My productivity function was up last year.
Despite, or more likely because of the pandemic, my online business grew. Etsy sales were up. More people joined my Facebook group.
Face-to-face business returned slightly, too, until Omicron. I squeezed into a crafts show Thanksgiving weekend where people were out in droves “revenge spending.” (Revenge against the lockdown.)
Even so, I know my business could be better. My suspicion is that the secret lies in hacking my productivity function. How can I produce more, faster, without stressing out?
Last year’s increase allowed me to afford a coaching program. It included recorded trainings, and one was about the new productivity model or function. Just what I needed!
The program starts off exploring the 80/20 “rule.” It says 80% of your results come from 20% of your actions. The “rule” applies across many areas of life besides business.
I mostly agree. A lot of my business activity comprises trying out new ideas, most of which don’t work.
But what does work (results in profit) works well. So I look for ways to repeat and scale up those actions.
The productivity course said to pay particular attention to what doesn’t work.
That makes sense. After all, if 80% of my efforts will fail, why not just skip those and focus on the 20% that work?
A way to whittle down the 80% is to write a list of the top 5 things you do each day that DON’T result in an increase in your income.
Identifying those was easy. Mine included opening my email inbox every 30 minutes, scanning my Facebook newsfeed, looking at YouTube’s top recommended videos, and “doom scrolling” news headlines.
Netflix came in at #5, but I look at movie binging as a way of letting the mind relax so I can regroup my thoughts for the next day. So Netlix is therapy or an excuse to not work, depending on how you look at it.
Now follows the hard part.
Improving productivity starts with eliminating those activities that don’t bring in income. You then use the time saved to do more of the 20% of stuff that’s been working.
If you don’t have an identifiable 20%, your starting point is figuring what worked for you last year.
- What was your best-selling product(s)?
- Where was your best-selling market?
- Did sales go up during a particular time of year?
- Did you collect an email list of customers who bought from you?
After you nail down what went right in your business, list what didn’t turn out so well.
- What product(s) didn’t sell or were least profitable?
- Which market(s) bombed (lost money)?
- What are your worst months for sales?
- How much time did you thow into the trash checking email, social media, and TV?
Plan this year around the information in your own version of the above two lists. It’s a great productivity hack.
Before you give up binging YouTube videos, check out this one on productivity hacks: