Welcome to September 2020 – Just under 4 months left of this crazy year.

Hi Holly

Ever find yourself with a desire to rearrange your schedule but it gets complicated soooo quickly? That has been the beginning of September for me! 3 new projects with fluctuating schedules as we get everyone on board – then an old project coming to a close on the exterior work – everything looking great and on schedule for the end of October, until ….WHAT do you mean 13-20” of snow on Sept. 8^th!!! Even in Colorado at altitude that is unusual!

TIME! The one commodity that we cannot buy more of; we can only rearrange things or adjust priorities and expectations. But wait! There are some strategies to avoid wasting time (spending time on things that don’t provide the results we are looking for.)

I'm so excited to be sharing my GO TO technique for the last 10 years that allowed me to have more effective focus time on project work without the constant distractions of email, yet never miss anything important!—5 Simple Steps to Recapture an Hour Every Day to Build Your Business. And the best news? I’m sharing it for FREE right now—since we all need a bit more time and focus in this strange time.

Click here to get your copy!

Pat got this gift 2 weeks ago and emailed this to me last week.

"Thanks for the 5 Simple Steps. I changed my email labels and included the action label. With all the Medicare emails right now this is a huge help in keeping it all straight so I don't have to go through the whole email list each time. Thanks for the tip!"

Pat Medicare Specialist

Implementing a PART of 1 step made that much difference to her. See what all 5 Steps can do for you.

Don't focus on TIME MANAGEMENT - but rather on BRAIN MANAGEMENT

Did you know….

we stress over ‘using time wisely’ – which causes us to get less done?
we set ourselves up for failure by not being intentional with our time budgets?
we sabotage our productivity with our Productivity tools?
we interrupt ourselves and make ourselves less healthy multiple times everyday?

Of course you know these things – but you accept them as NORMAL and tolerate them. Since 2020 – is the year of NOT NORMAL – let’s relook, with 2020 vision, at making every minute match your priorities. SIMPLY !

#1. STOP THE INTERRUPTIONS!

Plenty of studies by smart folks at Harvard, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, and others have shown interruptions are a killer. Despite the multi-tasking concept – our brains really only focus on one thing at a time. We can do a physical activity that is ‘muscle memory’ and do something we are thinking about at the same time, but our mind picks one focus. It has to totally stop thinking about one thing and shift to another to focus on it. For simple things, the shift can happen very quickly – but for thoughtful activities – the shift takes longer. When a high thought task is interrupted before we get to the end of our natural thought process – we ‘lose’ a bunch of time! And it doesn’t have to be a big interruption - Erick Altmann, a professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing says, "Two seconds is long enough to make people lose the thread."

15 minutes = Average time required to get back into a difficult task after an interruption*

+25 minutes = Average time elapsed before returning to work on the same task*

*Research from UC Irvine

You get sidetracked for more than 25 minutes, then try to get back into the task – so on AVERAGE, it adds 40 minutes to your task for a 2 second interruption!! BEFORE smartphones, it was common to have an average of 12 -20 interruptions a day in an office environment. But now – with notifications for emails, texts, appointments, etc. we can have that many interruptions in an hour!!

YIKES! Now we start to see where our time is going! And WE have control of these interruptions.

Experts in brainpower recommend scheduled chunks of time for thoughtful tasks when you turn off the interruptions. It is possible. No beeps, rings, or vibrations. If you are addicted to those interruptions, you may ‘self-interrupt’ to look at your phone or email. DON’T. RESIST that impulse and after a couple of days, your attention will recalibrate to be able to relax and focus on the task at hand – knowing that in a little while you will have a chunk of time to check all those emails, texts, etc.

Another benefit – sometimes people are too quick with their emails and now when you get to them in your set aside time, there are a series of emails where they already worked through the issue more completely and your part of the communication and problem solving is mostly done! WIN WIN!

#2. MANAGE YOUR BRAIN!

When you are interrupted from a highly thoughtful task – even with a natural bio break or lunchtime – take a minute to make some notes of where you are in the task. Before you look up – note your last thought, the last thing you did, or the last sentence you read. Make a quick sketch of your thought process and how things are connected if you need to… then, your brain will feel free to let go and shift away from that task – and be able to focus on the interruption task. You can be totally present for the new, and when it is time to restart this task - your recovery time will be much quicker.

If you find you can’t get totally focused on the new thing – ask for a quick minute to jot down some notes – before you move into the new task / conversation / etc. and ‘close out’ the first task – to free your brain.

#3. TAKE A BREAK!

Once you are interrupted – be interrupted!!! Focus on the new thing. Access its need to be handled now – or at the normal time, you have set aside for it. (like email – if you looked before it was time to – that doesn’t mean you deal with it now if it can wait---procrastination is GOOD in this case.) If your co-worker interrupted you with something that REALLY needs your attention – close out the old task with notes- then shift to the new. When you are done – TAKE A BREAK! Change your scenery, move around, get something to drink, listen to the birds, give your mind freedom to disconnect before you head on to the next thing, or back to the original high thought task.

This is where the stress chain is broken from the constant interruptions and their effects on us. Stressing about time use and productivity gradually create illness in our bodies – and things get worse instead of better. Use the interruption that you determined was important, to signal to you that you need to be fully in it until it is resolved, THEN you need to celebrate your handling of the interruption and release the stress from it – so you stay healthy. If you created your own interruption (didn’t turn off notifications, or let your curiosity get you and checked your phone when it wasn’t time to) just laugh at yourself and how pathetic it is that you can’t go 2 hours without checking your phone!! Then start again – turning that stuff off and get busy focusing on what YOU want to get done.

Need help getting started? I have a FREE GIFT to help you.

Pat got this gift 2 weeks ago and emailed this to me last week.

Pat Medicare Specialist

Implementing a PART of 1 step made that much difference to her. See what all 5 Steps can do for you.

Click here to get your copy!

PAST ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE ...

Your Brand — 4 Steps to Create Your Brand with Clarity

A few weeks ago I posted an article about branding — what it is and why it’s important to your business. Now we’re going to talk about creating that brand. If you haven’t read the first article, I highly recommend you jump back there and do that and work through the getting started exercises — these next steps will make a lot more sense. Read the full article here.

Your Brand -- It’s More Than a Pretty Logo

With the business “pause” in the first half of 2020, one of my projects has been to research branding. I wanted to learn how to develop a brand and what branding really means – for my own business and the businesses I work with. I want to share some of the basics with you so you can begin to work on your own brand, too. Read the full article here.

Even in Uncertain Times — YOU Are in Control

Getting back to some semblance of normalcy requires taking control of your life and your business. You can’t just sit back and wait for things to happen — because no one knows how things are going. Read the full article here.

ABOUT HOLLY

Holly Bailey is a Small Engineering Business Owner / Engineer who has had the joy of coaching and mentoring other professional services Business Owners, who have struggled to grow their firms while maintaining their high-quality reputation and quality services.

She helps them be free to use their genius to provide their best services and provide more impact in their community, families, regions and whatever 'corner' of the world they choose to operate in.

Holly believes professional services firms can provide the best value and customized services to their clients when they are not struggling with the growth and administration issues that secure the future of their business.

Curious what Holly can help you do? Set up a Free Strategy Session - and start being intentional.

PLEASE SHARE! Do you know someone who would benefit from this information? Feel free to forward this email to them!
Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here to receive my monthly newsletter in your inbox.