3 things that I do which keep me productive

There isn’t a magic secret productivity hack or tip or guide that’s going to magically make your 100x more productive.

We all want more from our input. We want results faster and we want more output from what we’re doing.

The huge elephant in the room however, is that there is no magic secret to productivity and getting more work done.

Some people subscribe to “rise and grind”.

Gotta be up at 5am and hustle all day to see any results.

Others believe it’s about the tools you use and the platforms and software that you use that get more results.

I’m here to tell you that there is no magic secret that will skyrocket your productivity and effectiveness.

However.

Just because there’s no secret, doesn’t mean there aren’t things you could do. In fact, I’d wager that you already do know a lot of these productivity methods that I use.

I want to show you how I build productivity into my day and the repeated tasks I carry out to a) be productive and b) grow the business.

When I sit down at my desk on a Monday morning, I know exactly what I’m going to do.

I don’t check my email, I don’t login to Facebook.

I sit down and immediately know what I’m working on AND I know it’s contributing to a larger goal. So with that, let’s look at the 3 things I do all the time, to be productive.

I open my black book

I’m miserable with routine and my memory sucks. I’m easily distracted and often want to work on what is more fun.

Or, I’ll want to work on my latest, awesome, ground breaking, world changing idea.

Either way, I struggle with immediate distraction as soon as I sit down.

That’s why I have “the book”.

The Book is just a regular journal or notebook, but I don’t use it to write all my ideas in. (I have plenty of those, though).

The Book is my plan for the day, week, month, year and forever more. And it only takes up 5 pages.

I have Monday – Friday written on each page and on each page I write the top 4-5 tasks that I would need to get done EVERY Monday or every Tuesday etc.

The rules are simple:

  1. A task can only be written down if I think I would/need to do it every single week
  2. I can outsource/remove tasks as I go
  3. It is NOT a “to-do” list – all tasks are things that, if I do every week, they’ll build to a larger result

This is all about repeat tasks and “little and often”.

This is my long term game plan, that I know will result is greater and greater results if I keep repeating them.

For example, on a Monday, my tasks are to:

  1. Decide the mission for the week
  2. Tell the team what I’m working on
  3. Create a weekly update video for the coaching group
  4. Write down the goals for the week on our Smashboard

But that’s like…hardly anything?! Right?!

Yes, most days only have a handful of tasks. But that’s because productivity is about doing less, not more.

Creating weekly update videos has helped my team understand what I’m working on AND shown what direction we’re taking. It’s like being on a ship and the Captain giving a heading, direction and goal.

What this means is that I can sit down at my desk and no matter how groggy, tired or pumped I am – I know what I’m working on this week and today.

I write the single goal for the week and the day on my whiteboard

I have a little desk organiser which is also a mini whiteboard. I absolutely love it!

I got it from Amazon for about £20. It let’s me write little notes, tasks and most importantly – I write my daily task down.

I have 2 columns

  • Weekly goal
  • Daily goal

Every Monday I’ll write our team goal/my goal for the week on the board

Then, every day I’ll write down the single task I’m going to do, which will move us towards that goal

The tasks in The Book are repeated daily/weekly tasks that need to get done. Little and often. I’m relying on the compound effect to eventually yield greater and greater results, from those tasks in the book.

My whiteboard however is for tasks that are more time based or around campaigns. For example, while The Book tells me when to create content or have partner calls. The whiteboard is telling me that I need to build another email sales campaign.

Every day, at the end of the day, I write down tomorrow’s task. It means that “emergencies”, monkey brain or my emotional state the next day, doesn’t impact what needs to get done.

Sometimes the daily task doesn’t get done – no big deal. That just means I work on it tomorrow too. And the day after and so on, until it get’s done.

I block out time

Finally, when I do the tasks from the board and the book, is dictated by blocking out time in my calendar.

Anyone who says they can’t block out time because of their life or their circumstances or situation isn’t thinking hard enough about how important this is.

It’s also easy to see 23 hours a day when you can’t block out time. I’m telling you that you need to find just one hour a day where you can block out time.

TELL people that you’re on a call or you can’t be reached. I’ve never met anyone who had a problem with that.

My time blocking is pretty simple – weekly tasks (from The Book) and whiteboard tasks. Every day there is at least 1 – 2 hours for tasks from The Book and every day there is at least 1 hour for tasks on The Board.

The times don’t move. I don’t change them or move them around. If someone can’t make a time for a call or a meeting, they have to move – not me.

People know when they can and can’t reach me. It’s more important that I’m consistent, not accessible.

Those are the 3 things I do, which might result in being more productive or at least seen as more productive!

Mike Killen

Mike is the world's #1 sales coach for marketing funnel builders. He helps funnel builders sell marketing funnels to their customers. He is the author of From Single To Scale; How single-person, small and micro-businesses can scale their business to profit. You can find him on Twitter @mike_killen.