Nothing feels worse than getting to the end of a crazy day and wondering, “What did I actually accomplish?”
My clients often need coaching to deal with the stress and overwhelm of their jobs.
People seem to run on a never-ending hamster wheel yet often feel as though they have nothing to show for all their hard work.
We all want to feel as if our work is meaningful and serves a purpose—typically to help our companies succeed. Yet many of my executive clients report not even having their official goals for one quarter at the beginning of the next.
If you have no structure to your work, you might be in for a frustrating experience. Let’s fix that!
First, a mindset shift may be in order: Working harder or longer hours does not necessarily create better outcomes. Working on purpose does.
“Success takes intention, clarity, and commitment to proactively create and practice the habits that help you stay aligned with your goals.”
The key ingredients for meaningful work are:
- A clear vision
- Intentional planning
- Purposeful action
Here are 3 of my favorite planning and productivity tips that will help you create your success and make work awesome:
1) A Clear Vision
I’m a visual person. I like to see reminders every day of what I aspire to create. To do that, I build a Vision Board each year.
A vision board is a visual representation of all the things that you want to do, be, and have in your life (work and personal).
It’s easy and fun to create! Here is a list and picture of all you’ll need to build your vision board, along with the How To’s.
- Foam board or other type of display
- Big stack of magazines to choose pictures that represent your vision
- Scissors, glue stick, markers
- Glass(es) of wine*
- Friend(s)*
*Ok, the last two are optional, but make the process more fun. 🙂
2) Intentional Planning
To achieve your goals, you have to know what they are. I view this process like a funnel or a pyramid.
Start with the end in mind and work backward from there.
I have my executive coaching clients share their main goals for that year. Then, we discuss their 90-day objectives (quarterly milestones), monthly goals that lead to successful quarters, weekly items that produce monthly outcomes, and finally daily actions that proactively create results.
Here’s the catch: You must be clear at each level and put in the effort to truly plan your activities. Once planned, discipline is key to keeping your energy and effort focused only on work that gets you closer to your goals.
(Related: Intentional Action = Inevitable Success)
Looking for a tool to help? Check out Savor the Success’s 90-day Action Planner. I love this tool because it allows you to list everything you can think of for the week, delegate actions to others (hello, balance!), choose your top 3 priorities (including the most essential one), break down your actions by day, and give yourself an incentive for your hard work.
3) Purposeful Action
To achieve your goals takes re-commitment every day. Crises will inevitably arise, but otherwise, you must consciously choose how to spend your time and energy most effectively.
Again, a visual reminder of what you need to get done may help keep you on task and avoid procrastination.
Some ideas that have helped my clients are:
- Set a timer to work on specific tasks. Nothing else happens while the timer ticks!
- Batching mundane activities (emails, payroll, etc.) for a set time in the day/week
- Creating “white space” or uninterrupted work time during your day to get things done (limiting evening/weekend work)
- Avoiding email (AKA reactivity) first thing in the morning. Take some time to get clear and focused on the day ahead and work proactively.
What other tips and tricks have you used to stay focused and intentional in your work to drive results?
Comment below!
If you’re interested in ramping up your energy and productivity, schedule a Complimentary Discovery Call with me today!
You can also download my free gift, “The Rule-Breaker’s Guide to Managing Your Energy at Work” to learn how to lose the activities that are draining your energy and re-focus on work that pumps you up!
