I am capable of working hard and I also know how to boost my productivity. But still…
Do you also feel you have not done enough after a day?
At the end of the day, I would often feel like I had not done enough. When my love would come home, I would say: “I have not finished a whole lot today”. I was referring to my to-do list, which was still there, even though some of the tasks were gone.
Quite depressing – not enough done
That feeling of not doing enough, while I was working like crazy; that had to stop. So where did I go wrong? I love sharing this with you as ever since I started doing things differently, I noticed a huge difference. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. Let me share with you, how it works.
What are you really doing?
I am used to working with to-do lists. I will list the most important things that really need to be done. If I have finished a task, I will scratch it off my to-do list. Great feeling!
But I don’t write every single task on my to-do list. As that would blow it out of proportions and would really freak me out. This is what I would not write on my to-do list for example:
- Drop off my daughter
- Grocery shopping
- Prepare LinkedIn post and share (before 9 am)
- Prepare Instagram post and share (with LI captions)
But these are all things I often do before 9 am. So when I start working at 9 am, I have already done quite a bit.
What pops up unexpected
I love to block time and to work from a flow, by getting a lot of similar tasks done. Batching is what I call it. Not sure how this amazing technique works? Get my FREE guide: ‘Do More in Less Time’.
But there are also moments when I need to attend to tasks that pop up. Just because I love to do it, or better yet as it involves client contact. Clients are most important for me, so I will make them for them when asked.
These are some of the tasks I attended between my regular, planned tasks:
- Answer a WhatsApp message of a client, who was unable to continue with an assignment
- Email a client and answer her question
- Chat on LinkedIn with someone who wants to become my client
Not only are these very relevant tasks form my company; they were also tasks I really wanted to attend to today.
What are you doing?
To get clear what it is I spend my time on, I am now using a different approach. I write down exactly what I have done during the day. Every time I finish a task, I write it down on a post-it. These post-its I stick on my desk. At the end of the day, half my desk is filled with post-its. Yieha!
I also use this method to get clear insights. To see whether I am working on the right things (during my workday). But the feeling of looking at all that I have done takes away any thought about not doing enough during the day.
Creating insights
This is how I create insight into what I am actually doing. I make 3 lists of my post-it notes:
- Direct client contact – my most important tasks and the most impactful one.
- Working in my company – necessary and mostly fun but not always with the most direct impact
- Non-work related matters – not necessarily need to be done during office hours.
Most impactful?
At the end of the day, I review my three lists and I take inventory to see where I spent my time on. I can see whether my most impactful row (direct client contact) was indeed the longest line. If not: I need to evaluate what happened and how to improve it.
This evaluation has already made me take the following actions:
- I am not doing grocery shopping anymore in the morning, instead we binge groceries in the weekend
- I hired a VA as my ‘work to do in my company’ instead of ‘with my clients’ became too long. She is much better at it as well ánd quicker 😉
It also forced me to make my to-do list more realistic, which in its turn makes me feel great. As now I sometimes really just focus on my tasks at hand, and I can at the end of the day toss away my complete list.
As -let’s be honest here – some matters that pop up are not that urgent at all but they do form a nice distraction.
How would this work for you? What task or work will have the most impact for you? I would love for you to share it with me.
Making a lasting impact
Would you like to let your impact stand out more? So you can truly make a difference? At your new employer perhaps? Then join me – Thursday 21 February 20.00 GMT at my FREE webinar: Land your Dream Job via LinkedIn- Show your value. <<You can reserve your spot here>>
Are you unavailable this Thursday? There will be more webinars, but do let me know you are interested, by registering. Also, when you are not actively looking for a job but you never know where you want to go in the future – I do highly recommend you join me. This webinar is giving you all the tools to become visible in your own way and attract an even better job than you ever thought possible.
Amaze Yourself!
PS: Would you love to show your added value, but don’t you know where to start? Not only admitting your value towards yourself but let alone making it known in the outside world? I love to show you how you can do this. I’m going to tell you all about it during the webinar Land your Dream Job via LinkedIn- Show your value. <<You can reserve your spot here>>
I will show you how you can in your own authentic way highlight your value add. In a way that makes you feel good ánd gets you results. Just join me!
Yvonne Dam is an online life coach and career coach who helps busy, ambitious people to enjoy life. She helps them to focus on what matters in their lives and careers, in order to make more money and achieve more freedom! After feeling trapped in the corporate world, Yvonne decided to do more of what she loved and found the more she chose to do what she wanted, the happier she became. Yvonne is passionate about coaching and sharing her expertise with you so you can be liberated to fully embrace life. Ready to pause your busy life for a moment and download some happy vibes? Get my FREE eBook and feel happy!
Yvonne has a vast coaching experience from executives to teams to ambitious business owners.
Through her personal and business coaching programs she has helped dozens grow their businesses while drastically reducing their working hours.
And when Yvonne is not coaching, you can find her indulging in beach walks, and a sparkly glass of champagne.
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