22 Quick Tips To Get Your Mojo Back

Productive Vs Busy

Looking busy doesn’t always mean we are being productive. I have days where I’ve got more done on my virtual farm (yes, you know the one I’m talking about!) than I have for my business.

If you find you are having too many unproductive days, or are finding time just slips away from you, here are some great tips to get you and your business moving in the right direction:

Tips For A More Productive Day

1. Go to bed early, but never go to bed with an unsolved task buzzing in your head, either get it done or make a plan of how you are going tackle the problem. One way or another it needs to get out of your brain, even if that just means passing it to someone else (half asleep husbands are great resources for unloading!)

2. Wake up early, before the rest of the family and with a spring in your step, if you don’t really feel like it then force it; jump in the shower, splash your face with cold water, grab a strong coffee, go for a brisk walk/run or just step outside and breath in the new day. Look forward to what lies ahead.

3. Work on your to-do list, start at the top and achieve at least one important task before you take a break.

4. Decide early which jobs you just aren’t going to enjoy and will end up putting off, then go get someone else to do them. One person can achieve anything, but they can’t do everything!

5. Check your email, Facebook, Twitter or other accounts once – make a note of anything that needs to be done on your to-do list and then log out of all the accounts until you’re ready to work through the tasks.

6. When you are ready to go through your email, don’t “put off” the difficult replies, just get them all out of the way and empty the inbox. An inbox isn’t the place to store work, get it out and into your task management system (Evernote, Freedcamp, RememberTheMilk and Trello are all free, useful tools).

7. Stay logged out of Facebook and Skype during work hours unless you really NEED them, it’s a good idea to have separate work and personal accounts. If your friends see you logged into FB chat or Skype, you can kiss goodbye to being productive!

8. Don’t mix up your work time and your leisure time, that includes answering the door (if you work from home) to casual visitors. I know this can be a difficult one for us moms who have the kids at home during the day, but do try to get into a routine of at least an hour of uninterrupted work every day.

Find What Works For You

Lynn Terry has a great system of codes for her children, if one shouts code red she knows it’s something life threatening and leaves what she is doing, everything else has to wait. I did try this, but unfortunately my kids’ definition of life threatening and mine just weren’t compatible, it usually meant they needed a drink!

9. Identify your least productive time of the day and stop trying to fight it, taking a break isn’t against the law of business success! I know I don’t get much done between 3pm and 8pm, so this has become family time and I just do my “mom” stuff.

10. Define your set work time and leisure time, and even if both involve being online don’t attempt to juggle and do both at the same time.

11. Have a hobby

or interest that is completely away from your business, even something as simple as reading a book (a real one, with paper pages!) or doing a crossword. Take some time out every day that’s just for you.

12. Keep a notepad with you at all times and as soon as you get the idea, note it down for later, resist the temptation to react and do it now or you will forever find yourself running over to the laptop at inconvenient moments (during dinner, the middle of the night, and ok, I’ve even got out of the shower dripping wet to check something!)

Get stuff out of your head and onto paper/screen asap before you forget or your head gets so cluttered that it no longer makes any sense.

13. Drink plenty of water along with the coffee or Red Bull, eat regularly and well; don’t stuff yourself every time you realise you haven’t eaten for hours, not only will you be unable to function properly with a full stomach, but your energy levels and mood will spike and dip, staying constant will get more done. If you need to snack while you are working, try fruit and nuts to keep your energy levels up, keep the cookies and sweet stuff for special treats.

14. Move around, sitting staring at a screen for hours is bad for your metabolism, your posture and your circulation. If you don’t have time to take a break and go for a walk, at least put some essential items out of reach so you have to get up to fetch them, while you are up take the opportunity to stretch a little.

Traffic And Stats Do Not Get You Customers, YOU Get You Customers.

15. Stop wasting time checking your stats, webmaster tools, analytics, etc (I’m a sucker for real-time analytics!) Once a week is fine for checking on your rankings, no need to panic if you drop a place since the last 10 minutes you checked. If you really can’t resist then make it your last job of the day before you shut down the computer.

16. Tidy up your workspace and your computer so that it’s free of mess (sort those files and folders out); a tidy desk means a tidy mind!

17. Focus on one task at a time, work through your to-do list methodically, only adding new task at to the bottom of the list. At the end of your working day re-evaluate the list and move more important tasks up to the top ready for the morning.

18. When you get really stuck, it’s often times best to just leave it for a while and refresh yourself. Let it come to you.

19. Finish each day and be done with it. You have done everything you can. Some blunders and mistakes will happen from time to time, learn from them then forget them. Tomorrow is a new day, begin it afresh.

20. Enjoy what you do, if you’re not enjoying it then change things!

Small Steps Avoid Overload

21. Work in small, but complete batches, taking on each task at time. You must be able to finish things or you will get nothing done.

22. If there’s one nasty task that you find you are putting off then remember that delaying doing something is always worse than actually doing it. Having stuff “to-do” that you know you aren’t going to will be a constant in the back of your mind until it is resolved – Just Do It! You’re going to have to do it eventually anyway! Why add to your worry and stress by putting it off?

As soon as you empty out all the yucky jobs that are lurking in your business (and your life) you may even suddenly find that motivation that you’ve been lacking to move forward, with real purpose and drive.