Productivity Myths You Need to Bust! by Danielle Lively
Danielle Lively Neal is a former professor turned entrepreneur who provides brand strategy consulting, career coaching and marketing services for clients.
These days it seems we are all about the HUSTLE and we must be failing if we are not seriously overscheduled and ridiculously busy. Unfortunately, none of those lead to your best you or your best work! As Kevin Abdulrahman says, “Unsuccessful people are busy being busy. Successful people are busy being productive.” Here are some of the top productivity myths you need to bust so you are not just busy, but successful.
- Long work hours = better quality work and more getting done!
It’s called BURNOUT for a reason! Our bodies are simply not made for an intense 8-hour workday without rest and total focus. We simply are not capable of doing that in an efficient and effective way, even if you feel like you do it all the time. Solution? Schedule your most intensive projects and tasks during the hours your focus is at it’s peak. For many people, this is during the morning hours before you jump into all the other tasks of the day, including email, social media, and phone calls. If you are most productive during the middle of the day, then schedule certain tasks for your morning but set a hard rule for yourself that you will stop what you are doing at a set time and work on your most priority projects during your set peak times. Bonus points? Get the Battling Burnout box before it is gone! All the items in the box will help you with these strategies.
- Lengthy to do lists = lots of to dos getting done!
I don’t know about you, but I have a NEVERENDING to do list! I end up only checking a few things off each day and just adding more and more to future to dos for future days and then it feels like nothing gets done and it’s never going to end. But…making that check mark on my list is still so satisfying, so much so that sometimes when I have already completed a task that wasn’t on my list, I add it just so I can check it off. Solution? Try creating a top 3 list. Write down the top 3 things that MUST be done before you can move on to other tasks and stick to it. After that, you can structure your day around lesser priority tasks. Bonus points? Get a super cute daily to do list task pad that has spaces for the various areas of your life!
- Not taking breaks = more gets done, always hustling!
I know you have heard the adage that you need to put your own mask on first a la instructions for your airplane flight letting you know you have to breath in order to help others! For the same reasons that long hours don’t lead to productivity, neither does not taking breaks, your body and mind need to recharge. Solution? Schedule those breaks for yourself into your day. Make sure you schedule active and more mindful breaks to give all parts of your body a recharge. Bonus points? Read In the Company of Women during some of your breaks for quick stories that enlighten and inspire!
- Doing everything yourself = no one does it better!
If you own your own business, starting out you may not have a choice but to be the only one who does all the things. But if you plan to scale your business, you are going to have to let go of some of the things and accept the possibility that someone might even do some tasks better than you! Solution? Ask yourself how many more hours of work you could spend in your “zone of genius” creating high ticket work for your clients if you didn’t have to do the hours of tasks that are definitely not in your zone of genius and that you really don’t like doing, but are necessary. How many hours are you spending doing these not so fun tasks? Could you be bringing in A LOT more money having that time to work in your zone of genius? That means a team member to handle those tasks will help you financially and in terms of your burnout and mental health. Bonus points? Record yourself doing tasks you do over and over again now so that when you do have a team you can easily refer them to the video for instructions or a refresher.
- Not needing a management system = they cost too much and I don’t have time to set it up!
It may take some time to set up the management system, but, once you do you will not remember how you lived without it, especially if you have a team. It will make your life so much easier and allow you to easily manage your tasks, team tasks, and project responsibilities. Solution? Look into the software that would work best for you and your team. There are many different apps or systems you can choose from that have a range of prices, but you can even use a free system such as Google Drive and Calendar to manage your tasks and share things with your team. Bonus points? Use an app like Repurpose to create a video, podcast or live stream and publish it everywhere at once!
