Personal Productivity Tips For Small Business CEOs
Whether you are a CEO for a small or big business, you would know how important it is to be productive. As the CEO, you have the utmost responsibility of running or overseeing the day-to-day operations of a business and, sometimes, it can get overwhelming. But there is a way to get it all done: by being productive with your time. When you manage your time well, you get more activities done, which lets you have more free time to spend on other things.
If you are struggling with your productivity, the good news is that there are many ways you can achieve this. Here are some of them:
1. Eliminate Any Interruptions
One of the biggest hindrances to productivity will have to be distractions and interruptions. It is so hard to get your mind to focus when you are always distracted. For every person, it is different. While others might be distracted by their cell phones, social media accounts, and the like, other CEOs get easily distracted by the news, by a colleague passing by, or even by the thought of meals. Whatever it is that makes you easily distracted, get rid of it.
For instance, if it is your cell phone that’s causing the distraction, log out of your social media accounts, and turn your phone down. You would know if the message is important as they would most likely just give you a call. As CEO, you are very busy, and people are also likely aware of this. Can you only imagine all the wasted time that you could’ve spent being productive instead had you let go of these simple distractions?
2. Start Your Day Early
Starting your day early is one of the best ways for you to stay productive. How so? Early on in the day, you already have so much extra time to spare to try and get as many things done as possible. A great tip you can follow is to try doing something that makes you happy as soon as you wake up. This may sound simple but it can actually be very helpful in setting the mood wherein you feel like you have total control over your day. For instance, if it makes you happy to start by reading a book, dedicate fifteen minutes to doing that as soon as you wake up. Or, to be healthier, too, you might want to exercise, or take a quick walk around the neighborhood with your dog. If you don’t do this early in the morning, chances are, you will be so busy that you will never get them done later on.
3. Group Identical Tasks For The Day
This is especially helpful if your day is just too occupied with so many tasks to finish. As a CEO, you will most likely have a to-do list with you. Whether this is in your notebook as a traditional daily planner, or on your cell phone, there is always a guide you can refer to when it comes to your daily activities. As you think about what you have to do, try to create clusters for these tasks, too. You can group together those that are identical or similar.
For instance, you have an errand to run at the bank and another one at the bills payment center. If the city center is far from your place of business, you might want to group these tasks together so that you can do it all in one go. This is so much better than having to make multiple trips to the city. Going back to eliminating interruptions, you might want to set an interval of three hours for every time you would check your email. This strategy is better than checking it every time a message pops out. When you do this, you are also decreasing the chances of being tempted to open other websites, or your social media accounts.
4. Set An Alarm For Every Task
This strategy doesn’t only apply to small business CEOs, but even for stay-at-home moms who have so much work to juggle, too. This strategy is known as time-tracking. Setting the alarm for every task that you have to complete is helpful in keeping you conscious about your productivity. This also ensures that you are not spending too long at a job—which you can complete at a shorter period, anyway—simply because you were also distracted with other things. Make it your goal to finish a task at the end of every alarm, and see how much more you can do when you are this time-conscious.
Conclusion
With these productivity tips, you are sure to get more out of your working day. With your job as the CEO, it is normal for you to feel like you are constantly under a lot of pressure, and there seems to be no way to get things done. Proper productivity begins with starting the day right and having the proper mindset. Your productivity really depends on how you manage your daily choices and tasks.
