The struggle is real.
Full disclosure, even though I have been in business for almost 10 years and have coached 100’s of people to “cut thru the chaos”, I go through periods where I feel like an intervention is in order.
I need to dig deep and remind myself that just like sunscreen doesn’t work in the bottle, tools and systems can’t help me when I don’t apply them
Having zero bandwidth to implement change is common.
Evens a productivity hack that will guarantee positive change can make you want to throw your device out the window into a puddle in oncoming traffic.
Nothing changes if nothing changes. Total bummer, I know.
Here are a few of my personal favourites (along with some fan favs) to start salsa dancing through your life.
Five Productivity Hacks to Cut Thru the Chaos
***PLEASE take what works for your style and leave the rest.
De-rail Distractions
The truth hurts … we are making ourselves sick one ping and slider at a time. It is a non-stop assault on our nervous system.
According to a study by Asurion, the average person struggles to go more than 4 minutes without checking their phones; this is a crazy-town amount of distraction.
Another study shows that when we are distracted from a state of focused work, our brain does not return to that level of focus for a full 30 minutes.
30 minutes?! I don’t know anyone who goes 30 minutes who works + lives around other people who goes 30 minutes without a demand on their time.
Turn any and all notifications off that you can and schedule times to check your group chats, email sliders and ping sounds, texts and social media. Writing it down makes it real and allocating time on your calendar for incoming messages is a proven winner.
Chances are, the list of people who need to reach you immediately is very short. Situations like when a realtor is countering a real estate deal for you or that your bff went into labour count, otherwise you can set up a delay so you can maintain a healthy response time in professional and personal relationships.
Set up your life so you can respond with grace and thoughtfulness rather than reacting out of a misplaced sense of duty and making silly mistakes.
Plan Out Next Week on YOUR Friday
According to Heidi Grant Halverson, a professer at Columbia University, deciding in advance when and where you will take specific actions to reach your goal can double or triple your chances for success.
I suggest you do this on your Friday, so you can truly unwind on your day/s off.
Professionals, women in business, solopreneurs, executives, micro business owners, Fortune 500 leaders and work from home Mompreneurs can all benefit from this particular system to cut thru the chaos of modern life.
Take a Digital Sabatical
Holy guacamole, if you fully unplug for one short day a week, I promise you will feel the impact. Lots of high level execs do this in Silicon Valley and come back to work on Monday fresh, creative and relaxed.
At first it may be a little tense, but when you realize all the benefits of being fully engaged with the people and experiences that are happening right now, magic happens.
Read more about this here.
Take a Really, Really, Big Dump
Lock the door, get cozy and take a really, really, big brain dump. Gheesh, get your mind out of the toilet people!
If you read my blog regularly, then you know all about Stephen Covey’s mind hack made famous in his best selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
Nothing feels better than taking all of those to-do’s and ideas and swirling random thoughts and collecting them in a journal. A total winner to cut thru the chaos.
Writing them down is a massive weight off your shoulders.
When you feel ready to blow like a volcano if one more person asks you one more thing … you are in the brain dump red alert zone. I have blogged about this before in my blog, Work Like Home From a CEO if you want more sweet deets on brain dumps.
Observe the “You and I” of Your To-Do List
Especially if you do a brain dump, what supports your top priorities versus the tasks others have placed on your. These are your ideas and input for this list. Honouring your priorities is a sure fire way to make real progress towards your bigger dreams.
Saying no to others can be hard. Almost impossible. I dive deeper into this in my blog post
Remember, too much change all at once is a recipe for no change.
Don’t look back a month or a year from now and wish you had already started. These habits, one day at a time, make up who you are and what you life is.
Start with one change that feels right and let it become established as habit. Once that change clicks, build on that momentum all the way to your dreams …. one next best decision at a time.
This is the way to cut thru the chaos.
Onwards + upwards,
xxox Lisa
To up-level your time management, overall happiness and productivity, check out these other blog posts:
