From Procrastinator to Powerhouse Producer

The number one reason clients give me for not accomplishing what they've set out to do is a lack of time. But we all have the same 24 hours in a day. So the question is, why and how do some people plan, act, and produce massively, achieving and exceeding their goals, while the majority of people struggle each day to get out of their own way and out of the excuse that they don't have enough time. Can you relate? Today we are going to get into a discussion in defining your productivity profile that will provide you significant insight and awareness to how you are planning and utilizing your time and indicate red flags of distraction, procrastination, or poor planning that is impacting your success. Stay with us. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Shedding the Corporate Bitch, the podcast that transforms female corporate executives into powerhouse leaders by showing them how to shed the challenges and overwhelm, along with any fear, insecurity, self-doubt, and negativity holding them back. I'm your host, Bernadette Boas of Follow Fire Coaching, bringing you powerhouse discussions each week to share tips, advice, and sometimes tough love so you create the richest in your work and life you deserve. Let's do this. It absolutely kills me as an executive coach to witness my clients or my clients' employees really struggling to get done what they need to get done in any given day. And it might be like a week or a month that they're tasked to do, but it just kills me to see them really battling to prioritize, delegate, organize, plan, prepare, execute, and then ultimately accomplish their goals. But yet, when I look across those team members, even the leader, my client, there's always certain patterns that appear, certain patterns such as a lack of planning, a lack of forecasting, looking out into the future, looking at, you know, what they need to do. What are the deadlines? How do they back into being able to accomplish that one project or multiple projects? The prioritization of work, meaning not everything is a top priority. There can only be one one. And one 2 and one 3. And yet so many struggle to figure out just how to go about that prioritization and more importantly, how to get support and buy-in from those that are dependent on those other priorities to accept that there can only be one 1 and one 2 and one 3. Now, a simple way of addressing this is first to really understand what your productivity profile looks like. And what I mean by a productivity profile is really, it's a self-assessment, a self-discussion around just really tapping into how best you work. How— when do you work? What environment do you work best in? What is your process for planning, preparing, prioritization, and then executing and achieving? Do you, do you even think about it? Do we— are you even conscious of it? And so one of my most popular tools that I've used in my practice over the last 14, 15 years is a productivity profile, and specifically that you can create for yourself to get a better understanding. Self-awareness is key, after all, to get a better understanding of how best you operate. So I'm actually going to give you the whole productivity profile right here during this episode. So literally, get— grab a pen and a paper because I am going to list out the questions you could be asking about of yourself so you can get more self-awareness and a better understanding of how do you perform and how do you produce and what changes need to be made and how more effective can you be by making a few tweaks. All right. And then I will provide some tips after that, as far as how do you utilize this productivity profile. And I will note too, especially if you are leaders of a team, this is something that all your team members could be doing and then collaborating on to best understand how you all operate. So then if you have someone on your team that doesn't tend to really get a lot done during the day, but they kind of pile it on and get it all done and it shows up in your email the next morning. Well, that's important to understand that maybe that person's a night owl. Yes, they have to work 9 to 5, but maybe there's so many distractions for them during the 9 to 5 official work hours that they actually save certain tasks or certain levels of production to do when they're all by themselves and they can close themselves off and not have any distractions. You having that understanding of not only yourself, but also your team members. Trust me when I say it would solve so many arguments, so many disagreements, so much frustration and battles, because now you do have a clearer idea of how one operates versus how you operate and what your expectations are versus what their expectations are. But as I said, I'm going to walk you through every single question and explain what it is that you want to be looking at and considering with each of these questions. So you can have a productivity profile that will then help you make the tweaks and make the changes that will make you a lot more productive, but more so what comes with production. An effective or efficient productivity is confidence, focus, clarity, energy, sanity. And therefore, you definitely want to get— spend time getting a handle on, you know, what is the best work environment, what is the best mode of operation for you. Okay, so we're going to go through each one of them. If you— I've been kind of stalling to give you time to get a paper and pen This is definitely one episode you're going to want to do that. If you don't have the opportunity, if you're driving, please don't be writing and driving at the same time. Just come back to it, make note of the episode and come back to it. All right. Okay. So the first question is going to be— now some of these, let me back up and say some of these will sound very mundane, very basic. And you're, you're gonna go sit there going, okay, so what does this have to do with anything? Bear with me, stay with me, and you'll find out. All right, so the first thing I want to talk about is basically what time or blocks of time are you the most productive, uh, for basic tasks. So what I would want you to do is, um, on a p— on your piece of paper, write down email, spreadsheets, project planning or forecasting, if you want to look at it that way. Um, you know, and just list out kind of the big tasks that you do during a given day, uh, and just list them out. And then make note kind of with each one— emails, spreadsheets, project planning, reports, uh, content creation, whatever it might be. What time or blocks of time you're the most productive. So for instance, for me, uh, what I'd be writing down is I am most productive between 7 and roughly 10 AM, and then most productive between 1 and 4. I am not productive in the middle of the day when I've all of a sudden— all of a sudden I'm kind of having a low and it has nothing to do with eating or whatnot, um, but I'm a morning person and somewhat of a night out person. And then again, I'm actually really good between 7 and 10 PM after I've worked out or after I've hung out with friends or whatever the case might be. So get an idea, um, you know, what task and type of tasks are you, you know, best working on, what time of day and even what days of the week. So again, for myself, when it comes to podcast work that I have to do, I always do my podcast at 2 o'clock on Mondays, Eastern Time on Mondays. That is also because it's the best time for my guests. But also I'm back on the upswing of my energy level. So I wouldn't want to do it first thing in the morning. That's not a task that that I would want to do first thing in the morning because I'm just revving up. Then I have my lull, like, in the middle, and then I come— I'm starting to come back up again. And therefore, that's when I record my, uh, podcasts, is every Monday at 2 o'clock. So think about what, um, blocks of time and even days that certain tasks are best. Uh, I, I have several colleagues who, from an email perspective, From an email perspective, they have found that they work best doing it in blocks. So they'll do a block of time between like 7:30 and 8:30. They'll do one during the lunch hour, and then they'll do one at the end of the day, but they don't do anything in between that. As a matter of fact, if you email them, you'll get an email, uh, automated response that says you know, just an FYI, if you've emailed me, uh, I'll be back online at, you know, 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock, whatever the case might be. Uh, so that's what is really good about understanding which tasks or what type of tasks you work best and what blocks of time or days. Okay. Um, and prior— so once you have a good understanding of that, and in that exercise, it's also What are those big tasks that you have to do? Then the next one would be, how many hours of the week do you kind of work on your responsibilities? Now that sounds pretty kind of basic. I mean, it's a 9 to 5 job, right, Bernadette? No, not really. Not really. Some people have, you know, 30-hour jobs. Some people have 50-hour jobs. So how many hours of the week do you actually work in your role and responsibility? And if you are an entrepreneur, you would also want to make note how many hours of the week do you actually want to be working in your business. Um, then you could— so get a good understanding of that and realistically what that looks like. So for many corporate individuals, they always say, well, you know, it's 8 hours a day between 9 and 5. And I'll say, but are those the hours you're actually working? Because in most cases it's more like 7 to 6. And yet they never consciously kind of put that, you know, on paper and really see it in black and white. And yet they wonder why they're burned out, stressed out, physically, you know, kind of dragging because they're actually— their boundary should be that 9 to 5, right? But that's not actually what they're working. At the same time, why I like people to consider the amount— number of hours, um, as well as what we're going to get into is, you know, the days and the specific time blocks, is because nowadays especially, you want to be partnering with your boss to, one, let them know when you're most productive and when you're not productive, and then maybe if possible kind of get very creative and flexible as far as when you actually work. So many individuals, many professionals, especially nowadays, you know, that the, the positions deemed to be a 9-to-5 job really isn't. It's like 5 to 2, or they say I'm best at 10 to 6. Um, I had a, I had a friend, a very dear friend now But I had a friend who was also a colleague back in my, you know, mid-20s, and she could not get into the office between— before, I'm sorry, before like 9:30 in the morning. And it created a lot of havoc for her team members and her boss. And yet after, you know, when it got too close to being an issue, she went and had a conversation with them and kind of explained that, you know, if she could have some flexibility to where she comes in at 9:30 and then will stay until whatever that 8 hours is, would that be doable? And considering the type of role that she had, they were like, yeah, sure. So don't, don't ignore the fact that you, you know, have an option to really work with your manager to decide, you know, how best to utilize you and get the most out of you. Because that's the, that's the ultimate goal and objective from your boss, or it should be, uh, and, you know, because that's a win-win for everybody. All right, so what time blocks, uh, or days are you the most productive for certain tasks? Do you list those tasks, um, and then make note of when best you work? Because again, like my friends you could all— might all of a sudden say, you know what, I'm only going to pay attention to emails first thing in the morning, noon, and at the end of the day. How many hours of the week do you actually work? How many hours of the week do you want to work? So there was a time period in my career, as well as a number of my peers, that, you know, how many hours they worked was not an issue. So if they wanted to accomplish the goals that they have and they wanted to get to that next level, then, you know, the fact that it was 30 hours, 40 hours, or 50 hours wasn't relevant. It was more like, I'm going to work the amount of hours it takes me to get there. So knowing what hours you work, but more so what hours are you willing to work, is also very key and very instrumental in you kind of putting on that productivity powerhouse hat and really kind of owning and buying in on your, on your schedule. All right. Now, there, there are other tasks that you might do. And this would go to like the salespeople or marketing people that slash creatives But there are other activities beyond more the administrative activities we've talked about that you also want to kind of throw in there as far as when— what days and time blocks do you work most productively. So for instance, if you're in sales, again, very much like my podcast, if you're in sales, there's certain times of the day or days of the week even because clients are best during certain days of the week, not there on Mondays, want to be gone on Friday, sort of thing. So you really want to be thinking about for all the different types of tasks and activities, not just administrative, but all of them, what is that best day and time block that works best to get the most production out of yourself and even your team members. All right. So that would be your next one. Uh, and then how do you structure your goals? So the specific question would be, what days and times do you plan your, uh, monthly, weekly, and daily goals? Now, why I emphasize monthly first, weekly, daily, is I'm of the elk that you would have your yearly goals. Typically people do those at the beginning of the year. And then you have that year, those yearly goals broken down into quarters, and then those quarters into months, months into weeks, weeks into days, because your daily work should always support your weekly goals or your monthly goals, the quarterly goals and the yearly goals. And I should back up and say, if you're not a goal setter, that's your number one thing that you should start doing. In order to ensure that you are highly productive, highly efficient, highly organized and planned out, and ultimately highly successful is by having those goals. So you also want to make note of what are those days and times that you're best in planning. So like I said, on my calendar, if I were to show it to you, you would see my, you Yearly goals would be done probably by like the second week of December. And then as I got closer to January, I would then start laying out my quarterly, my initial quarterly. And then once I got into January further, I would have already laid out my weekly. And then as I get into the week, uh, my daily. And so you— and I have it like Sunday nights is my is my best time to do my weekly. But then every morning between 8 and 8:15 is when I will sit there and I'll look at my week, I'll look at my weekly goal, I'll look at the schedule that I have already blocked out to then lay out my daily goals and priorities. So if you don't, if you don't have a process for defining your goals and/or for prioritizing and really structuring them in a way similar to what I just explained, then definitely reach out to me at BernadetteBoas@BallOfFireInc.com and let me help you with that. All right. So, uh, you want to be looking at how many hours of the week do you work? How many hours, how many hours per day of the week do you work? Uh, what time blocks are best for both admin and other activities like content creation, sales, prospecting, status updates, project management, those sort of things. What, you know, days and times are you going to plot out on your calendar for you to do your yearly, monthly, or yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily goals? The next one would be what times and days are you the most creative? And I probably should move that up, uh, because we've already kind of talked about those type of activities that would require more energy and creativity. But overall, what time blocks are you the most creative? So we all have those, those lulls, and we all have those highs and lows. As I mentioned, you know, I'm a morning person, night person, but not, you know, kind of the part of the middle of the day. When are you most creative? Literally write it out. Is it during the week? Is it the weekends? Is it at nighttime? Is it in the morning? Is it specific time blocks, 9 to 11? Whatever the case might be. Again, you're going to be using all this information to then feed into how you might choose to structure your week in order to be the most productive that you can be. All right. When and when are you the most engaged and energized? Whether that be online or in person. So obviously we've all, you know, come online over the last several years. And it is very evident because I pretty much spend my whole day online, as I'm sure you do. But it becomes very evident when I get on with an individual or a group, those that kind of have a lull in their, in their energy level, especially when it comes to being online. Uh, and then even when I'm in person with them, there's certain people that are great in the morning and they're, you know, pumped up and ready to go. Then they kind of slack off during the day. There's others that, you know, you kind of need to— you need to slowly work them in, uh, to whatever it is that you might be doing with them because they're not quite awake. They haven't had quite enough coffee yet. So you understanding that of yourself, and then communicating that to others, like, don't bother me before 9. And when I was in corporate, I used to get to work about 5:30, 6 o'clock. And I would keep my door shut till about 8. And everybody knew that, don't bother me, you know, before then, because that was my time to kind of you know, focus and not have any distractions. And I was most, you know, energetic and productive. And so the minute 8 o'clock would roll around, I'd open the door and then my day would begin. So really understand for yourself, when are you most engaged and energized? Uh, okay, so then we come to, um, number 7, which is— uh, actually, I'm sorry, it's number 8. Which is, um, when do you become drained? So similar to energized and creative, when do you become drained? Know, like, that lull and be aware of it, and then plan non-critical activities during that time period. Uh, what, what times are you best for breaks or even exercise? So I tend to, and a number of my clients will tend to block out certain times of the day where they'd go for a walk or they walk, go out and play with their dog. I'll sit here and I'm sitting at a friend's house for a week and they have a pool and they have dogs. So about once an hour, once every 90 minutes, I take 5 minutes and I go outside and I throw them the ball until you know, especially one of them just collapses with exhaustion. And it's also hot. But, and then I come right back into work and get back to it. So plants, really consider what times of the day do you need a break? Do you need to exercise? Do you just need to unwind? Maybe, you know, get on, you know, Facebook or Instagram or TikTok and just take a break. And then when, when you'll come back. Okay. Um, when do you need to eat? So when are the best times during the day for you to, uh, take eating breaks? This is critical, critical, um, because it is fuel and it is ensuring that you're not going to be hangry, as that commercial says, uh, because there's nothing worse than working on an empty stomach. That then creates a headache or agitation or just frustration. And so really being conscious of when you specifically need to eat and replenish and refuel is really vital. And yet too many managers and professionals just kind of get to the end of the day and go, oh my God, I didn't even eat breakfast, or I didn't have lunch. I just walked, you know, you know, just went through the day, or I passed that vending machine and got a crappy snack, and therefore I'm actually working on sugar. So it's really important for you to understand and be self-aware of your nutritional needs for energy and focus and clarity, and then work it into your day. So a friend of mine has been trying to get me to do an intermittent, intermittent fasting, um, program. And I told her, if I don't eat by about 7:30, 8 o'clock in the morning, having gone to bed at like 10, 10:30, I will pass out. Yeah, I don't have diabetes, I don't have glucose issues— or glucose, um, glycemic issues, uh, but I just— my body says I need fuel at around 7, 7:30 in the morning. And therefore, even if I were to go and exercise, I'm not the type that can go to the gym and on an empty stomach, you know, I will have definitely passed out or collapsed in some way, shape, or form, or just not had a very productive session. So really consider when do you need to eat and take breaks. All right. So number 11, what factors, people, or situations sabotage your focus energy and productivity. This is a big one to think about, because especially as all of us are remote, you, you not only have to set up an environment to support your productivity, but you also need to be very aware of what squirrels are going to show up and distract you. Mine are dogs. Mine is, you know, just kind of needing to take those breaks. But that's a, you know, that's a distraction. That's you know, stopping me from what I'm doing, taking that break because I need it, or even eating, and then having to get back to it. Because they say that from every distraction, it takes about 20 to 30 minutes to get back to focus on what it is you were working on. So even if you would take that 5-minute break 3 times, 4 times a day, that's about an hour and a half being impacted, uh, even longer being impacted on your productivity. So get an idea of what are those things that really sabotage your focus and energy. It's people, situations, uh, animals, environments. It could be a number of things. So really understand it. Okay. Uh, the next one would be what habits, routines, disciplines, or tools work best for you to avoid distractions? Mine is taking these 5-minute breaks. If I take these several 5-minute breaks throughout the day, when I get back to work, I get back to work. I don't get distracted because I already kind of gave myself a distraction. And now I'm kind of back to what it is that I need to do. At the same time though, I have, I have a group text, even though my phone is always on silent. I have a group text with my sister. They get on a roll. Trust me when I say I have to turn over my phone, not even kind of keep an eye on it in case a client, you know, or a prospect reaches out. But I have to turn it over because just seeing the text messages come in, even if— even though I can't hear it, even though I can't even read it, but I can see it scroll. That's a distraction, so I have to kind of put it away. I even leave it in the other room, um, sometimes. Uh, so you really need to get a good idea of what are the people, places, and situations, environments that will distract you and take you away from your focus and energy. All right, and now I had mentioned routines and disciplines. Are there any, um, routines or disciplines that you can use to keep you from getting distracted. Uh, and so like I said, my 5-minute routine of taking breaks is a way to avoid that. So what factors, people, or situations sabotage your focus? And then what habits and routines and disciplines, uh, work best for you in order to avoid distractions? All right, another question would be, let me see, what do you need in order to be focused and energized? Do you— so this gets to the environment. Do you need a quiet environment? Do you need music playing? Do you, you know, kind of still work while there may be a podcast or TV background? Some people need noise around them while others need complete silence. So what are those things that you need around you in order to, in order to keep focused and productive. I need— and this isn't the right one— I need my daily plan. So my daily, um, journal will have two things that I do every day no matter what, and that is my meditation, prayers, and my planning. So those are the standard two things that pop up on my daily, every day. And then underneath that is where I kind of list my 1 to 3 must-dos for the day, prior— priorities for the day. I need that to be close in front of me, and I don't have it here because I cleared my desk off so I can work on a project that's due. But I need that close to me because if I pay attention to that versus, you know, text messages scroll— scrolling through, then I stay focused on making sure that I do those 1 to 3 things. Today I only have one until I leave today. So find those, those things that will keep you focused and make sure that they're in your, you know, space so you can use them to your advantage. All right. Now, what changes will you make to your planning and execution based on the above? So now answer all those questions. All right. There was 13 of them.. And from all that data, you can start kind of saying to yourself, okay, wait, wait a minute. I'm really— I never really thought about when I had lulls or what I needed as in my work environment, or what people or situations really create distractions for me. So now that I understand all of this, these are kind of 1 to 3 changes I'm going to make, you know, and start working on, because you may not be comfortable with them immediately, but you'll use them over time. And therefore you can start acting on them. Okay, so what are those changes? Now, as you make changes and as you're looking at any time to improve, to enrich, to transform, to shift, there are always going to be compromises and sacrifices that you need to make. So not everything is like, oh, this is all wonderful information, this is all great. And yes, I can, you know, make changes to X, Y, and Z without any uncomfortableness. Is that a word? Um, you know, there's always going— there's not always— there's going to be situations and changes that you're looking for and, and, and challenges you want to put yourself through that are going to require compromises and sacrifices. And be okay with that. You know, you can't just think that you're going to go out and run, you know, a half marathon and not have to compromise or sacrifice anything. You're not going to, you know, be able to lose 15 pounds without compromising or sacrificing anything. You're not going to be able to get more productive, more focused, more clear, more energized without giving up and, you know, shifting and transforming and changing something. So what are those compromises and sacrifices that you're willing to make in order to leverage all this great information to make the changes that you want to make? So after you've answered those 13, 14 questions, um, then, you know, and ask the question of what changes are you going to make as a result. But once you see what changes you want to make, think about and you know, write out what are those compromises and sacrifices you're going to need to make. I have to get up an hour earlier. I have to stay a half hour later. I have to, you know, put my phone in the other room to avoid distraction. I have to turn off my phone, or I have to stop listening to music, whatever the case might be. Recognize that there's going to be compromises and sacrifices. Be aware of them, write them out. And make decisions as far as what is this new productivity profile going to, um, help you transform into. And we're— and we expect that it'll help you transform into a powerhouse producer, uh, and a massive producer. So then you're gaining that confidence, clarity, focus, energy, sanity, but ultimately you're also gaining a great amount of results, even small steps leading to big results over time. And that will give you and help you to achieve all the riches that you want in your work and life. All right. So we talked about the productivity profile, walked through a whole list of questions, and then— and I will provide the full list of questions in the show notes. So be sure to grab them from there, put them into a journal, put them onto your phone, whatever the case might be, as you then choose to work through them. So you have a really good idea as far as what your productivity profile looks like. You can even share it with your team members and then collaborate so you each understand how and why certain people perform the way that they do. And operate the way that they do. All right. If you have any questions or any comments in regards to it, then please go to @BernadetteBoas on LinkedIn and one, follow me, and then two, leave me a direct message or a comment on any of the posts that you see and let me know what your thoughts are and what questions you might have. All right. And I am so thrilled that you were here for this conversation this week. And I'll look forward to having you for another episode of Shedding the Corporate Bitch. Bye!