4 Reasons Why You Need to Utilize Time-Boxing to Improve Your Productivity
If you find it difficult to manage your time and get your tasks done during the day, you may need to start utilizing a time management technique known as time-boxing. Time-boxing requires you to allot chunks of time to each of your tasks. Once your allotted time for a task is up, then you need to move onto the next task. Here are four reasons why you need to utilize time-boxing if you want to become more productive.
To Prioritize Your Tasks More Effectively
If you have trouble prioritizing your tasks, then time-boxing is a technique you'll want to utilize. Time-boxing forces you to decide how you will spend your time. Since your tasks are contained and can't be done at the same time you have to choose which tasks have to be completed today versus tomorrow, or even in a week.
To Increase Your Focus
Part of being more productive is finding your focus. Time-boxing is a great way to increase your focus. When you permit yourself to work without interruption, great things can happen. Time-boxing allows you to settle into your work, approach a problem, hone your skills, practice your creative thinking, and get more done.
Know-How Much Time You’ve Spent on Something
Have you ever wondered how much time it took you to respond to your emails, write a blog post for your company, or to shop for your mom's birthday present? When you time-box your tasks, you not only create a finite set of tasks to accomplish within a specified period, but you also create a record of how you spent your time. This information can be beneficial if you need to enter detailed information into timesheets at work, or if you want to better manage your time in general.
Never Set a Deadline
Deadlines drive the very nature of time-boxing. You set a specific timeframe for completing a task or project as you go. If you have trouble setting deadlines for larger projects and tasks, you might want to start out small by time-boxing your daily tasks. This will give you more and more practice reaching your deadlines on a regular basis, eventually allowing you to translate this towards completing your more significant projects and tasks.
Learning how to utilize time-boxing to complete your tasks can help you significantly increase your productivity.
3 Simple Ways to Use a Calendar to Increase Your Productivity
There has been plenty of discussion about how a calendar can fit into one's productivity system. The general rule is that you add scheduled appointments to your calendar, and your tasks should be placed into the task management system that you use. However, what often isn't discussed is precisely what appointments you should be putting in your calendar to maximize your time best and ensure you're staying productive. Here are the three types of appointments you should add to your schedule to create an effective productivity system.
General Appointments
These are the regular appointments that you may schedule throughout your week. These would be appointments for the doctor or business lunches. They are relatively general regarding defining an appointment, so they need to be treated as such. These kinds of appointments can be moved if needed, given enough notice is provided, and both parties can make it happen, though you should try to avoid moving them in most cases.
Self-Appointments
These are the appointments that you make with yourself. They can be in the form of blocks of time that you schedule so that you can work on projects and tasks without interruption. You can transfer these kinds of appointments, but it is more beneficial if you can try to create a framework so that they stay as static as possible.
You want to pick a time during the day when you can work in 90-minute intervals on a regular basis so you can create a habit and improve your productivity. Break up the time with breaks where nothing is set in stone. You might even want to take larger blocks and break them down into smaller chunks using The Pomodoro Technique so that you can move from task to task. You want to keep these time blocks nimble enough that you can move them to other hours of the day if needed.
Team Appointments
Team appointments are for when you need to bring a team together. The best way to get these scheduled is once you’ve already locked in the other two types of appointments on your calendar. While doing this can make it more difficult to plan these kinds of meetings, you can use tools like Doodle, Google Calendar or Tungle.me to pick optimal times where most of the team can be present.
When you can keep in mind the three types of appointments that you have at your disposal, your calendar will become a tremendous tool that will allow you to create time and space for yourself and improve your productivity.
What Ambitions Do You Have?
Everyone, both young and old, has a desired goal that he or she strives to achieve. Even children demonstrate ambition when they share their plans of becoming a dentist, doctor or lawyer in future. As we grow, some of us keep most of our ambitions, but how many of them have we achieved? Are we even working to achieve them in the first place?
It’s good to have a dream. It gives you a sense of purpose and gives you something to live for. Why not go a step further to work on your dreams to make them come to pass? Successful people are known for pursuing exactly what they want, and they never allow things to stop them.
One reason why some people are unable to achieve their goals is that it is too large and unrealistic. Such a goal may be too difficult to achieve, and you may end up giving up on the goal even before starting. This is not the right way. Rather, break the goal into smaller friendly sub-goals. Let’s assume that your goal is to build your own home. You can list the steps involved in achieving this goal, and work on them one at a time.
It is very necessary to make every step to achieving your goal very specific and clear. Also, be realistic concerning how long it will take you to achieve it. In achieving the goal of building your home, the first step may be finding a job that pays more. This job transition may require you to receive some additional training, and this will take some time.
It may take a while for you to achieve your goal, but never give up. Keep pursuing it, and remember that every action you take brings you closer to your goal. J.K Rowling, an international bestselling author, has had her share of rejections and failure. She approached several publishing houses before her Harry Potter series were accepted. If she did not have ambition and drive, she would have probably given up after a few tries.
By dividing your goal into sub-goals, you can easily discover the necessary steps to achieve your main goal. Doing this will keep you motivated and on track. When you complete a sub-goal, you’ll feel so proud as you cross if off your checklist. Repeat this strategy, until all your dreams and goals have been achieved.
Remember that your life will not become better if you just sit and wait for a miracle. Your dreams will never be achieved if you do not work towards them. Decide what you want, work towards them, and success will be yours before you know it!
Do You Consider Yourself to be Compassionate?
What does it mean to be compassionate? Well, you can feel sorry for someone who is hurt or sick. However, being compassionate is a lot more than just a ”feeling.”
Compassionate people do not only “feel,” but they act upon how they feel about a specific issue or situation. This is why some people can decide to raise funds for a social cause that they believe in. We see celebrities doing this most of the time, but lots of other people do it too. Some do it by volunteering to work with an organisation that supports a social cause.
You have probably heard about people who travel around the country raising funds for a social issue (like cancer), and you may wonder what drives them to do what they do. They do this because they are passionate about the cause they are supporting. Perhaps they have been affected by cancer before, and they want to help others who are in the same situation. Or perhaps they lost a loved one who died of cancer, and it drove them to show compassion for others who are also battling cancer.
These scenarios may sound extreme, but there are other regular ways through which people show their compassion. In fact, there are lots of business owners who are helping their employees at work by showing them compassion. Most families, these days, have both parents pursuing a career, and finding a daycare for their children can be a bit difficult, as well as expensive. Some employers help to ease this burden by providing a daycare in their workplace. This eliminates the inconvenience of parents driving across town to drop off their children before coming to work. It also means that they can visit their children during breaks, and they are always close by if the child gets sick or if there are any emergencies.
From the example given, you can see that showing compassion is something that everyone can do. So, the next time a loved one gets ill, don’t just say sorry and wish the person a speedy recovery, Instead, see if there is something more you can do for them to show your compassion. All you may need to do is pick a few groceries for them, or even contact a long-distance relative on their behalf.
You can apply this concept in business too. If your customer has a challenge, find a way to help them out. They may be struggling with something that you can easily help with. Go ahead and show compassion to them, and your kindness will never be forgotten.
Being Fair and Honest to Others
Everybody likes to be respected and treated fairly. Treating people this way is a sign of showing integrity. Honesty is a big part of integrity and it means speaking the truth when your opinion is sought on any matter. Have you ever made up excuses which are not exactly true? Like turning down an appointment because you had to make a final sale to meet your target? That isn’t integrity.
People of integrity are often considered as leaders in the community. If you want to be seen as a winner in your locality then you must exhibit integrity in all that you do. Work towards becoming a role model for others to emulate. That is when people will start to seek you out.
Giving people your honest opinion at times can be tough. The truth can sometimes be hard to swallow but stick to it. After a while, they will begin to respect your opinion. They will always want to hear what you have to say because you can be trusted.
The business world is run on trust. People with integrity do not cheat others for their own benefit. Even when you have only one product left that you know is defective, don’t sell it to your customer, pretending as if you do not know of the defect. Do the right thing by returning the product to the manufacturer, even if it will mean that you will be out of stock and can’t sell. Tell the truth and let the customer know of the problem at hand and let them know that you are working to have it replaced.
This immediately paints you as an honest businessman in the eyes of your customers and they will appreciate your integrity. Who knows, they may even offer to buy the defective product if it wouldn’t affect its function. You would have earned their trust by being truthful.
Sincere people have an open mind and are always conscious of taking the right steps to achieve the desired goals. People of integrity are normally viewed as humble people who have the interest of others at heart and are selfless.
Due to their honest and sacrificial nature, they normally help others with their time. From raising money to supporting a cause that they truly believe in with their time and presence. People with integrity become role models easily because their deeds often lead others to act like them.
How Helpful are You to Others?
One major characteristic of successful people is their desire and willingness to help others. Everyone may be willing to help others to a point, but do you go the extra mile to be helpful to others? Think about this for a second.
In the world of business, how helpful you are to your customers can determine how high your business will rise. Being supportive to your customers is not just about recommending the right item to purchase. Rather, it is about being helpful to prospective clients. This may sound strange, but being supportive may sometimes mean directing clients to a competitor if your product or service is not exactly what they need to solve their problem. Offer support to others, not because of the benefit you may derive, but rather because of the benefit they will derive. Focus on helping people solve their problems, not on how you can benefit from them.
Keeping in touch with your connections is also a way of being helpful as a business owner. You can keep in touch with your connections by sending out a monthly newsletter to your list of connections. The newsletter may contain local news as well as information on new products/services that may be beneficial to them.
Having a Facebook fan page is also another strategy to be helpful to your customers. This strategy is quite popular, and lots of companies use it. Having a Facebook page allows you to communicate with customers, receive authentic feedback, as well as give advice and recommendations to customers. Keeping in touch with your connections through social media may be time-consuming, but it is a great investment.
Always keep an eye out for opportunities to be helpful to individuals in your local area, and even local businesses. It would be a great idea if you could create a hangout area where you can get together with other business owners to support each other in promoting one another’s business.
Now, take a minute and ask yourself, “Am I really being helpful to people in my life?” Think about it. If you need to improve on how helpful you are to others, then start planning on small action steps to take to start being more helpful to others. One great way to be helpful and supportive to others is by always going to extra mile for your customers. Give them more than they expect, and they will love you for it! It is the little extras that make them see you as a great solution to their problem, and it is the little extras that will make them stay loyal to you.
Honesty Counts
Of all the character traits and attitudes to develop, one of the most important is honesty. It is funny how most people think of themselves as honest, but tend to act differently when it comes to business affairs.
Telling white lies is becoming a trend, as most people are indulging in it. They say, “After all, if it helps me to make a sale to a customer, then it’s not a big deal.” Perhaps you overstated the quality of your product on sale, or you intentionally sold a defective product to a client because you weren’t ready to go through the stressful process of returning it to the manufacturer. Is it a big deal?
You may get away with being insincere to your customers for now, but it may one day come back to plague you. For example, you may have sold a defective product to a client, and saying that you trust the authenticity of the product completely. What happens then, if the client returns the product with an issue, and you have no idea how to fix the issue?
For your business to be successful, you must develop the habit of long-term thinking. In every decision you take, you must ask yourself, “How will this action affect me and my business in future?” You also have to think about your customers and place them first. You need to take time to study them and find out their desires, their challenges as well as how much they can afford to spend. Customers can sense that you care about them when you show an interest in them. They are smart, and can notice whether you are really interested in them. Whether through talk or body language, they can always tell.
Honesty is a very important attitude which, if practised, can produce success in your personal life and business. You will be surprised how customers will gladly recommend your business to their friends and contacts. People will also see you as a trustworthy person who will always give an honest opinion concerning any issue.
Think Before You Speak
Have you ever been guilty of saying something out loud and suddenly regretting it and wishing you never said it? Almost everyone has been in such a situation before. Words have power, and they should be handled carefully since we can never take back what we say.
We need to learn the important habit of thinking before we speak, especially when it comes to using social media. Take a minute to think about what you want to post on Facebook or tweet on Twitter before you do it. It’s very easy to just vent out our emotions on social media, or reply harshly to a post that offends us.
We should, however, remember that as soon as we post something on social media, the entire world becomes our audience. There is the freedom of speech, but we need to be careful of what we say, especially when exchanging words on social media about a controversial issue. Whatever you say can come back one day to haunt you.
Many people have posted on social media without thinking, and have immediately regretted their actions. When you see something on social media that gets you annoyed, don’t rush to reply. Pause and take a minute to think about how you want to respond, and how that response could affect other people. What if your family sees your message? What will your employer think of you if he/she sees it? Will it get you a promotion or will it get you fired?
If you want to be a successful person, then you always need to think first before speaking out loud. This is one of the attitudes of people with a positive mindset. If you want to have a more positive attitude, then you need to practise this. Always remember that every action you take has an effect, whether positive or negative.
There will always be situations that get us annoyed and stressed out, but it is better to let these situations pass without responding to them angrily in public. However, thinking before speaking does not mean that you don’t have the chance to rant and express your opinions. You can rant and scream in your pillow at home where no one will hear you, or you can vent out to your spouse. This is much better than ranting out in the open for others to hear.
Of course, there are some situations where it is recommended for you to speak up. If you have a powerful reputation, speaking up concerning certain issues can help. This applies to speaking up to raise money for a social cause or raise awareness of a specific issue.
Always remember that people will judge your personality and intelligence based on what you say. Therefore, learn to be selective in the words you speak, and think twice about your actions when responding to something online. Be slow to speak, but if your words will help to improve a situation, then going ahead to speak may be the right thing to do.
How Fearless Are You?
Everyone has something that they fear. No matter how brave someone may seem, there may be one thing that the person fears. Everyone has different fears. Your fear may be about performing poorly at work, while another person’s fear may be the fear of developing a fatal disease. These are all legitimate fears, and there is nothing wrong about being afraid. What is important is how you respond to them.
It is never easy to confront your fears, but you can resolve to work on them little by little. For example, if your fear is about mediocre performance at work, you can start thinking of ways to boost your performance. Perhaps you may need to upgrade your skill set or develop some more self-confidence. Self-confidence is very important, as it can determine how others see you and respond to you. When you feel and act confident, others will begin to see you as such and respond to you more positively. One way of boosting your level of confidence is by repeating positive affirmations to yourself every day. Keep repeating positive statements about yourself until you believe them and see them manifest in your life.
Being fearless does not mean that you will never feel fear. Rather, it means that you will not allow fear to control you, or influence your actions and decisions. Being fearless means identifying your fear, and devising strategies to overcome them. Sharing your fears with someone you trust is a big step in overcoming your fears. It may surprise you that they may be facing fears like yours.
Being fearless is a trait that most people admire and wish to have, but there are times when being fearless has some disadvantages. In trying to be fearless, you may take rash and irresponsible actions that may hurt you and others close to you. There is a clear difference between being afraid to take an action, and taking an action that is foolish and reckless.
You may want to overcome your fear instantly, but the best way is to work on it slowly, over time. Engage in activities that you usually wouldn’t, so that you can stretch yourself out of your comfort zone. Whenever you successfully take an action towards overcoming your fear, you have to reward and motivate yourself for a great job done! As you keep doing this, you will realise that your fears are no longer as scary as they used to be, and your self-concept has become more positive, helping you become more focused and successful.
Fear is never a sign of weakness. It is okay to fear, but it is not okay to let fear rule your life. Rather, set challenging goals for yourself, which will help you tackle your fears and enable you to enjoy the life you desire!