Make Those Work Hours Valued

A workday is typically eight hours. Seems like a long time, right? As any working person with a demanding job knows, it’s not – the hours seem to fly by and it feels like you just don’t have enough time to meet your deadline.

So then begs the question: what is the most effective way to be productive with your hours? Let’s break this down by hours to be more specific – what is the best way to spend one hour to achieve the most you can? We all know each hour is precious in the working world.

Luckily, there are some steps you can add to your daily routine to be productive for not just one hour, but every single day. 

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

 

Wake up early & take an hour for yourself. Feel like there’s never enough time in the day? Waking up early gives your body time to wake up and process what you need to do. Some people use the early morning time to focus on mental health, such as meditating, listening to music, or journaling their intentions for the day.

 

Prioritizing your health (especially if you have a high-stress job) is essential in being productive. If anything, spending your one hour checking in with yourself is one of the most productive things you can do – if you are overwhelmed and stressed out, you won’t perform well in your career.

Create a list/goals

Another way to productively use an hour is to create a list of your goals, intentions and what you need to get accomplished that day.  Sometimes, we can feel overwhelmed by the number of tasks we need to get done that our job demands from us. If we can take a step back to realistically figure out what needs to be done today versus tomorrow, you can prioritize your focus on one or two tasks instead of a million, making your hour of work more productive.

Put your phone away

While cell phones are necessary for work, try to avoid going online as a means to distract yourself or procrastinate. It can be so easy to feel overwhelmed and unmotivated, and to pass time scrolling through social media. This, however, is a poor decision – that absent-minded scrolling can lead to a lot of wasted time.

Try muting or putting away your phone, computer, or anything else that would tempt you to avoid doing your tasks. Sometimes putting it out of sight with the volume down can help prevent distraction. When you complete your one hour of work, then you can check and take a five-minute phone break. Having that incentive to finish your work to check your phone is a way to motivate yourself.

 

While it may seem like a small amount of time, one hour can be very productive – if you use the time wisely. 

Smart Ways to Invest Time for Great Success

Time is the ultimate currency.

Like our money, our time is ours to waste, spend or invest.

We all have the same number of hours each day. But it’s what you decide to do with that time that directly impacts your success in life.

If you are not sure where and when you are losing time, these are the most common ways many people waste their time:

Trying to do many things at once — in the end, you hardly make real progress. Reacting to all those emails — email is one of the biggest time-sucking tools ever created (despite its benefits). Don’t get trapped in the cycle of answering every email in real-time.

Obsessively checking your social media updates — how many times have you caught yourself doing this when you should be doing great work?
Putting off or delaying or deferring high-value actions — no one sets out to procrastinate, but it happens.

Saying yes to the many requests from others — defend your time like your productivity depends on it because it does.
People who find success in life and career are often willing to not only put their limited time to good use but invest it in the things that truly matter.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

 

Not everything brings the same return on your time. So, the real question today is: What are you doing with your time?
Time is free but priceless, and you are either investing, spending, or wasting your time with every choice you make.

 

Invest in right systems to get things done. Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things. Do you have control over how you use your time? Many of us work in an endless stream of tasks, emails, notifications, meetings, multitasking in the process, never pausing to measure the significance of our daily inputs versus our outputs. Doing one thing means not doing something else. And there is a big difference between the things that should be done and the things that must be done.

Resist the temptation to multitask. If you have several items to focus on within the same day, try breaking your work time into short, focused bursts. 

Invest in thinking time. The state of your mind determines everything. It pays to make time to pause, reflect, refresh and start over. “Time to think” is a priority if you want to be increasingly efficient, solve problems better, and improve how you work.

Mental breaks increase productivity, replenish attention, solidify memories and encourage creativity. You can’t afford not to plan for downtime.

You make time to exercise your body to stay strong, and healthy. You have to do the same thing for your mind. Schedule time when you can be alone to do nothing but think. Thinking involves slowing down and actually soaking in a problem and your creative brain thrives in a “break” mode. 

Shake up your routine and create white spaces for yourself.
Schedule it. Block off 15 minutes every day, on your calendar, if you can — in the middle of the day — to THINK. Find a place comfortable and quiet. No Internet. No television. No other people present. Just you and your thoughts.

Time spent thinking is an investment.

But don’t overthink issues you don’t even have to spend time thinking about. Balancing thought and action are a challenge for many people.

Results come to those who “act” while others are discovering the “right” ways to generate results. Think to generate better ideas, but act before it’s too late.

Avoid Missteps in Virtual Meetings

 

Lockdowns, quarantines, Zoom meetings, and no toilet paper (remember!) yeah, we did not see this coming! The year 2020 has gone from us all “Having our 20-20 vision,” and this being “My decade” to all of us impatiently waiting for 2021 (It’s here, at last!!). 

 

With how unpredictable this day and age has been, there is a lot to account for and more changes than ever before.

However, the one predictable thing, although not in person for obvious reasons, is meetings, meetings, and more meetings…only this time virtually! At school, at work, family time and even during the holidays.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

 

We are thankful for Zoom and Google Meet, which for the most part, have allowed us to experience some set of normalcy during a worldwide pandemic, even if it is through a computer screen. That being said, our adjustment to Zoom has been few and far between with the level of mishaps and general lack of awareness.

 

While virtual meetings might be the new norm over the last year, the changing circumstances have led to an entirely new set of virtual meeting etiquette problems. There are missteps out there when it comes to virtual meetings that one needs to be aware of!  

 

While different from in-person, social etiquette is not thrown out of the window just because you happen to be in a virtual meeting. All social rules apply. Therefore, here are some no-no’s below that one should avoid while virtually live on camera (or as you will see right below, not on camera) that you should be aware of!

 

Not turning on the camera. For many, the blank screen and no camera has become a chronic habit. Not having your camera on serves as a way to “not” pay attention to the meeting at hand while it is assumed that you are. While you might think you’re trying to get other things done, if you ask a presenter, talking to a blank screen can be draining!

Sure, you might be driving your car, but this is a no-no too! Not having your camera on, regardless of the reason, signals a lack of respect and transparency on your part that will likely turn off those on the other end. Be mature; turn it on!  

Not being presentable. Look presentable in a Zoom meeting; it is simple as that. What is normal for most meetings is the same for most virtual meetings! It is easy to tell that you just rolled out of bed or haven’t tidied up a bit.

Take the extra step and make yourself look good, and that way, you’ll feel good too. Whether you need to find a cheap haircut in a hurry, or you keep a button up next to your desk, having a professional top and looking lively is a good habit for virtual meetings!

Forgetting to mute the mic. On platforms like Zoom, you have the option to turn on/off your mic when you speak and are finished speaking. However, keep in mind that when you do speak, sometimes the screen brings your name up on the main screen, and doing that without knowing your mic is on, can lead to an embarrassing situation. It’s best to enter meetings on mute, and always double-checking that real quick can reduce mishaps from happening. It’s courteous to others when it is not your turn to speak.

Final thoughts. Sometimes being on a video conference instead of in person can be tough to adjust to because it requires more of something we simply are not used to, and perhaps will take time. Still, it is essential to say that we need not substitute our professionalism for comfort. Always use the litmus test when attending virtual meetings, “Would I do this in person?” and if the answer is no, don’t do it virtually! Just because you’re online doesn’t mean social etiquette never stopped remaining in effect. 

If we learn to be respectful, courteous, and polite by making sure we are focused, free of distractions, camera-on, in plain sight, and all of the necessary bells and whistles of Zoom in check, you won’t ever have to worry about committing a virtual meeting misstep again!