It’s time to beat out burnout. Research shows that people are feeling more burnt out than ever, especially women. In research that we’ve conducted with thousands of women, we’ve found that the three areas they want to spend less time on is social media, their phones and cleaning. And that’s why in this Fearless in 5, we’ll share five ways that you can increase your productivity.
1. Block time for productive work. You can do this by shutting off your notifications on Slack, on your social channels, on email…you can even go into airplane mode on your phone.
2. Block time for unimportant tasks. It may seem counterintuitive, but if you set aside finite sessions of time for things that you still want in your life, but you don’t want them to completely consume everything that you do, it will make it easier. Set a timer when you’re getting on social media, watching TV or chatting with friends.
3. Multitask. Take those phone calls while you’re out walking your dog. You can watch TV and work out at the same time. You can listen to a podcast or an audio book while you’re at the gym. Or you can even look like me--like a crazy person--and sit there on my laptop while I’m getting my hair cut and colored.
4. Stop the shopping. You can save time from picking up your groceries by using something like Instacart, Shipt or Amazon. You can even be healthy at the same time and place a regular order through Hungryroot—one of my favorites—or Thistle.
5. Maximize your meetings. Use a trick I use which is the Gold Standard—“gold” being ORO in Italian and Spanish. ORO is an acronym. O—set those clear objectives. R—what are roles and responsibilities for everyone in the meeting? O—what are the desired outcomes from the meeting? Ditch everything else beyond that.
Finding the gift of time throughout your day will not only help you feel more productive, but you’ll feel so much less burnt out at the same time.
For other tips and tricks, check out Wet Cement at www.wet-cement.com.