Productivity hacks from the experts

FOR most small business owners, spare time is a bit of a myth.

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For most small business owners, spare time is a bit of a myth.

One minute you’re flying through your to-do list in time for 7pm yoga, and the next, you’re stuck on a lengthy call on your bedroom floor while those mental tick boxes remain unchecked.

While everyone looks for ways to increase their productivity, no one is more eager to boost their efficiency than those with a small business.

Enter the pros – Storytelling Expert, Nick Bowditch, theright.fit and WINK Models Founder and CEO, Taryn Williams, and The Big Smoke’s CEO and Publisher, Alexandra Tselios, with expert hacks to improve focus and productivity in and out of the office.

THE THREE-HOUR RULE

Australia’s Storytelling Expert, Nick Bowditch, believes the answer to productivity lies in outsourcing tasks you can’t get your head around.

“I don’t try to learn how to do something that someone else can do if it’s going to take more than three hours to learn it,” Nick says. “For instance, if I want to learn how to create a landing page for my website, and it’s going to take me more than three hours to learn how to get it done, it’s more efficient and productive for me to get someone else to do it.

“It doesn’t make any sense for me to learn how to do it and waste those hours if I could be doing other things.”

While productivity is important, Nick has “creativity hacks” to keep him motivated when he’s hit a wall. “I drain inspiration and ideation from everything around me,” he adds. “If I’m trying to write something and it’s not coming, a walk in the sun, a swim in the ocean, or, a couple of hours watching Netflix can often be the impetus I need to get stuff done. Other people’s creativity often spurs my own.”

FROGS ARE BEST, FRESH

One of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs, Taryn Williams, believes multitasking is out, ‘no’ templates are in and ‘eating the frog’ will save you a lot of time and money.

“We all have that one task we put off because we don’t want to do it or it’s a big piece of work,” Taryn says. “I call it ‘eating the frog’ because it’s the last thing you actually want to do.

“So, each day, I list my ‘eat the frog’ item and get it done first thing in the morning, while I’m still fresh, before the chaos of the day unfolds. It’s a great way to start the day knowing you’ve crossed it off the list and can move on to more enjoyable items.”

Once she’s ‘eaten her frog’, Taryn uses Trello for project management and a ‘no’ template for those sticky conversations.

“I am terrible at saying no,” she laughs. “I had to get someone to write me a template that I can use! It’s easy to get caught up in attending meetings that aren’t the best use of your time, speaking at events – so I have a no template that is your go to that is a polite ‘thanks but I can’t right now’ so you’re not tempted to default to a yes.”

TOSS THE WATCH

Entrepreneur and founder of digital opinion platform, The Big Smoke, Alexandra Tselios, says her best piece of productivity advice took place at 2am.

“In the early years of my company, I would be up at 2am trying to solve an issue, obviously by 5-6am when my dad had to start work, I was exhausted and overwhelmed,” Alexandra says. “I would do this for months at a time.

“My dad was the guy who reminded me about the 11th hour, that I haven’t come this far to fail now and would tell me to shut off the issue when I can no longer actively fix it, or at least have the brainpower to try and solve it.

“Sometimes we get so stuck on a problem that it not only remains a problem, but also impacts our productivity from lack of sleep and stress causing even bigger issues to solve that seem insurmountable.”

While Alexandra still works around the clock, she believes removing boundaries around time has helped boost her efficiency.

“Many won’t agree with me on this,” she laughs. “But, if it’s 6pm on a Friday, that doesn’t mean you get to switch off if you have opportunities and responsibilities outstanding. I don’t know of any small business owners who can afford the luxury of switching off all weekend, I imagine switching off all weekend could result in your business remaining small.

“I work seven days a week, as do many of my team. However, we are flexible with our lives, and not confined by a 9-5pm Mon-Fri timeframe for work.”

Originally published as Productivity hacks from the experts