Increase Your Productivity: Tips From Successful Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs must be self-motivated in order to succeed. In any given day, there are a range of tasks to be completed — those that make money, those that don’t, all necessary. The temptations of social media, multitasking, and personal demands from friends and family can all detract from productivity. In order to accomplish more, try following the tips of successful business people who have found a way to make it work.

Try limiting your access to social media. In this day and age, social media is an important part of an entrepreneur’s connection with clients and colleagues. But the temptation to read not only client posts, but the latest celebrity news update, can be a serious drain on productivity. Michael Simmons of Empact described in Entrepreneur how social media affected him and his company.

“One minute I was focused on the most important thing on my to do list; the next I was on a news site or on social media with dozens of tabs open in my browser. Once I started noticing myself on Facebook while I was driving, I knew something had to change.”

Simmons responded by deleting social media apps from his phone and installed parental controls on his computer so his time on social media was limited to 20 minutes a day. His productivity “skyrocketed.”

Authors and entrepreneurs Lara Galloway and Erin Baebler recommend breaking up the day into chunks of time when you can remain focused. Whether it is 20 minutes or two hours, the idea is to focus for that period of time, work, and take breaks in between. Schedule the most difficult tasks for your periods of greatest energy to make things easier. If you work best in the morning, tackle your hard tasks then; if it’s afternoon, ease into it until you reach your peak time.

Galloway and Baebler wrote in Fast Company that prioritizing tasks is also important. The Pareto principle states 20 percent of your tasks account for 80 percent of your results. Identifying this 20 percent and putting it first will get you well on your way to meeting your goals.

Frances Booth writes in Forbes that naming your action for what it is can help your productivity. If you are procrastinating, take a moment and acknowledge that is what you are doing. Saying “procrastinating” out loud, or even inside your head, may be enough to shift your focus on to more important tasks that will help you and your business to move forward. Booth advises to not “name” with any judgment; the key is to simply identify your lack of productivity and do something about it.

[Image via Huffington Post]