[trx_quote cite=”#” title=”Mandy Green”]I made my biggest breakthroughs with productivity only after I created simple step-by-step systems.[/trx_quote]
Make Your Life Easier With Simple Systems
I have made some of my biggest breakthroughs with productivity only after I created simple step-by-step systems. The systems that I have created have played a big part in helping to reduce the amount of hours that I work while in the office so I can get home quicker to my family.
Over the next few weeks, I will share with you some very simple, but effective systems that you can create for yourself to help reduce the time it takes you to do things.
In my study of the best time management strategies, it became very apparent that effective self-leaders in every profession have systems for just about everything from work activities like scheduling, follow up, entering data, and sending thank you cards, to personal activities such as sleeping, eating, dealing with money, cars, and family responsibilities.
Those systems make life easier, and ensure they are always ready to perform. Here are three examples of basic systems (the third one being the ultimate game changer):
Daily Attire— In addition to being a college coach, as you know because you get this newsletter I run a company teaching time management strategies to college coaches called Busy Coach, have two children, and I have spent the last two and half years completing 5 different products that help coaches make a greater impact in a shorter amount of time.
As you can imagine, there is not a moment of time to spare. In order to ensure that I do not have to waste any time preparing in the morning, and to make sure I have proper attire, I make sure to lay out the night before what I will wear the next day in the office, to work out, and then out to practice. It sounds simple, but that extra fifteen minutes every morning adds up in the course of a week.
Travel— As we all know, we travel a lot during our seasons, in the off season we are recruiting week after week, we may travel with youth teams we coach, and then we are traveling some more if we decide to be on the road working other camps. Collecting the items we need for every trip can be time-consuming, inefficient, and ineffective, especially if you tend to often forget things at home or in your office.
For me, after the third time of forgetting the charger for my computer and having to spend another $75 for a replacement (ouch) or ask the front desk for a phone charger, razor, or a toothbrush, I’d had enough. I assembled a travel bag containing every single item I need for my trips, and now I can leave at a moment’s notice because my bag contains everything I need to be on the road— business cards, toiletries, adaptors and chargers for my phone and computer, even earplugs in case my hotel room neighbor is a noisy guest.
You’ll know you need a system when you have a challenge that is recurring or you find you’re missing opportunities because you’re unprepared. If you’re walking out the door with just enough time to make an appointment only to discover you’re running on fumes, you need a system for getting out the door earlier: pack your backpack the night before, have your clothes already out and ready to go, set the coffee maker, get up earlier, etc.
Said another way, wherever you feel like you need to get your act together, you need a system. A life without systems is a life with unnecessary stress!
