5 Habits That Help Me Stay Efficient AND Productive
5 Business Habits That Keep Me Productive — Like Clockwork
There’s no doubt that habits play a huge role in the success (or failure) of a business. While we all live by them, some habits are more intentional than others. As John Dryden said, “We first make habits, and then our habits make us.” If you want your business to Run Like Clockwork, you’ll need repeatable systems and habits that keep things ticking over. That includes not just habits for your team or business, but your own personal habits to keep you efficient and productive. That’s why I want to share my top 5 business habits that keep me productive. Obviously, these aren’t the only habits I have, nor are they the only ones that will work for you. (I don’t know about you, but I hate those advice posts that claim you have to follow their advice exactly or fail miserably…) I like to think of your daily habits as your own personal self-care cocktail: one part this, two parts that, and mix to taste. In other words, your number one priority shouldn’t be trying to replicate my habits exactly, but rather figuring out the recipe for your unique self-care cocktail. That requires testing and improving over time. If you can commit to that, I can guarantee that you will find your own set of habits that work for you. All that said, you can use my habits as a starting place to figure out what will work for you.
Productivity Habit 1: Review My Projects Daily in a Project Management System
Keeping your to-dos on a post-it note — or worse, just in your head — is wildly inefficient and bad for your productivity. It’s a huge energy suck just having to remember what’s on the list or find the list when you need it. So, the first part of this habit is to find and set up a project management system. I know, I know — many people are resistant to this, especially if it’s just you in your business for now. But for me, and for our Run Like Clockwork clients, this is a non-negotiable. It doesn’t matter so much which system you use. For our business, the Run Like Clockwork team uses ClickUp, but you can use Asana, Trello, Monday, or any system that makes sense to your brain, and many of them have free starter plans. Once you have your system set up, the second step is to use it.
I review my projects twice every day. I look at all of my to-dos daily at the beginning of my day in conjunction with my calendar to see what is on my plate, what needs to be done today, what's the highest priority, etc.
Because sometimes we have this tendency to overestimate what we can accomplish in any given day. I might see that I have a huge list of high-priority tasks — and a calendar with seven hours straight of calls. Something’s got to give. When I give myself the gift of checking in on my to-do list regularly, I can reprioritize to choose the tasks that are actually going to move the needle for my business. That increases my productivity and efficiency. I also check in with my project management system at the end of the day to record what I accomplished and reprioritize as needed.
Productivity Habit 2: End of Day Standup
The end-of-day standup is just a quick check-in with the team. Because the Run Like Clockwork team is all remote, we do our end-of-day standup via Slack.Our remote team works in different time zones, at different times of day, so we don’t have a standard time for our check-in. When each person is done for the day, they post their check-in to our Standup Slack channel.Our check-in consists of 3 things:
First, we share wins, what we accomplished for the day, and what made us feel good. Usually, that has something to do with our big project, or what I call my most important mission for the day.
Next, we share any concerns we have or where we need help. I started this when I was onboarding new team members, but I realized it was helpful for everyone to have a place where they can share.
Finally, we share what we’ll be working on tomorrow. This helps us all realign, reassess, and make sure we’re being as efficient and productive as possible.
I do this as well as my team because I think it helps all of us.
Productivity Habit 3: Time Blocking
Time blocking is probably the most important habit that I do to improve my efficiency and productivity. Parkinson's law states that a task will expand or contract, with the amount of time that we give it. So I put time blocks and constraints on every single thing I'm doing so that I'm not taking endless amounts of time to execute. When I don’t, my brain and my procrastination will creep in.I go so far as to put those time blocks on my actual calendar so I know each week and each day what I’m working on — and what I actually have time to accomplish.
Productivity Habit 4: Remove Distractions
The most important way I remove distractions in my work day is to turn off all my notifications — on my phone, my computer, everywhere.
Notifications represent other people making demands on me, pulling me away from the most important work I know I need to do. I check my notifications during scheduled times or during breaks, but I don’t leave them open to distract me all day long.
This will be hard if you’re not used to it. Even committing to only checking your email during certain times of day will help improve your productivity. If you struggle with distractions, you can also try changing up your environment to help. Put away your phone, turn off the wi-fi, or even work a few days a week away from your office or normal workspace. If you’re not sure exactly what your distractions are, I highly recommend tracking your time for a week or so. Time tracking is an important exercise in our book Clockwork, Revised and Expanded: Design Your Business to Run Itself, and in our Run Like Clockwork Accelerator program, and one important result is identifying distractions so that we can start to eliminate them. We have a Clockwork Time Tracking kit you can use by clicking here.
Productivity Habit 5: Define Your Personal Non-Negotiables
This comes back to your personal self-care cocktail that I mentioned above. I know that there are certain things I need to do every day in order to feel my personal best.
For me, these include moving my body, getting outside into the sunshine, consuming some positive personal development (like reading a book or listening to a podcast), and staying hydrated.
On the surface, these may not seem business-related, but they absolutely are. I know that when I don’t do these things, I can’t show up for my business, my team, my family in the way I want to. I recommend making a list of your non-negotiables and then figuring out where you can include just five minutes a day for each. This isn’t one of those “millionaire mornings” type prescriptions that say you have to wake up at 3am and meditate for an hour in order to “crush your day.” Instead, it’s about finding small ways to improve your day incrementally.
Of course, your mileage may vary with all of these habits, but I can guarantee that if you approach them with a mindset of experimentation, you’ll move toward finding the perfect recipe for your own self-care cocktail and set of habits that will improve your efficiency and productivity in your business and your life.