PRODUCTIVITY POWER UP

The solopreneur career path can be a lonely old affair even for the experienced business owner. Late nights, early mornings, only your self to rely on when the sh*t hits the fan and an assorted number of hats each vying for position on a minute by minute basis. You need a lesson in productivity power.

You’ve left your boring beige cubicle working for the man and unleashed your brilliance into the world then suddenly realise you don’t have a support team behind you.

Gone is the sales department and I.T guy to fix your laptop when it’s overheating or hiding your files for nefarious ends. No accounts rep to chase down missing payments or secure the next big contract.

You are the boss, on your own with a laptop, PJs and copious amounts of coffee (or something stronger on occasion).

Then there’s that annoying monkey mind chipping in every chance it gets; “do this project, do that project, what about that research, I need to do another blog post, don’t forget to makes sales”….aaaargh!

It’s exhausting and not every new hat fits…right?!

There’s no point in praying for a 60 hour day, human cloning to be legal or for it to be acceptable to rock up to network meetings still wearing joggy bottoms (sweats if you’re across the pond).

[Tweet “Solopreneur! You need a strategy and a way to get focused…FAST!”]

Productivity Power is essential for your sanity and to squeeze in precious time with family and friends.

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TIME SUCKS

Every solopreneur suffers from the same time sucks, usually email, definitely social media and digital rabbit-holing, being sucked in by google university and shiny object syndrome.

If you don’t take a serious look at your day, week, month and year and get your sh*t done I can pretty much guarantee another year will slip by and you’ll panic, like crazy panic and be one step closer to chucking it all in.

As solopreneurs we get in our own way by coming up with great ideas and fancy projects but get stuck when trying to execute on our dreams of world domination because we fall foul of not having a plan firmly in place.

I know it’s counter-intuitive to take time out of your day or week to make a plan about getting stuff done but by spending a bit of time at the start of each week or month to create your blueprint for productivity and systemise the heck out of it, you’ll save so much more time in the long run…guaranteed!

 

MINDSET

Are you always in the mood to get your stuff done, tackle your day and self-motivate towards your goals? I didn’t think so.

It’s so easy to get distracted with; no-one cracking the whip for you or the sun suddenly making an appearance after months of grey nothingness, suddenly wishing you worked outside for a living.

It’s especially difficult to stay focused if you have set up your office from home….another cuppa? Oh and a biscuit, there is always a biscuit.

Having awareness of your mindset and behaviour towards planning and getting your work done is critical for your success. Acknowledging that you are now the CEO as well as an employee of your gig is tough to balance, almost like walking a tightrope with no safety net.

Knowing that you are making the right decisions, mostly under tremendous pressure, when you are captaining your tiny dinghy alone is challenging to say the least, so your mindset needs to be spot on otherwise you could do long-term damage to your business.

You don’t have to be great at everything but you do need to know where your own strengths lie and be willing to outsource, delegate or barter to keep you afloat.

Connecting with “why” you are doing this small business gig is a necessity as it will feed a positive mindset, your brand voice and help you find like-minded people to keep you sane.

You have to be willing to build your mental resilience, inject your personality into everything you do and stand proudly in your achievements as well as your failures.

A resilient mindset will carry you through when you want to stay under the duvet or watch box-sets and become a hermit.

PRODUCTIVITY

The biggest challenge for every solopreneur, however, is attempting to stay on track when you are wearing all your new hats and coming down with a flu virus.

Look I know that you are a superhero (without the underwear over trousers shenanigans) but you can’t do it all. I’m sure you’ve tried and may even be muttering under your breath whilst reading this, adamant that you can..but you can’t or more importantly you shouldn’t.

[Tweet “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!”]

Your time and energy are precious commodities and should be treated as such. Not everything is important! (are you muttering again?)

Focusing the mind to stay on task is key, so stop listening to the voices in your head and make a plan instead. Ticking those tasks off your to-do list is cathartic and satisfying, but you need to write the list in the first place.

How you compile and execute on your to-do list is merely a behaviour you can learn and practice each and every day but what is paramount is doing it your way and crafting productivity power to suit you.

Not everyone plans and executes the same way, wants to use apps or multiple calendars and excel spreadsheets. It’s important to work out how to be productive your way and what suits you personally.

One of the most over-looked areas of productivity is monitoring your energy levels. No I’m not getting all woo woo and yes it’s an approach backed by science but rarely put into practice,

Why?

Because it takes a bit longer to analyse before putting it into practice but it is so worth the prep time and has longer-term impact.

ENERGY LEVELS

I hate numbers, I reeaaaallly hate them. It’s nothing personal but my brain hurts and the blinkers come down any time I have to devote even one millisecond to contemplating my tax return. Hats off to you accountants and numbers people!

My energy dips faster than ‘watcher regret’ at the completion of a gripping season of House of Cards when I even think about tackling that bundle of receipts (lies down ‘til the feeling passes).

When you are aware of energy levels that relate to particular tasks you can make a plan to tackle it because you don’t get the ‘beep beep’ warning like your phone or the empty fuel gauge in your car.

Knowing that if you always feel great mid morning is a perfect time to get stuck into the difficult, mind-numbing stuff on your list.

When you finally push through the energy sucking afternoon carbohydrate slump and are reaching for your 4th or 5th coffee hit you will always enjoy the stuff you love, so if that’s writing blogs or crafting the perfect imagery and graphics, you’ll always feel energised anyway. That’s productivity power right there!

Start thinking about productivity differently. It’s not a one-size fits all, top 10 hacks to getting your sh*t done that works.

It’s by auditing your preferences, fine tuning your focus, carefully crafting a process that works with your energy levels and injecting your unique personality that gets you from A to B…FAST!

Want to know more about productivity and social media time sucks? I’ve joined forces with my partner in crime Cara Chace – Social Media Strategist so you’ll definitely want to grab a space on this training y’all! Click here!

Who is Cat?

Consider me your willing accomplice for this solopreneur madness.

The big aim is to keep Boss Lady; solopreneurs, small business owners, entrepreneurs or [another label of your choice + I’m talking to you]… SANE!

Doing business the wrong way can be tough.

Working all this stuff out on your own is tough.

Step-by-step, NO BS practicality is what works.

Like-minded peeps who get it, is what works.

A Step-by-step #PowerProcess is what gets you Sane!

Disclaimer:

I use UK English (and Scottish Slang), if you see what you think is a typo, please don’t write in.