Not the kind that comes from forgetting a friend’s birthday (we’ve all been there), but the kind that sneaks in when you’re juggling work deadlines, family commitments, and self-care, yet feel like you’re failing at all of them.

As a leader, entrepreneur, or manager, this feeling might be all too familiar. You’re busy building something meaningful, but that inner voice whispers: “You should’ve done more at work today. You should’ve spent more time with your family. You should’ve hit the gym.”

Sound familiar?

Why We Feel This Way

Guilt often stems from high expectations. Society rewards being busy, and we often internalize this as always needing to be “on.” Whether it’s the pressure to succeed, the desire to be present at home, or the drive to lead effectively, it’s easy to feel pulled in all directions.

But here’s the thing: guilt doesn’t make you better at any of these roles. If anything, it drains your energy and keeps you stuck in a cycle of overwork and self-doubt.

Yes, I know….you may already know all of this, but it’s easier said than done.

And I agree. It’s hard to get rid of the feeling that no matter what you do, there’s always something else that you could have done.

My point is: feeling this way won’t help you move. It’ll just get you stuck and frozen.

The Impact of Guilt

Guilt in itself is not always a bad feeling. This can be our body’s reminder to check in with ourselves and see whether we’re still on the right path.

But if it’s there ALL the time and you do nothing about it…then, it can become an issue.

Unchecked guilt can lead to burnout, resentment, and decision fatigue. It can make you second-guess your priorities and even damage your relationships, both at work and home. And when you carry that weight for too long, it starts to feel normal – even though it’s not.

So, how can you break free from the guilt trap and find a healthier balance?

Practical Ways to Manage Guilt

Get Clear on Your Priorities

Not everything can be urgent, and not everything can be done right now. Write down what truly matters – both in work and life. Think about what aligns with your long-term goals and values.

Try this

Create two lists: “What must be done this week?” and “What can wait?” Stick to them, and give yourself permission to focus. Review the lists at the end of the week, learn from your experience and adjust for the next week.

Redefine Success

Success doesn’t mean checking every box. It’s about making consistent progress toward your goals and being present in the moments that matter.

Reframe this thought

Instead of saying, “I didn’t finish my entire to-do list,” try, “I accomplished the most important things today.” And if you didn’t, make sure you focus on the most important things tomorrow.

Set Healthy Boundaries

Saying “no” is hard, but it’s a skill worth mastering. It’s okay to let your team know you’re unavailable after a certain hour or to dedicate a no-meetings day for deep work. Boundaries aren’t selfish, they’re necessary.

Note: Setting boundaries doesn’t always mean saying “no”. It’s often more about what you do want and what makes you feel good rather than what you want to avoid or stop doing.

Ask yourself: “What’s one boundary I can set this week to protect my energy?”

Practice Self-Compassion

You can’t pour from an empty cup, and beating yourself up won’t make you more productive. If you feel drained, forcing yourself to do just one more thing may just be a tipping point that will spiral you to burnout, sickness or anything else along those lines.

Not to mention that when you push yourself to do things and you’re at your 10%, things will get done A LOT slower, more mistakes will be made and you’ll do a worse job than if you’d given yourself time to rest and then tackled the issue at hand.

Treat yourself the way you’d encourage a team member: with kindness and understanding.

Remind yourself: “I’m doing my best with what I have today.” And regularly check with yourself what your best is on any given day.

Final Thoughts

Guilt isn’t a badge of honor, and it’s not a sign that you care more. It’s a signal that something might need adjusting – whether it’s your mindset, your priorities, or your boundaries.

So, the next time guilt creeps in, pause. Ask yourself: “Why do I feel this way? What messages am I sending myself? What am I trying to accomplish?” and when you have answers to these questions, then ask yourself: “What’s truly important right now?”

Then let go of everything else and focus on what matters.

Please, remember: you’re already doing so much more than you give yourself credit for.

Over to You:

What’s one small step you’ll take today to manage guilt and protect your energy? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The post Why Do We Feel Guilty for Trying to Do It All? appeared first on Snowation.

Yet, these small successes, often referred to as “daily wins,” play an important role in shaping our overall well-being and success.

I had the pleasure of speaking with a fellow coach and a book author, Christina Michaelidou, about daily wins. Christina puts a lot of focus on daily wins in her work and I wanted her to share some tips and tools with us. This post has been inspired by our conversation, which you can listen to in the video below.

However, if you prefer to just read about it, stick around.

What are Daily Wins?

According to Christina, daily wins are small the small, incremental achievements that warm our hearts, make us smile and build our confidence on a daily basis. They can be anything from completing a task to keeping up with a good habit to being present and finding joy in little things. Unlike long-term goals, daily wins are immediate and tangible, providing a sense of accomplishment and motivation.

Why is it Important to be Aware of Our Daily Wins?

First and foremost, being aware of our daily wins promotes mindfulness and gratitude. By acknowledging and appreciating the small victories, we cultivate a positive mindset that can improve our overall mental well-being. Additionally, recognizing daily wins helps us stay motivated and focused on our larger goals. As Christina says, they make our long-term goals seem more tangible and achievable. Daily wins remind us that progress is being made, even if it’s incremental.

What Are the Benefits of Daily Wins?

Personally, daily wins help me stop and think about my progress. They remind me that I keep learning and growing, especially in the moments when it doesn’t feel like it.

In general, there are many benefits of daily wins, but here are some that I find important:

1. Boosts Motivation: Celebrating daily wins provides a psychological boost, motivating us to tackle more significant challenges and pursue our long-term goals with renewed energy.
2. Builds Confidence: Every win we score and become aware of contributes to a growing sense of self-confidence. Over time, this confidence becomes a powerful tool in overcoming obstacles and setbacks.
3. Improves Mental Well-Being: Focusing on daily wins encourages a positive outlook, reducing stress and promoting mental well-being. It shifts the focus from what’s lacking to what has been achieved.
4. Enhances Productivity: Regularly acknowledging daily wins creates a positive feedback loop, fostering a more productive mindset. It helps us build momentum so that once you get going, seeing your progress will inspire you to keep going and tackle more important tasks.

How Can We Celebrate Daily Wins?

According to Christina, the first step to celebrating our daily wins is to actually recognize them. Once you do that, here are some ideas on how you can celebrate your daily wins in practice:

1. Keep a Journal: Maintain a daily journal to record your achievements, no matter how small. This practice helps reinforce a positive mindset and allows you to reflect on your progress.
2. Share with Others: Celebrate your wins with friends, family, or colleagues. Sharing accomplishments not only spreads positivity but also strengthens social connections. Success generates more success, no matter how small.
3. Treat Yourself: This one is my favorite. Every time you have a win, you treat yourself somehow. The treat can be getting your favorite cup of coffee, buying your favorite snack, having a long bath or anything else along those lines. The point is that it doesn’t have to be anything extravagant. It should be a treat that says “you did well, today”.

What Are Your Daily Wins?

As wonderful as it is to celebrate big events and accomplishments, they are few and far apart. Most of our life is spent in details and incremental changes. That’s why being aware of your daily wins and celebrating them can help you lead a more fulfilling life every single day. Over time, your motivation and confidence will increase and you’ll develop a more positive attitude towards life.

So, what daily wins have you become aware of today?

Are you looking for a way to grow, but can’t seem to figure out how to do it? Want to take your business to the next level but can’t see clearly the way to get there? I can help! Click on the button below to schedule a free call. Make the change today!

The post Celebrating Daily Wins: The Key to a More Fulfilling Life appeared first on Snowation.

However, confidence is not something that always comes naturally; it can be nurtured and developed over time. One powerful tool for enhancing leadership confidence is coaching.

In this blog post, we will explore some benefits of coaching for leaders and provide ways in which working with a coach can help leaders boost their confidence. If you happen to be curious about this topic, sit back, relax and enjoy the read.

Benefits of Coaching for Leaders

Personalized Guidance and Support

Coaching offers leaders personalized guidance and support tailored to their unique needs and challenges. Coaches work closely with leaders to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and goals, creating a customized coaching plan. This individualized approach ensures that leaders receive the specific tools and strategies necessary to build their confidence effectively.

Enhanced Self-Awareness

Effective leadership begins with self-awareness. Coaches help leaders gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their values, and their leadership style. Through introspective exercises and feedback, leaders can identify areas where they may lack confidence and work on developing a stronger self-image. This heightened self-awareness not only boosts confidence but also fosters authenticity and emotional intelligence in leadership.

Without self-awareness, leaders can appear arrogant. If you cannot be personable, or know when you are crossing a line, how can you lead

Sean Peek

Accountability and Feedback

Coaching provides leaders with a built-in system of accountability and feedback. Coaches hold leaders responsible for their goals and actions, helping them stay on track and measure their progress. Additionally, coaches offer honest and constructive feedback, highlighting areas where leaders can improve their confidence and leadership abilities. This continuous feedback loop empowers leaders to make meaningful changes and grow their confidence over time.

Personally, I believe these three benefits are the most important ones when it comes to coaching for leaders. However, as you may assume, the list can get quite long and I’ll be happy to schedule a chat and share more about it.

Yet, for the sake of staying on the topic of the article, let’s look at some ways that coaching can help leaders boost their confidence.

Five Ways Coaching Can Help Leaders Boost Their Confidence

1. Setting Clear Goals

Coaches work with leaders to set clear, achievable goals for personal and professional development. By defining specific objectives, leaders gain a sense of purpose and direction. Achieving these goals reinforces their competence and, subsequently, their confidence.

It is important to note here that accountability plays a large part in this process. Once the goal is set and an action plan is created, coaches hold leaders accountable to follow through with their commitment. In turn, that enhances discipline that leaders can later on transfer to their team members or employees.

2. Developing Effective Communication Skills

Confidence in leadership often hinges on effective communication. Coaches help leaders refine their communication skills, teaching them how to articulate ideas, provide constructive feedback, and engage in difficult conversations. As leaders become more adept communicators, their self-assurance grows.

3. Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Up to 82% of people face feelings of impostor phenomenon, struggling with the sense they haven’t earned what they’ve achieved and are a fraud.

Bravata, D. M., et al., Journal of General Internal Medicine, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2020

So, if you ever felt this way, know that you’re definitely not alone. It’s natural to wonder how you’re doing compared to others and a bit of self-doubt can be a good reminder to reflect and adjust.

However, the constant feeling of inadequacy can lead people to push themselves beyond their limits, eventually causing a burnout or something worse. Coaches help leaders recognize and manage imposter syndrome by providing strategies to reframe negative thoughts, acknowledge achievements, and cultivate a positive self-image.

4. Embracing Resilience

Coaching encourages leaders to develop resilience in the face of adversity. Leaders learn to bounce back from setbacks, view failures as learning opportunities, and maintain a positive attitude. This resilience bolsters their confidence and ability to lead through challenging situations.

5. Building a Support Network

We become who we spend most of our time with.

Coaches can help leaders establish and nurture a support network. Having trusted mentors, peers, and advisors can provide invaluable encouragement and perspective. Knowing that they have a reliable support system can boost a leader’s confidence in their decision-making and leadership capabilities.

In a Nutshell

Confidence is an important aspect of leadership that can be developed and improved over time. One way to work on your confidence as a leader is to work with a coach. Through coaching, leaders learn essential skills such as goal setting, resilience, and effective communication (to name just a few) that help them boost their confidence and trust their ability to lead even more.

Investing in coaching can be the key that unlocks your true potential as a leader, enabling you to not only thrive personally but also inspire and empower your teams to reach new heights of success.

If you’re ready to start working with a coach on your leadership skills, get in touch and let’s talk about it.

The post How Coaching Helps Leaders Boost Their Confidence appeared first on Snowation.

I know. Many of you will say that it doesn’t work, that it’s just popular psychology mumbo-jumbo, that there is no success without work. And let me tell you: you’re right. You won’t get anywhere just by creating a vision board. That’s not how it works. Creating a vision board is just the first step on your journey to success. However, it is a valuable step because it helps you gain clarity and present your goals visually. It is a great reminder of why you do what you do.

In this article, we’ll dive into the concept of a vision board, its purpose, benefits, and how to create one to help you make your dreams come true.

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board, also known as a dream board or goal board, is a tangible representation of your goals, dreams, and desires. It’s a collage of images, quotes, and affirmations that resonate with your aspirations and create a visual reminder of the life you want to live. The idea behind a vision board is to harness the power of visualization, where you use imagery to stimulate your mind and emotions, thereby influencing your actions and decisions.

Remember, if you can see it, you can do it.

The Purpose of a Vision Board

The main purpose of a vision board is to serve as a powerful tool for visualization and goal-setting. By regularly exposing yourself to images and words that represent your goals, you’re sending a clear message to your subconscious mind about your intentions. This process helps shift your mindset and behaviors in ways that align with your values and the goals you want to achieve.

A vision board acts as a constant source of inspiration, reminding you of what you’re working towards, even when challenges arise.

Benefits of a Vision Board

Clarity and Focus

Creating a vision board helps you clarify your goals and aspirations. By selecting and arranging images that depict your desires, you bring clarity to what you truly want to achieve in different areas of your life, such as career, relationships, health, and personal growth.

Additionally, a vision board serves as a reminder of your goals and helps you set specific intentions for your future. By regularly viewing your vision board, you keep your goals in focus and are more likely to take actions aligned with those goals.

Increased Motivation

Visualizing your goals in a positive and exciting way can boost your motivation. A vision board keeps your spirits high, even when faced with setbacks.

What is more, looking at your vision board regularly can inspire and motivate you to take consistent steps toward your goals. The visual reminders can boost your determination and remind you why you’re working towards those aspirations.

Enhanced Confidence and Positivity

A vision board fosters a positive mindset by focusing on what you want to achieve rather than dwelling on what you lack or fear. It shifts your focus from potential obstacles to potential opportunities.

As you witness your goals becoming a reality over time, your self-confidence and belief in your capabilities grow.

Accountability

Sharing your vision board with others or placing it in a visible location can create a sense of accountability. It encourages you to stay committed to your goals and track your progress.

A study done in the US showed that people are 65% more likely to reach their goals if they’ve committed to someone that they will do it and 95% more likely to accomplish their goals if they have a specific accountability appointment with the person they’ve committed to. Not sure about you, but I think those are pretty high numbers to just pass the opportunity.

Your accountability buddy can be your partner, friend or even an accountability coach. Regardless of who you choose, make sure it’s someone you won’t be able to ignore.

Law of Attraction

Some people believe in the “law of attraction,” which suggests that focusing on positive thoughts and intentions can attract positive outcomes. A vision board is a tangible representation of your positive intentions and can help you align your thoughts and actions with your desired outcomes.

Here’s another way to explain that.

The brain believes anything you say. So, if you keep reminding yourself of all your failures and mistakes, the message you send to your brain is how limited you are. On the other hand, if your thoughts are geared towards learning from mistakes and trying in different ways, your brain will see that as a challenge to find solutions to potential problems and obstacles.

Whichever perspective you choose, you’ll be right. But only one of the two will help you move forward and grow. You get to decide which path you want to take.

Overall, a vision board is a tool that helps you define your goals, visualize your desired outcomes, and work toward making your dreams come true. It’s a personal and meaningful representation of your future aspirations that can have a positive impact on your mindset and actions.

How to Create a Vision Board

Creating a vision board is a creative process so let your imagination and creativity run wild. You can create it physically on a piece of paper/poster board or digitally in an online tool like Canva. I like to create my vision boards in Canva and then print them off as a poster.

Regardless of where you create your vision board, make sure you have some fun while creating it. And in case you’re not sure how to go about it, below are the steps you can take to create your vision board.

• Set Your Intentions: Clarify your goals across different areas of your life, such as career, relationships, health, and personal development.
• Gather Supplies: Collect magazines, newspapers, printed images, quotes, scissors, glue, a poster board, or any other materials you’d like to use.
• Collect Visuals: Look for images, words, and quotes that resonate with your goals and aspirations. They can be anything that sparks excitement and motivation.

Pro tip: Instead of using random images, find your own photos that reflect the goals on your vision board. This may not be possible for every goal, but give it a try for the ones where it is doable. For example, if one of your goals is to eat healthier, find a picture of yourself drinking a smoothie or eating a salad and add it to your vision board. It’ll be way more motivating to go after your goals once you see yourself achieving them rather than some random person.

• Arrange and Create: Arrange your chosen visuals on the poster board in a way that’s visually appealing to you. Get creative with the layout and design. Remember, this can be both on paper or digitally.
• Affirmations: Include positive affirmations that reinforce your beliefs and intentions. These can be handwritten or printed out.
• Place it Strategically: Put your vision board in a place where you’ll see it daily, such as your bedroom, office, or any other area you frequent.
• Regular Review: Take a few moments each day to gaze at your vision board. Imagine yourself living your dreams as you look at the images.
• Update and Evolve: As you achieve your goals or as your aspirations change, don’t hesitate to update your vision board to reflect your evolving desires.

To Sum Up

In a world filled with distractions, a vision board offers a potent way to keep your goals and dreams in focus. By creating a visual representation of your aspirations and regularly immersing yourself in it, you harness the power of visualization to manifest the life you desire. The journey of creating and nurturing a vision board is not only fulfilling but also empowers you to take charge of your future, one inspiring image at a time. Start creating your ultimate vision board today and watch your dreams come to life.

The post Visualize Your Success: Creating Your Ultimate Vision Board appeared first on Snowation.

However, what I also liked about the course was that Jim mentioned some techniques and gave advice that can relate to many other aspects of life, not only reading. So, I decided to share those with you in the hope that it’ll come in handy one day.

Asking Questions Helps Improve Comprehension

This may sound like a no brainer to you, and if that’s the case, then good for you On the other hand, if you’re not sure how to understand this, here’s the thing: asking questions helps your brain focus, it gives your brain a direction and because our brain doesn’t like open loops, it’ll get down to finding the answer. When you’re looking for specific information, you’re more likely to retain that information once you find it. What is more, by answering questions, you get a better understanding of the information at hand, thus you’re able to retain it better.

Left-Handed People Are in the Right Mind

Personally, I like this saying because I am left-handed. But, that is not the reason it made the list. The point with this statement is that we should do things that activate both the left and right side of our brain because one is creative and the other is logical. If we just use our dominant side, our brain gets lazy and we don’t want that to happen.

A simple way to get your brain to work is to do something with the other hand (the one you’d normally not use for that activity). For example, you can brush your teeth with your left hand (if you’re not a leftie). It’s a simple activity but it’ll active your brain in different ways.

Brain Breaks Matter

The primacy and recency effect states that we tend to remember more the first and the last thing, that is to say, we remember better some of the information we hear/read at the beginning (primacy) and some we hear/read at the end (recency). By taking smaller, but more frequent breaks, we automatically get more beginnings and ends so we remember more. In addition to that, in order for our brain to work well, it needs breaks. The best way you can keep your brain fresh is to make sure you get some fresh air, you are hydrated and you move around (because the primary function of the brain is to control movement).

Have a To Learn List

According to Jim Kwik, novelty is power because it stretches your brain in different ways. So, in addition to our to do lists, we should keep a to learn list as well. This can be a list of activities or skills you’d like to try out or learn. It can be as simple as learning how to cook something or learning a new word but it can also be acquiring a completely new skill. Whatever you think is best for you, but make sure you learn something new every few months because it’ll keep stretching your brain.

Fogg Behavior Model

According to Fogg behavior model, in order for a behavior to change, the following three elements must be present at the same time: motivation, ability and trigger (or prompt). If you’d like to build a new habit, you have to be motivated to do the activity, you have to have the ability to do it (with proper training or having the proper environment) and there has to be a trigger, something that will remind you to do the activity in the beginning, until it becomes natural.

For example, when I was learning to speed read, naturally, I really wanted to do it because I want to be able to read more (motivation). During the course, I was working on my ability as I was learning the techniques and tools for speed reading and I would schedule my reading daily at the same time, so the alarm was my trigger to read at the designated time.

As Jim Kwik says, in order to learn and grow, you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Learning is an essential part of our life because everything we now know we had to learn at some point. Perhaps, as we grow older, some people tend to get too comfortable where they are and would rather stay there than get a bit uncomfy to learn something new and grow. Growth is not easy but its effects are amazing.

So, there you have it. These are just a couple of things I picked up from Jim Kwik along the way and I hope you find them useful and helpful.

Until the next article, keep learning and growing.

Sneza

The post 5 Takeaways from the Course with Jim Kwik that You Can Apply to Life appeared first on Snowation.

Yes, I do believe there is such a thing, but perhaps not in the traditional way of seeing it. Ever since I started working, it was very important to me that work happens at the office (whatever office means to you) and life happens outside of it; those two do not touch bases. I always felt so proud of the fact that I wasn’t taking work home and that my personal life did not affect my work. However, the more I learned and grew, the more I started questioning this statement, this feeling of separation that I had.

After a lot of reading and self-reflection, I realized that I do indeed maintain a healthy work-life balance, but not in the way I originally thought. My personal life does affect my work. If I feel anxious or upset, my performance that day is not at my usual level. It’s never been damaging or having negative effects on the work I do, but I know I am not my 100%. On the other hand, if I feel really happy or satisfied, my performance is at its best. I think this is natural for all of us, whether we wanted to see it or not.

It is the same way with my job affecting my personal life. If there’s a problem I am trying to solve, I think about it, even outside the office, perhaps I talk about it with friends or family. You cannot keep the two completely separated, but that doesn’t mean it’s not in balance.

In my opinion, a work-life disbalance happens when the life part of the phrase does not differ from the work part. So, checking that email at home after you come back from work or devoting just 2 hours every Sunday to making sure everything is ready for the next week (which soon turns into 4 hours every Sunday) is just peeking; you’re not really working, right?!

I came to realize that work-life balance actually means being able to focus on one or the other at a given time. If you’re at home, watching TV with your kids or reading a book, then do just that, don’t check your work email. On the other hand, if you’re at home planning your next week at work, do that, but limit yourself to a certain amount of time. Deciding to spend 2 hours working from home is just fine, but make sure it’s 2 hours, don’t turn it into 3 or 10. Limiting yourself when you need to do additional work outside the office is still maintaining a healthy work-life balance. If your brain knows that it’ll get additional time to figure out an issue, it’ll be able to focus on something else in the meantime. Letting the limits slide because you got carried away is not a work-life balance, it’s more of a disbalance, actually.

To sum up, I do believe that there is such a thing as work-life balance, but it doesn’t mean a clear cut between work life and personal life. To me, work-life balance actually means being devoted to one thing at a time and allowing yourself to have both and enjoy both. So, if you’re on your day off and you have to attend a meeting, it’s OK so long as you keep it to that one meeting and spend the rest of your day enjoying other activities. That way, you have given your brain the time to focus on work issues and the time to focus on life without intertwining the two the entire time you were supposed to be doing just one; thus, you continue to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

What are your thoughts on this issue? How would you define work-life balance?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts. In the meantime, keep learning and growing.

Sneza

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The post Is There Such a Thing as Work-Life Balance? appeared first on Snowation.

Productivity means accomplishing things that are meaningful to you. — Dave Crenshaw

Now, if you stop to think about it, you realize that most of the things we do during the day aren’t so meaningful. We may end up accomplishing one or two meaningful things but the rest is just lots of small errands that we do out of necessity, a habit perhaps, or to please others.

So, if you feel this is true for you, if you end up feeling tired at the end of the day without the sense of accomplishment, then you may want to try out some of the tips that follow. They worked out for me and I hope they will help you out, too.

Practice “Good Enough” Attitude

Things are rarely perfect and this can be very frustrating. You can lose so much time trying to do everything perfectly and in the end you may not get done everything you were hoping to accomplish. In his course on productivity, Dave Crenshaw talks about the distinction between the process and the result. He says that a process is never perfect so instead of trying to perfect it, we can focus on the progress in the process knowing that it won’t be perfect. On the other side, when it comes to results, they can be perfect so we can strive for a perfect result.

Focusing on a desired result achieved through an imperfect process is practicing the “good enough” attitude. Getting what you wanted even if you make certain adjustments along the way is just good enough and much better than not getting anything done, right?! You can always go back to it when you have more time, but for the time being, just tap yourself on the back for a job well done and accept that it’s good enough for now because you gave it your best.

Have Daily “Me Time”

It’s important to make some time for yourself during the day. This can be as simple as walking to work or taking a break for a cup of coffee. No matter what you do, it’s important to check in on yourself. Just ask yourself how you’re feeling and if the answer is frustrated, tired or helpless, stop what you are doing and give yourself some time off. Like I said, it doesn’t have to be a long period of time, but taking some time to breathe and relax is going to contribute to your productivity a lot more than you trying to get things done knowing that you’re not completely into the task at hand.

Get the Most Important Things Done First

It is so easy to get carried away by little tasks. Answering your email or finishing that 5-minute task is easy and before you know it, you’ve spent the majority of your day finishing up small tasks leaving yourself very little or no time at all for the most important task of the day. Not to mention that by the time you get to it, you’re most likely feeling tired and out of focus. I’ve fallen into that trap so many times.

Important tasks require a lot of focus, that’s why they are important. Also, that’s why it’s important to get them done first, when you’re still fresh and have the most focus in a day. Once that’s done, you can devote your time to other tasks. If your important task is too big, then break it down into several smaller ones and get down to completing those. Important tasks can take days or weeks to complete and that’s OK. What matters is that you know what’s essential to you and stir your focus towards it. You’ll be surprised by how much you can accomplish if you shift your focus onto important things first.

Schedule Every Moment of Your Day

In his book Deep Work, Cal Newport talks about draining the shallows, meaning that you need to know the depth of your activities so that you can focus on the deeper ones and cut down on the very shallow ones. One of the suggestions he makes in order to focus on deep work is to schedule every minute of your day in order to know what you’ll be working on throughout the day. So, the purpose of this is not to have a rigid schedule but to know what you’ll be filling your time with. The schedule is supposed to be very flexible and you can move things around as the situation calls for it, but make sure to write down the changes as you go through the day.

This way, you’ll be able to see how much time your tasks require and the more you do it, the better you’ll be able to organize your time and prioritize. Remember, if you focus on your most important things first, you’ll be a lot more productive and a lot less busy.

Have a Side List

Ideas just love to pop up in our head and they don’t really care about timing. How often has an idea popped up when you were doing something else? It happens to me all the time. So, in order not to forget it, I often stop with what I am doing to do the thing that popped up in my head thinking I’d just get back to my previous task in no time. Well, as you may imagine, that’s not always the case.

One thing that really helped me deal with this is Dave Crenshaw’s idea of a side list: a place where you can just write down the idea that appeared in your head knowing that you’ll get back to it later. The place can be a sticky note, a notebook or just a simple notes app on your phone; whatever you have the habit of checking most regularly and comes in handy for you. This little tip helped my productivity and I stopped stressing about whether I’ll remember what comes to my mind at any random moment.

Just like any other skill, productivity is something you need to practice and work on. It won’t magically start working for you. Luckily, there are so many little things you can do to get better at it. I’ve listed some of them in this article but you need to make sure you find the ones that work best for you and then just practice until it becomes an automatic part of your everyday life. It’s the little things that matter and that’s as true for productivity as for anything else in your life.

Already found something that works? Please, feel free to share. I’d love to know about it

Keep learning and growing.

Sneza

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The post Improve Your Productivity with These Simple Tweaks appeared first on Snowation.