3 Life Lessons for Better Productivity
When you first start your entrepreneurial journey, there’s a lot of uncertainty floating around in your head.
Can I do this?
Who do I think I am?
I have no idea what I’m doing!
As you continue, you start to gain a little more knowledge and confidence...and get a little more use to the uncertainty. I’ve found that a big part of productivity success in the entrepreneurial world comes not from tools and time-saving hacks, but from getting to know yourself. Here are three lessons I’ve learned (and continue to learn) that can help you not only be more productive, but bring more of yourself to everything you do.
1. Value yourself, and others will value you, too.
It took me a long time to really learn this one. As a people pleaser, my tendency is to put other people’s wants and needs above my own. I would take on more than my share. I would sideline my work and health to help someone else out. I embraced the how-does-she-do-it-all, martyr image with a certain pride.
It’s a cycle that’s hard to break. You show through your actions that you are a reliable person who can pick up other people’s slack, so that becomes the expectation. With each ask, a little more of your time, energy, and boundaries are syphoned off until there’s nothing left.
If you want to have the time to work on your business, have clients and customers who honor your availability, and make the money you deserve, start valuing yourself. Your time and effort are just as important as anyone else’s.
Do you need one day a week without clients so that you can focus on your creative efforts? Set the time, the boundary, and the expectation. Taking the time will help you show up more focused and energized for your clients.
Have you been discounting your services for fear that you’d drive your customers away if you charged more? Connect back to the value you are offering and the type of customer who sees that value. Value yourself first, and that value will be reflected back to you.
2. There’s always enough time for what’s important.
As the saying goes, we all have the same 24 hours in a day. It’s how we use that time that makes the difference. I get asked regularly how someone can organize their time to fit more in. It’s not about more; it’s about the right things. So many of us place all tasks, appointments, and goals at the same level of importance. The way you actually get things done is by:
Knowing what’s most important to you.
Prioritizing the things that are most important.
Deleting or delaying the rest. (See Your To-Do List: Remember the 4 Ds)
So, if you find yourself wishing for more time, take a look at your schedule. What you allow time for is what you are prioritizing. Whether consciously or not, you are choosing what’s most important. If you don’t like what you see, consciously look at your values and goals and make a change.
3. Know and embody the future version of you.
At the beginning of my Goal-Setting Workshop, I walk everyone through a visualization. You imagine yourself traveling into the future and becoming a future version of yourself. In the process, you get a glimpse into who you most desire to become--the best version of you.
It becomes much easier and clearer having experienced this to then determine the goals that will get you from today to that future version. Your brain believes that it has already accomplished your future goals, so the path there is easier to see. It’s the same thing as when athletes mentally rehearse their next race or meet. I used to do this as a swimmer. You visualize every stroke and every turn performed to perfection. Then when the race actually happens, your muscles know exactly what to do. You’ve done it before. In the moment, it feels like a combination of flow and deja vu.
You can apply this every day in your business. With every decision, ask yourself, “what would my future self do?” It allows you to step out of the moment and look at things from a higher-level view. You may find that “nos” to things that don’t align with your goals or boundaries come easier.
