Chunking Down Your Plan Will Improve Productivity

Being focused and productive is a great way to achieve results and succeed in business. It is easy to be busy when you are running a business and we are often asked the question…how can I be less busy and more productive?

The answer is simple to understand but not necessarily so simple to do for everyone. Building habits that enable productivity and support focus is one of the most effective ways to achieve results, because what you focus on is what you will get, to the exclusion of everything else! Focus on achieving results and you will achieve, focus on worrying about results, you will get more worry…

In his book 'The Slight Edge', Jeff Olsen highlights 3 things to do successfully to apply his principle of having an edge in business. One is to have concrete goals, with a plan to achieve them because your plan becomes your roadmap to get from where you are now, to where you want to go. Second is to stick to positive daily habits and third is to surround yourself with the right people so that you can learn and grow. While these 3 things are not new, they are a reinforcement of their importance. Creating habits that support you to show up consistently is key to being productive and successful.

"There are two kinds of habits: those that serve you, and those that don't" Jeff Olsen

One very powerful way to create strong habits for showing up consistently is to chunk your goals down into manageable smaller goals and document them for each quarter of the year. Do one quarter at a time and monitor each week of the month for progress. This approach will provide a focus for all involved in the plan, and improve productivity through focusing on the priority actions to take towards achieving the goals for the quarter and therefore progress towards the big goals for the year. As Jeff Olsen highlights "there are two kinds of habits: those that serve you, and those that don't". We all have habits so it’s our choice as to what type we have!

Here are 3 tips for creating a good habit of chunking down your big goal:

Tip #1

Identify the categories of your business and list the goals within each category, as a way of gaining clarity on what needs to be achieved and who needs to be involved. All these goals will link to the big overarching goal.

Tip #2

Identify the priority goals by category to focus on in one quarter, regardless of what part of the year you are in. Planning starts when you are ready to be serious and committed so if this is a new habit for you to create then the best time to start is right now.

Tip #3

Each week within a month identify the top tasks to be achieved that will ultimately lead to the category goal or activity being achieved. This could be a top 10 task list for the week, that can then be broken into top 5 for each day.

Taking this approach in your business will ensure you are building strong habits that enable you to show up consistently and focus on priorities most of the time. This also allows you to navigate the interruptions that will ultimately occur in the daily whirlwind of any business and stay true to your plan, your roadmap for your business.