient at running your factoring business. Schedule some time before you start your work-week to develop an outline, or a map for yourself.
- What goals do you want to knock out?
- How and when will you accomplish your projects?
Make a list of your important objectives and then compare and add to your calendar. You can even add items such as working out on your schedule—you’re more likely to stick to it if you’ve assigned a certain time for it.
Additionally, get super specific. Notice that you have a meeting from 2-3 on Wednesday afternoon? Create a detailed plan for that as well. You’ll be more likely to stay on track and therefore, focused in the meeting itself. Go one step further and email the outlined agenda to meeting participants—this way, they know what to expect and you’ll hopefully avoid the ‘meeting-black hole’ whereupon hundreds of hours and lost productivity have fallen victim.
Move your body
There’s a new buzz phrase going around: “Sitting is the new smoking.” As a culture, we just aren’t moving as much: we wake up, sit in a car, to go sit in a desk, to sit in a car again, to sit down to dinner, to sit down to watch TV, to lie down to sleep. More and more research is coming out about how horrible sitting all day can be for your body—mentally and physically. Prolonged sitting has been linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression and even cancer. Additionally, your mind can only focus on one task at hand for roughly 90-minutes. After that, your ROI begins to diminish.
The cure? Unfortunately, researchers are finding out that even moderate exercise can’t ‘un-do’ the amount of sitting we do every day. However, being conscious about moving your body throughout the day can definitely help.
Exercise has been proven to release energy-boosting endorphins—improving your mood and your overall health. Moving more will also combat stress-inducing hormones, called cortisol that can lead to additional health problems. Moving will allow you to stop what you’re doing and give yourself the opportunity to re-set.
You can come back to your remaining tasks feeling refreshed and renewed; with a new perspective to tackle your agenda. Incorporating more movement throughout your day might be easier than you think. Ever thought about walking meetings? Maybe even try getting water from the fountain on the floor below you or go to the bathroom upstairs. Take short breaks to stretch or check out these other simple exercises you can do at your desk!
Start saying NO and stop multi-tasking!
Everything that is on your plate is there because you said, “yes.” In a society that glorifies being busy, we have to learn how to say no and not feel bad about it. In reality, we can’t do it all and we need to start valuing quality over quantity.
Multi-tasking is the same premise: we want to do more, more, more, when really, we’re doing all of those things part way. Think about things you wouldn’t want done halfway: a haircut, medical operation, a tattoo, a murder investigation…you get the idea. If it’s unacceptable to do these things only partially, why should we do anything half-baked?
Multi-tasking is a recipe for distracted, scattered, shallow work. Focusing on completing one task and doing it really well will ultimately mean more valuable and meaningful output. Multi-tasking oftentimes is a symptom of being spread too thin can contribute to increased stress and feeling overwhelmed.
Learn when (and how!) to say no, and start saying yes to things that will be a valuable, beneficial and profitable use of your time.
About the Author: Factor Finders specializes in finding factoring companies that can fund difficult-to-place deals. Our services help other factoring brokers capitalize on commissions that might otherwise be lost.
If you have a prospective transaction that you cannot find a funder then contact us at FactorFinders.com. We’ll find the factor for you and split commissions 50-50.
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