7. Work fewer than 49 hours a week.
After working 49 hours a week, your
productivity decreases dramatically.
So when you hit that magic number, call it quits
and head home!
[HubSpot]
1.
8. 2.
Listen to music that’s best suited for
the type of boost you need.
Need to relax? Listen to nature sounds or
instrumental music.
Feeling down? Queue up a feel-good playlist.
Need motivation? Find songs that pump you up.
Here’s one you can use! >>
9. 3.
Do your most important tasks in
the morning.
Research shows that you’re most cognitively
active two hours after you wake up.
So don’t spend this valuable time surfing the
Internet or checking email. Use it to tackle your
hardest project.
[HubSpot]
10. 4. Stop multitasking.
Our brains aren’t built for multitasking. Even
though it might feel like you’re doing several
things at once, you’re really just switching
between multiple tasks.
And research shows that multitasking can
actually decrease your IQ.
[Forbes]
11. 5.
Schedule internal meetings
strategically.
Schedule meetings back-to-back or around
lunch so you’re not sitting down and getting
back up all day.
Are you a manager? Hold one day a week for
one-on-ones with your direct reports.
12. 6.
Build time into your schedule to
prospect every day.
It’s easy to skip prospecting if things get busy,
but neglect your pipeline and you’ll shoot
yourself in the foot.
Call your prospects between 8 and 9 a.m. local
time, and do email prospecting during off hours.
[HubSpot]
13. 7.
Reserve specific hours on your
calendar for prospect meetings.
If you hold a consistent time for sales meetings,
you’ll avoid conflicts with internal meetings and
won’t have to reshuffle your schedule.
Of course, defer to your prospect’s schedule if
they absolutely can’t meet within this window.
14. 8.
Leave 10-15 minutes between every
external meeting.
You can duck out of internal meetings if they
start to run over. Not so when you’re speaking
with a prospect.
Always leave yourself buffer time in case the
conversation runs long or the prospect arrives
late.
15. 9.
Remove unnecessary recurring
meetings from your schedule.
As a sales rep, the only recurring meetings you
need to have are pipeline reviews and career
discussions with your manager.
If a recurring meeting has fallen by the wayside
or isn’t helpful to you, get it off your calendar.
16. 10.
Put “available to book” times on
your calendar.
Let your colleagues know when you’re available
to meet by making it explicit on your schedule.
That way, they don’t have to ping you asking if
they can book you. They can just do it.
17. 11. Build lunch into your schedule.
Even on your busiest days, you can’t afford to
miss lunch.
The mental break and time away from your desk
are essential to keeping you sharp and focused
for the rest of the day.
18. 12.
Every Sunday, review next week’s
schedule.
Throughout the week, surprises will inevitably
crop up. But you should start your week as
organized as possible.
Spend a mere 10 minutes updating your
calendar and you’ll be ready to hit the ground
running on Monday morning.
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21. 13. Hide your phone.
(Not your desk phone, of course.)
Research shows that we touch our phones 150
times a day. Avoid the temptation and put it
away during work hours.
[Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers]
22. 14. Touch things once.
It takes 25 minutes to return to productivity
after an interruption.
So when you’re working, finish a task before you
move on to something else. Breaking it up will
only increase the total amount of time you’ll
have to spend.
23. 15. Try the (10 + 2) x 5 technique.
Step 1: Work for 10 minutes with absolute focus
on one task.
Step 2: Break for 2 minutes.
Step 3: Repeat 5 times in total (4 additional
times) until you’ve completed an hour of work.
[Adapted from 43folders]
24. 16. Or use the 52:17 ratio.
Research by DeskTime shows that the highest-
performing 10% of employees work for 52
minutes followed by a 17-minute break spent
away from their desks.
(Hey, if science says it, it must be true.)
[The Atlantic]
25. 17. Or the Pomodoro Technique.
Step 1: Set a timer for 25 minutes and work on
one task. (25 minutes is one “Pomodoro.”)
Step 2: Take a short break.
Step 3: Every four Pomodoros, take a longer
break – from 15-30 minutes.
[Lifehacker]
26. 18.
Or, use the Dead Battery Sprint to
get things done – fast.
(Note: only works if you use a laptop for work.)
Step 1: Charge your computer to 100%.
Step 2: Unplug.
Step 3: Try to finish a task before the battery dies.
[HubSpot]
27. 19. Set both long- and short-term goals.
It’s helpful to have a five-year plan, but it’s not
always easy to see progress day-to-day.
Setting attainable smaller goals will keep you
driving forward to eventually reach your
ultimate objective.
[Psychology Today]
28. 20. Get into the office early.
A recent study found that “morning people”
were more likely to feel in charge of their work
and spend time identifying goals.
And if you beat the morning rush, you’ll have
guaranteed alone time to work before
distractions from your colleagues start rolling in.
[99u]
29. 21. Turn off any channels that you’re
not using.
You don’t need to check your email while you’re
making prospecting calls. You don’t need to
have Facebook open when you’re sourcing leads
on LinkedIn.
Free yourself from the constant flow of new
notifications by physically closing out of
windows you’re not using.