morning-rituals

office-organization

productivity-strategies

time-management-mistakes

time-management-techniques

Having a mundane 9-5 job wasn&rsquo;t for me.&nbsp; I love my freedom to work when and how I choose as a College Coach.

The freedom and flexibility to come and go as I please is certainly nice.&nbsp; But what I found out the hard way is that allowing myself too much freedom in the office usually results in unproductive and much longer working days for me.&nbsp;

To be more productive than I have ever been, I had to create structure into my workday and life. When I had no real structure or routines, with no plan for what was going to get done and when, I ended up working about 4 hours more a day than I wanted to. I challenged myself to find a way to get the same amount of work done in 8 hours.&nbsp;

There are a lot of different ways to add structure to your day.&nbsp; I will outline a few that have been important for me here.

Plan The Night Before

Having structure to my workday starts the night before.&nbsp; I used to just get up in the morning try to &ldquo;wing it&rdquo; through the day.&nbsp; Now I plan everything out before I leave the office or at home before I go to bed.&nbsp; I review my priorities and what I feel are the most important levers that will move my program forward in some way.&nbsp; Then I create a list of things I&rsquo;d like to get done the next day. That way, when I get to work the next morning, I know exactly where to begin and what I need to get done.

Structure Your Ideal Work Week and Day

When specifically during the day are you going to work on your recruiting? When are you specifically going to plan practice? When are you specifically going to work on administrative tasks? The more you can schedule these activities into your weekly and daily schedules, the easier it will be for you to know exactly what you should be working on.

Have a Morning Routine with Email

I found that what I do with my email first thing in the morning really makes or breaks how productive I am throughout the day.&nbsp; Check out the post &ldquo;<a href="https://www.teamsnap.com/community/time-management/morning-rituals/how-to-set-up-a-morning-email-routine">How to Set Up a Morning Email Routine</a>.&rdquo;

Make a &ldquo;Do-Not-Do&rdquo; List

An important list that has helped keep me on track in the office is my <a href="https://www.teamsnap.com/community/time-management/time-management-techniques/increase-your-productivity-with-a-do-not-do-list">Do-Not-Do List</a>.

These lists have helped me remove a lot of the negatives from my work environment.&nbsp; A few examples of things on my do-not-do lists are: do not browse the internet, do not check my email continuously throughout the day, and do not answer random phone calls. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

It is important to structure your day so that you can continually get things done and move forward with your work.

Adding structure to my workday became easy when I started treating, thinking about, and planning my workday just like I would plan a practice.&nbsp; My practice and office plans are very similar in that I have a plan for what and when things will get done, I get there early before anybody else so I can get set up, I pay attention to the clock and give myself a certain amount of time to do things, etc.

It was also easier to stay focused on what I was trying to get done when I remembered my &ldquo;why.&rdquo;

Getting my work done in less time frees up more of the day for me to spend it with my husband and kids, my friends, and even to spend on my hobbies. I have a picture of my kids on my desk as a friendly reminder to stick to the plan. Looking at this picture helps keep me focused on getting my work done so when I go home, I can play with my kids having the peace of mind knowing I did something to move my work forward today.

Homework:

What is your &ldquo;why&rdquo;?&nbsp; Whatever it may be, put up a picture in your office where you can see it and always be reminded of what you should be staying focused on.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Where can you be putting more structure into your day and week to help you stay on track so you can be even more successful at work or with the group or team you are working with?

As long as you are in control of the structure of your day, you&rsquo;ll always have freedom in your life. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

4 Ways to Add Structure in the Office

What activities do you feel you need to accomplish each day?

I thought I knew what they were for me. Then, about a week ago, I went home feeling uneasy and stressed. I reflected on what happened during the day and what didn&rsquo;t get done that was causing me to feel this way.

That day I had to readjust my schedule of To-Do&rsquo;s because a few student-athlete meetings lasted longer than planned (remember that I am a College Soccer Coach). When I got home, I took out my Green Time Management Planner and looked back over my day. I finished the majority of tasks on my to-do list, but there were still one or two things that were pushed aside. Reflecting back on my day helped give me figure out why I was stressed, but I needed to look into it more closely.

The next day was just as crazy as the day before. However, I went home feeling ok with what I accomplished. Did I get everything done on my To-Do list? No. But I did get a few of the things done that I hadn&rsquo;t gotten done the day before. I again sat down and looked at what had gotten finished and what didn&rsquo;t during the day.&nbsp;

For the next few days, I paid close attention to what I accomplished and what I did not, and how I felt about both.

What I found is that for me, I feel good about leaving the office I send my recruiting emails out and have a chance to plan and prepare practice for the following day.&nbsp;

The development and future success of my program is obviously dependant on my ability to consistently communicate with recruits. The success of my current team depends on preparing and executing challenging practices so we can continue to improve. When I make sure to finish these two tasks before I leave for the day, I feel assured knowing that I still have time to review my practice plan the night before and make adjustments if necessary. And, as a result, I walk into practice feeling more prepared. I also love the feeling of accomplishment I get when I know that I have taken another step forward with the recruits we are trying to get.

To avoid feeling stressed out, it took three or four days of analyzing what I did and didn&rsquo;t do as well as assessing the feelings that followed for it to really hit home with me which tasks absolutely had to be done before I left the office. I now try to do my most important activities first thing in the morning when I get done with practice (we practice from 6-8am). I find that if I put them off until later, I get busy and run out of time to do them.&nbsp;

So, what are your most important activities? What are your essential tasks for each day.

If you are not sure, do what I did.&nbsp; At the end of the day, review your to-do list and see what got done and what didn&rsquo;t get done. How do you feel when you get home? Once you have your data, analyze what causes you to feel this way. Then try to restructure your day to make sure you are getting your most important tasks done.&nbsp;

Have a great and productive day!

How to Complete Those Essential Tasks

If you have read any of my articles, you know by now that I am all about finding new and better ways to do things that will give me a better return on my time and energy.&nbsp;

About a year ago now, I listened to a High Performance Academy coaching call led by Brendan Burchard, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/The-Charge-Activating-Human-Drives/dp/1451667531">The Charge</a>.&nbsp; He discussed productivity and how he starts his day out by asking the question, &ldquo;Who do I need to reach out to today that will help me progress forward?&rdquo;

He applies this question to all of his businesses, and I now apply this question to my college program and to recruiting. For example, what club coach can I reach out to today and develop a better relationship with that could potentially help me with recruiting quality student-athletes to my program? What person on campus could I introduce myself to? Who could I thank for helping me?&nbsp;

Answering and acting on this one question has single-handedly changed the quality of recruits we get to look at and commit to my program.&nbsp;&nbsp;

How could you apply this to what you do for a living?

Here is how I do it. On my way into work I think about who I can reach out to, whether that be a coach of a team I saw over the weekend, a parent of one of my top recruits, a local business owner, a faculty member on campus, etc. As soon as I get into the office, I turn on my computer and crank out a quick email to whomever I&rsquo;m thinking of. I usually only write to one person a day and only give myself 10 minutes to build a relationship with whatever person I am writing to. I also do it first thing in the morning because I find that if I leave it until later in the day, there is a good chance that it won&rsquo;t get done.&nbsp;

I didn&rsquo;t notice much of a difference at first, but over the course of the last year, spending the first 10 minutes reaching out to one person a day has really started to pay off. These coaches help us get in contact with recruits faster and even talk to recruits on our behalf. This helps to get recruits serious about us sooner, and it has helped us narrow down our recruiting pool because of the insights we now receive. &nbsp;

All of this and more is the result of consistently reaching out to one person a day first thing when I get to the office in the morning. There is always somebody who you can reach out to. Be thoughtful and strategic about it. Like I said earlier, just this one question has helped to speed up the recruiting process for me. If you apply this to what you are trying to accomplish at work or with the group you are working with, I know it can do the same for you.&nbsp;

Speed Up Your Business With One Question

Do you often find yourself up at night thinking about all of the things you have to do the next day? Or while you are working, you are a multitasking maniac because you all of sudden keep remembering something else that needs to get done? Have you ever forgotten to do something important?

&nbsp;All of these are symptoms of not keeping a proper to-do list. A common time management mistake is to try to use your memory to keep track of all of the tasks you need to accomplish or the places you need to be every day. I don&rsquo;t care how good you think your memory is: the fact is that most people simply cannot rely on their memory alone to keep track of everything that needs to get done.&nbsp;

A To-Do List is simply a list of all the tasks that you need to carry out. The goal of To-Do Lists is to help you get your tasks out of your head and put them into a trusted productivity system where you know that you won&rsquo;t forget about them and where you can easily find them when you need them.&nbsp;

Writing down the things you know you need to do frees your mind from having to remember all the little details, will let you sleep more soundly, and will give you a clear direction the next morning when your day starts.&nbsp;

Keeping a properly structured and thought-out To-Do List sounds simple enough. But it can be surprising how many fail to use To-Do Lists at all, never mind use them effectively. In fact, it&#39;s often when people start to use To-Do Lists effectively and sensibly that they make their first personal productivity breakthroughs.

In my 15 years as a coach, I&rsquo;ve used everything from to-do lists 10 pages long to not using a to-do list at all. And I&rsquo;ve realized that you need a to-do list. But it needs to be the right kind. Most to-do lists don&rsquo;t work because they are either too long or too short; not prioritized or too complicated. A to-do list like these will hurt instead of help.&nbsp;

On the other hand, a well thought out to-do list, prioritized based on your work or personal goals and vision, is an extraordinarily effective way to plan, prioritize, save time and increase your effectiveness. According to Brian Tracy, author of No Excuses, you will likely increase your efficiency by 25 percent the very first day that you start using a list. This means that you will get two extra hours of productive time in an eight hour day from the simple act of making a list of important tasks to do that day before you start work.&nbsp;

Tracy also says that &ldquo;you can bring order out of chaos faster with a list than with any other time management tool. It is the most powerful tool ever discovered for maximum productivity.&rdquo; Writing down the things you know you need to do will give you peace of mind and a clear sense of direction before and after every day of work. &nbsp;

Trust me, the mental peace you gain by knowing you are so much better organized and that you are not forgetting anything important is so worth the time it takes to figure out how to properly do a to-do list.&nbsp;

In future blogs, I will talk about how to categorize and prioritize your to-do list to help get you through your to-do list quicker and with more focus on higher value activities. If you categorize and prioritize intelligently, you&#39;ll focus your time and energy on high value activities, which will mean that you&#39;re more productive, and more valuable to your team.

Time Management

Tips On How To Be More Productive

4 Ways to Add Structure in the Office

How to Complete Those Essential Tasks

Speed Up Your Business With One Question

Why You Should Use a To-Do list

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