[vc_row][vc_column][trx_quote cite=”#” title=”Mandy Green”]I know early in my coaching career that I had fallen into the trap of conventional thinking that to be more productive, I just needed to work harder.[/trx_quote][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
4 More Tools for Personal Organization
I know early in my coaching career that I had fallen into the trap of conventional thinking that to be more productive, I just needed to work harder. My thought about time management was that if I spend more and more hours at my desk, I will get more done. Makes sense right?
In the book The Power of Full Engagement, author Tony Schwartz talks about how we shouldn’t worry about time management. Rather, we should focus on managing our energy levels because that is the key to productivity and getting things done.
When I first read this book, the concept of managing my energy over managing my time got me thinking about what I was currently doing to increase or at least manage my energy and how it was affecting my productivity throughout the day. Pretty sure I smacked myself on the forehead and was like duh, why wasn’t I doing this stuff before?
Coach, if you are just waking up and not preparing to have a productive day by controlling your energy, I can almost promise you that very rarely will you ever actually be consistently productive during the day. If you feel at times that you’re too tired to do the things you need to do, it is time to start strategically thinking of ways to increase your energy capacity and to use your body’s naturally productive rhythms of alertness in an effort to get more things done every day.
Here are 4 simple ideas you can start incorporating into your day.
Get Healthy and Practice What You Preach
Nothing will negatively impact your productivity as much as illness or injury. You tell your players to take care of themselves, don’t you? Practice what you preach by working out, stretching, eating right, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep every day. You need to start looking at exercise, proper nutrition, getting enough sleep and water as investing in your bodies ability to get more focused work done over time. Getting more fit will help your productivity by increasing your energy, stamina, and will prevent you from having to miss work time being sick.
Schedule Important Activities For When You Have Good Energy
Coach, what time of the day do you most feel the most alert, focused, and productive? We all have times during the day when we feel energetic and then other times when we feel tired. For a lot of coaches, your “prime time” or “magic time” is first thing in the morning. For some though, they are at their best at night. Your most important work for your program usually requires that you be at your very best, rested, alert, and creative. So coach, whenever you know that your energy is highest, you should plan to do your high-priority tasks. During the times of the day when you are feeling sluggish, take care of your non-challenging low-priority tasks. If you fit your schedule to your moods and energy levels, you’ll save time and be more effective in your job.
Get Up Early
One of the best work habits of all is for you to get up early and work at home in the morning for several hours. You can get three times as much work done at home without interruptions (unless, of course, you have children) as you ever could in a busy office, surrounded by people and bombarded by phone calls.
When you start early in the morning, you have the benefit of having completed a significant amount of your day’s important work by the time the distractions (like players or other coaches) start stopping by your office. Early starters finish the day’s work early and have the rest of the time to either get ahead or relax. At the end of the day, you want to be able to say, with absolute certainty, that what you did for the first two to three hours of your work-day moved you towards your goals. Even if the rest of the day is taken up by distractions and less-important work, at least you’ll have those first few hours.
Take mini-breaks
It’s been proven in many studies that taking short 10-15 minute breaks will increase productivity. To make sure you take breaks during the day, I recommend setting a timer that goes off every hour. Every time the timer rings, stand up before you turn it off. And once you are standing, get moving. Do something physical for five minutes. I get up to go to the bathroom, take a quick lap around the building, plan to run an errand or 2 during this time, get up to stretch, or walk around and talk to people for a moment…just do something that refreshes you for just a few minutes. You will be amazed at how much more energy and focus you have just by taking a few short mini-breaks throughout the day.
Like I said in my article a few weeks ago, I have found since I have started to work with coaches that these ideas are common knowledge but they are not common practice. Try implementing just one of these ideas this week and see what sorts of results you get. And then each week after starting incorporating a new one into your daily routine. Trust me coach, if you want to get more important things done well and in less time, this simple techniques can make a world of difference.
I would be very interested in hearing how these techniques are working for you. Please email me how you have incorporated these techniques into your daily routine or even if you have any other questions that I can help you with to be more productive this year!
Mandy Green has been a College Coach for over 13 years now and has created a company called Coaching Productivity Strategies. She is helping coaches develop the disciplines of time management by teaching coaches through seminars and one on one coaching more practical and immediately usable ideas, methods, strategies, and techniques for getting more done faster. When you learn and apply these powerful, practical techniques, you will dramatically improve the quality of your life in every area. The Green Time Management Workbook and Calendar for Coaches are designed to give you hundreds of valuable ideas you can use immediately to organize your coaching life and tasks so that you can get more done in less time. For more information, contact mandy@mandygreencps.com or visit www.mandygreencps.com.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
