Accountability in business means holding yourself responsible for your performances or actions relating to the results achieved in your business. Accountability in business is also directly tied to productivity and how you and your team get things done in the workplace.
As a business owner, you need to learn how to perform your duties and carry out your business activities in even more productive ways.
The most important way to succeed in business is to find a way to manage your time and optimize your activities to be more productive in the long run.
Successful business leaders have something in common; the ability to perform at an optimized level. They can overcome all their struggles and productivity challenges by adopting different practices to help them perform even better and you can do exactly the same thing.
Let’s explore seven productivity tips to help you improve your performance.
1. Set Your Daily Goals
Every day, there should be a list of high payoff activities you have to do. At the beginning of every day, you need to ask yourself what you wish to achieve by the end of the day. What tasks need to be solved before the day runs out, what tasks are needed to function optimally the next day, and what tasks should be accomplished that help you make progress toward the achievement of your goals.
When you set your daily goals, you are drawing your attention towards a select list of items that need to be completed. Setting daily goals also challenges and keeps you motivated without overwhelming you. For example, a top performing person I know has a goal to make x number of contacts to prospective clients every single day.
2. Solve Harder Tasks First
Tough tasks are known to take a toll on your energy and performance. When you start your day, entrepreneurs and businesspeople are more likely to suspend harder or less desirable tasks for later in the day.
When you do this, a feeling of dread is likely to overtake you. This feeling may lead to avoidance and easy fatigue when working on these tasks. When you set harder tasks later in the day, they are more likely to be pushed into the next day, and the next day, and may never get completed in a timely fashion.
Solve harder tasks first, when your energy levels are high, so that you can dedicate as much focus and determination to complete the tasks as needed without tiring out.
Brian Tracy wrote a book called Eat That Frog. “Eat that frog!” means to start your day with the biggest, most important, and most dreaded task. It's also the task you are most likely to procrastinate on. Brian Tracy is also about disciplining yourself to eat that frog first thing in the morning every single day.
3. Identify Your Most Productive Time
Humans have different productive times. Some refer to these times as when their energy levels are at an all-time high.
You can handle multiple tasks or one big project during your productive time, so you deliver 100% to this task.
For some, their most productive time is in the mornings. When they first arrive at their office, they can focus on their tasks and produce excellent results. Yours may be right after lunch. When you identify your most productive time, you are able to set important tasks at this time, complete these tasks, and make crucial business decisions that improve your productivity.
However, I have worked with people who have a high energy time in the afternoon and still procrastinated on doing their highest payoff activities. When you find that this consistently occurs for you, I recommend that you “eat that frog” right away to get it done and move on.
4. Take on Every Task in 5 Minutes
Do you have tasks you are more likely to postpone? The problem is that procrastination is an enemy of business success. When you continuously put things off, your productivity levels take a beating and that affects the quality of your results.
The best way to avoid procrastination is to just freakin’ start the activity. The hardest and most challenging part of some activities is just beginning it. When you start a project, it becomes easier to continue and complete it. For example, some people have a hard time picking up the phone to make prospecting calls; however, after they make the first call the rest are much easier to do.
When starting a difficult or complex project that you’d much rather ignore, allocate 5 minutes to work on that project. There’s a high chance that you’ll become engrossed in the project and work longer than the 5 minutes you’ve allotted to it.
5. Understand Your Priorities
In every business, some activities are more important than others. This is why you must prioritize your tasks. After setting your daily goals, you want to list your tasks for the day and prioritize the tasks based on their importance.
When you understand your priorities, you can focus on the most important activities to be completed. When you allocate time to your tasks, you are empowering yourself by choosing to be more productive.
You need to also set boundaries during the day when no one is allowed to disturb or distract you when you are working on high payoff activities, especially those that only you can do and can’t be delegated to anyone else. This continuously improves your productivity.
6. Avoid Distractions
Distractions come with every business and can plague some firms. The best way to help you to avoid distractions and interruptions is by working by appointment only, as much as possible. This is for internal and external appointments. This is also for virtual and in person appointments. Scheduling a time to talk to your assistant every day can significantly reduce distractions from them and from you to them. This single concept can help give you back more time to do the activities you need to do that you might be putting off because you don’t think you have enough time to do them.
7. Review Your Week, Month and Year-to-date Numbers
When you plan your business year, your short-term and long-term goals play an important role in motivating, challenging, and measuring your success.
To achieve these goals easily, plan once a month to review what you have achieved that month and year-to-date. Review your weekly activities to analyze what activities have taken place, what impact these activities have had on your productivity, and what needs to be done the following week to achieve your set goals.
Course correcting, if necessary, keeps your eyes on the prize every month and helps you make better business decisions on your activities based on your progress.
Having key performance indicators (KPIs) / business metrics will help you:
• Set very specific goals (for your business and for you personally)
• Quickly help you Determine whether (or not) you’re on track to reach your goals (the firms and for you personally)
• Evaluate the success of your strategy based on these key metrics
• Pinpoint areas in your business that may need improvement
• Identify any opportunities and challenges
• Offer incentives to team members
• And they can even Assess whether your clients are happy or not
Some Key benefits of tracking certain key performance metrics are:
· Clarification – KPIs help to clarify the current business position and performance expectations
· Benchmarking – KPIs provide a point of reference for making future or past comparisons
· Focus – KPIs outline the important aspects for attention within the business
· Consistency – KPIs enable a consistent approach to achieving your business goals
· Motivation – KPIs engage employees with your company goals
· Accountability – KPIs will highlight both good performance and under performance
· Elimination of waste – KPIs help identify inefficiencies within the business
Change how you perform your activities with these productivity tips. Make small to big changes by following productivity tips from successful business leaders to help you take your business to your next level of success.
If you want help getting to your next level of success, I am here to help! Reach out to me today to schedule your complimentary consultation.
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