There’s a lot of advice out there on how to manage time better and be more productive. This post is a little bit different compared to the typical advice on planning & scheduling everything in your calendar. I like to be flexible when it comes to my time. But there are some principles that help me to manage both my energy and my time so that I’m more productive and ultimately…earn more money. Below I share 5 productivity tips to help female entrepreneurs earn more money in their business.
1. Do the hardest thing first – If you find yourself procrastinating because there’s a task that you need to complete that you feel is hard or that you just don’t want to do, get it out of the way first thing and then you will sail through the rest of your day.
Eat That Frog is a book that was written by Brian Tracy several years ago to help people with PROCRASTINATION. The theory is that if you plan to “eat the frog” first thing when you start your work day that you will get much more accomplished in your day than if you put off “eating the frog” later in the day in favour of taking care of “more enjoyable” tasks.
The frog represents the things that you don’t enjoy doing. Brian Tracy is an accomplished sales trainer and motivational speaker. So back when I was an inside sales representative (for B2B sales), the thing that I dreaded the most was cold calling new prospects. I found that if I completed my cold calls first thing in the morning and left my follow up client calls for the afternoon, then I got so much more accomplished in a day.
By contrast, if I started my day with follow up client calls, then it would like take up my whole day and I would never get my cold calls done.
You can “eat that frog” with anything that you tend to procrastinate on. If you want to exercise more and find that you often put it off to the end of the day and then you never get to it, try doing it first thing. You will feel better knowing that you’ve followed through your commitment to yourself and enjoy a much more productive day.
2. Watch out for distractions – Feeling Overwhelmed by shiny objects and information overload?
If so then you are probably not making much headway with your business. Trust that the marketing program, tool, information will come back to you when you need it and when it’s right for your business.
Don’t worry that you are missing out or that the opportunity won’t come your way again.
If you are feeling overwhelmed or confused then it might be best to leave that marketing program, tool or information alone for now.
And, the reality is that with Facebook ads and such, you will probably see that opportunity to open your wallet again at some point in the future but don’t buy it just because you might need it someday or because you think this will finally be the thing to propel your business forward.
If yourself spinning your wheels and getting distracted by the next big thing to promote your business, land clients and earn the money you want then decide now to let go of this pattern.
Take a deep breath and embrace more simplicity, more trust, more peace and you will find that the answers will come from your inner guidance…not from outside of you.
3. Embrace Imperfection – 80% Perfect is Good Enough – often we find ourselves procrastinating because we’ve got an underlying fear of not being good enough. We tinker with our website, we re-write our content and tasks take a lot longer to complete than they should or worse, we never get around to putting ourselves or our content out there.
Even the most beautiful diamond will have some small flaws.
Striving to be PERFECT will only serve to frustrate you and can lead to burn out. You only get better by taking your first swing with the golf club. With the first swing, you’ll probably miss the ball entirely but after 1000 swings with the club, you might actually start to get some good distance with the ball, especially if you stop along the way, get some coaching and ask yourself, “how can I do better?” and NOT, “how can I make it perfect?”
Making mistakes and learning from those is how you get better. Essentially, you fail your way to success. So celebrate every time you make an attempt and know that you are GOOD ENOUGH.
4. Exercise Your Comfort Zone Muscle – it’s usually fear that causes us to be less productive than we could be. And in this context, when I’m talking about productivity, I’m referring to actions that get results. Often we will spend time on tasks that really don’t bring dollars into our business.
We think we are working on our business but really, if you’re not connecting with clients and putting out offers then, you’re not really being productive. You might be working on your website graphics or content. Or fiddling with your sales funnel. But if you’re not getting into conversations with others, then you’re not really being productive, just busy.
So, take some time to look at that and be honest with yourself. Are you staying in your comfort zone? Are you avoiding those sales conversations? Are you avoiding networking events? Doing live video? Public speaking opportunities? Workshops and home parties? If so, then set a goal to do one of those things that scares you. The more you stretch yourself, the easier it gets to take risks.
And, if you’re building your business online then doing live video is the next best thing to being in person. People connect with you much better in video than with written content.
5. Celebrate the little incremental accomplishments – often us big picture goal setters put off celebrating our progress in taking steps toward our goals. We have an end goal to get to $10K months in our business but fail to celebrate a $100 sale. It’s as if that $100 sale doesn’t count but it totally does. Because it all ads up. We know this intellectually but unless you get excited, grateful and happy about it, you’ll have a hard time keeping the momentum going.
The journey will start to feel like you’re climbing uphill through snow….without snowshoes.
Even worse is if you have set an income goal for the month and you feel disappointment if you don’t hit it. The emotion of disappointment can be detrimental to your business. But if you’ve made more than the month before, it’s a reason to CELEBRATE!
So, set some activity goals as well for the month. Such as a goal to write 30 days worth of content or to record 30 days worth of YouTube videos. These are things that are totally within your control. Activity is often a lot easier to control whereas income…not always. Then you’ve got at least one thing you can celebrate.
If you have a goal to earn more in your business but feel stuck at your current earning level, reach out to me for a complimentary MONEY BREAKTHROUGH SESSION at this link.
And, if you want help in releasing limiting beliefs on an energetic level, download the Top 7 Limiting Beliefs that Sabotage Your Financial Success. This free guide will help you to tap into your natural talent and ability to succeed.
Certified Tapping Into Wealth Coach
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