How I Tripled My Productivity in 2 Months

The other day I drove through the college campus here in Austin and, I don't know what it is about the school environment, but it makes me feel inspired. Inspired to work. Inspired to grow. Inspired to ACCOMPLISH.

But in today's world, we're all moving a million miles a minute. We're super busy and always DOING. But are we actually accomplishing? Why is it so hard to get things done?

I asked myself these questions two months ago and tried 6 new strategies that helped.

Here's what I learned.

PRODUCTIVITY STRATEGY #1: SET AIRPLANE MODE FOR 2 HRS/DAY

I know, I know - everyone says to do this. But have you ever actually tried it? Because I hadn't, until these last couple of months and, wow, did it make a huge difference.

Although I already keep most notifications turned off (social, email, most apps except phone / text / security system - which I HIGHLY recommend), it still helped me to take the additional step of putting my phone on airplane mode because, although most of my apps don't have notifications turned on, I'm still a human in the 21st century and the urge to regularly check it for who-knows-what is still there.

So getting intentional about putting it on airplane mode and setting the timer for 2 hours has helped me to reach for it less during that deep focus time and, what I found is, the days that I did this I got more done in those 2 hours than I did in the rest of my workday because I had consistent, uninterrupted focus.

When I took the extra step of also putting the phone in another room or at least out of arm's reach from wherever I was working - I did even better.

PRODUCTIVITY STRATEGY #2: WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS LIKE THIS

In order to be productive, you have to know what you're working toward, so defining your goals is critical. I used the SMART goal approach, because goals that don't meet the 5 SMART criteria are more like hopes or wishes. And while I'm all about staying hopeful in all aspects of life, I'm more about getting results 😉

That means I made sure my goals were Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. For example, when launching the Goodbye July Podcast, one of my goals was to release 5 episodes on Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher within 3 months.

Here's why this was a SMART goal:

Specific: Launch on Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher
Measurable: 5 episodes
Achievable: Launching 5 episodes in 3 months is realistic (whereas 100 would not be)
Relevant: Launching a podcast is a key piece of my life and business strategy
Time-Bound: 3 months

Additionally, I only chose 3 main goals for each 2-3 month period because it wasn't realistic to think I could achieve more than 3 big goals in 8-12 weeks. Then, I wrote those 3 goals down.

It's worth noting that if you'll take your goal-setting one step further, you'll be nearly 2x more likely to achieve those goals - and all you have to do is write them down. The Huffington Post found that people who write down their goals on a regular basis are 42% more likely to achieve their goals and dreams. There's just something about putting pen-to-paper and seeing our goals that psychologically compels us to take action toward accomplishing them.

Once I set my goals, I defined the tactics, which are the actual daily actions I needed to take, in order to move me closer to those 3 goals. For example, when launching the Goodbye July Podcast, some of my tactics were: survey my audience, create a list of relevant topics, outline/record/schedule episodes, write/post show notes, and create/schedule promotions.

PRODUCTIVITY STRATEGY #3: SET UP A WAM

WAM stands for Weekly Accountability Meeting and it's from one of the books I recommend about goal-setting and productivity called The 12 Week Year.

Of all the things the authors recommend, setting up the Weekly Accountability Meeting was the most uncomfortable step for me, but once I worked up the courage to pick an accountability partner and ask if she'd be willing to try this, it's one of the things that's made the biggest difference and here's why:

#1 - My partner, Jasmin, and I agreed to show up to our Monday morning meetings with a list of tactics we'd be working on for that week, so it forced us to write things down.

#2- In addition to the list for the current week, we agreed to go through our lists from the previous week to show what we completed, and what we didn't. This accountability piece helped me stay focused during the week because who wants to show up to a meeting with nothing done? Not me!

#3 - When looking at what we didn't get done, we'd ask each other this question: "Was it a breakdown in execution, or a breakdown in planning?" This helped us identify if we had a planning problem or an execution problem, and knowing this enabled us to strategize better for the next week.

This doesn't have to be anything crazy, and it doesn't have to take much time. When Jasmin and I first started, we agreed to a phone call of no longer than 15 minutes (because we're all busy) first thing Monday mornings.

As we progressed and stayed consistent, we realized we could accomplish this via text. So now, first-thing on Mondays, we send each other screenshots of our list for the upcoming week, and our list from the last week with any completed items checked off. (sidenote: I LOVE crossing things off lists, so checking these items off as I complete them is THE best feeling... can you relate?)

Then, as always, for anything that didn't get done, we identify if we had an execution or a planning problem, and we leave armed with a strategy and a written list to help us most productively tackle the week ahead.

PRODUCTIVITY STRATEGY #4: EMBRACE BATCH WORKING

Batch working is something I'd heard about but hadn't tried until these last couple months - and I LOVED it. If you're unfamiliar with batch working, it's the idea that you group similar activities and work only on those things for a specific amount of time.

So instead of working on one podcast episode, one blog post, one social media post, one email, and website updates each day, my week would look more like this:

Monday - record 3 podcast episodes
Tuesday - write 3 blog posts
Wednesday - schedule 3 social media posts
Thursday - write 3 emails
Friday - make website updates

According to loom.com, switching tasks results in a 40% loss of productivity. This is in the context of multi-tasking; it takes our brains some time to re-adjust when we move from one task to another. But I've found this to be true when I compare my batch working days with my non-batch working days.

I've found it's easier to do those similar tasks more efficiently because my mind is already primed and prepped for the task at hand so it's easier to do multiple rounds of it, PLUS I don't have to switch between different tools in the same way I would if I did a bunch of different types of tasks.

PRODUCTIVITY STRATEGY #5: PRIORITIZE YOUR HEALTH

This one may sound a bit woo-woo, but if you've ever had periods where you really did prioritize your health, then you already know what I'm talking about.

Making sure mind, body, and spirit are all working at peak performance naturally makes you more productive. You physically feel better, you have more energy, you're more creative, your mind is clear; the list of benefits is endless.

Here are the specific ways I've been prioritizing my health:

MINDSET - I don't watch the news (highly recommend; this made a huge difference in my positive mental attitude) + less negative TV shows and more productive or at least positive TV shows
BRAIN FOG - Taking nootropics for my brain fog has been a game changer (Lion's Mane mushrooms are my favorite; you can get Lion's Mane and other nootropics in the all-natural pre-workout my husband formulates... I drink this even on days I don't workout!)
ENERGY - More sleep (I strive for 8 hours) & daily sunshine (I drink my morning coffee outside), eating clean (things the earth provides; whole foods), and working out (I schedule at least 3 workouts per week in advance)

PRODUCTIVITY STRATEGY #6: TAKE AN ONLINE COURSE

No one ever said reaching your big goals would be easy... they wouldn't be BIG GOALS if they didn't push you outside your comfort zone!

So it's okay to admit if you need a little help, and one of the best resources I've found to hitting goals in new areas that I'm not yet familiar with is to invest in an online course.

I love free trainings and I take many free trainings throughout the year - especially because, if they're free, they're usually a one-and-done kind of thing, which means there's not a big time commitment needed to learn something new.

But there is only so much you can get from the freebies... and some of the goals I set for myself required a much deeper dive into certain areas that were, at the time, unknown to me. And that kind of knowledge requires some more serious hand-holding, and some monetary investment.

Sure, I could have probably found the information for free somewhere online, but the time and energy it would have taken to dig through the endless library that is the Internet felt overwhelming, and I was ALREADY overwhelmed just thinking about accomplishing my goals.

So I just wanted a one-stop-shop where someone would lay out the entire step-by-step journey for me, from start to finish, in one place. (I paid to take a course to help me set up this website and automate the delivery of my free guides, and I paid for another course to help me launch the Goodbye July Podcast)

And, although at first it irked me to spend my hard-earned money on something that I could probably (after a lot of time and effort) find online for free, after some thought, I realized that investing in myself, my own education, and my goals is one of the best places I could spend my money.

So that's what I did and I am SO GLAD.

Those courses enabled me to get my website up and my podcast launched in a matter of months - and both were set up in a way that is professional, automated, and flexible.

I truly don't think I could have accomplished what I have in the time I've done it without the help of these valuable courses, so if you've set some big goals for yourself and you're not sure where to start, it's worth giving some thought to taking an online course.

Plus, having a little skin in the game (a financial investment) is also something that will drive you to COMMIT. I don't know about you, but when I spend money on a training I'm MUCH more likely to not only finish it, but to actually take the actions laid out in it because I PAID FOR IT; I want to get every penny's worth of my investment back, and taking action is the way to do that.

THE BIG PICTURE

It can feel counterproductive to take the time to slow down and be more intentional about how you're approaching your to-do list and, more importantly, your big goals, but I've found that strategizing a bit beforehand, and specifically using these 6 strategies throughout the process, really helped me get more done - 3x more, in fact!

And I can't close without mentioning something that I've been doing longer than the last 2 months that has helped me be much more productive in my life in general - and that's mastering my money.

Because the moment I figured out how to make money work FOR me and not AGAINST me, a ton of space opened up in my mind where worry used to be. I felt more calm, confident and less stressed - and that alone helped me focus on and accomplish some of the other big goals I'd set for myself.

All in all, if you need a quick win, try out the 6 strategies above... but if you want longer-term success, be sure to work in a financial strategy, too. You'll never regret taking control over your money.