Sales Strategy
Three Tips To Be More Productive | October 25, 2017 (0 comments)
Miami, FL—We need to manage our time and energy more effectively. I have come up with three rules to increase productivity. Let’s see if you can put them into play and if it will help your everyday work life.
1. Follow the rule of three: I found this interesting. Our brain works in threes. I learned this in college. Whether it’s the saying: “the third time’s a charm,” (I get that a lot, Joe is my third husband!), think of The Three Little Pigs, or that we count to three before doing something, or that we divide stories into three acts, the number three sticks with us all through life. This is why it’s helpful to think of our tasks in threes instead of trying to organize every little detail on our plates. At the start of your day try writing down three main things you want to accomplish before your day is over. Try and set three intentions every day and at the beginning of each new week.
2. Track your procrastinations: I am the queen of this. Especially when it comes to working out. I do it, but on a Sunday, and it can take me all day to get it done. People procrastinate for many different reasons: because a task is difficult or it’s frustrating, lacks personal meaning or feels unstructured. How do you conquer the power of procrastination? I am still working on it!
Start with tracking how much time you waste in a day. It may be hard and you may not want to face it, but it helps. For example, how many times do you refresh your emails? 20 times? And then look them over a bunch of times? Then maybe, you jump to reading the news, a blog, other websites, looking up non-related activities on Google? All this extraneous reading adds up quickly. Try monitoring your own procrastination over a week or so, and keep a special sheet. I promise you will be able to narrow down the time wasted and then prioritize. Please, never feel bad or get down on yourself. Everyone procrastinates.
3. Minimize distractions and interruptions: Researchers found that we only do 40 seconds of work on the computer before we become distracted. Once interrupted it can take up to 26 minutes to get back on track. Granted there are some distractions out of our control. Such as meetings to attend, or a co-worker that wants to chat, but we need to control our personal distractions. Checking Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, text messages, et cetera. I can go on and on. A productive thing you can do--but most will not--would be to go through the setting apps on your phone and disable any distraction that you don’t want to be tripped up by. This is a great policy if you have Millennials working for you. They are the most distracted in our work force today. We need to try and prevent getting past the 40 second mark that will make us lose 26 minutes of productivity. Once again, the biggest issue is mindlessly rechecking e-mails. I am an offender. Ever since Preferred and its members started posting on Instagram I am constantly distracted. We still need to focus on every day and prioritize. Even though the world changes so rapidly and technology is all around us, it’s all so tempting but we must focus.
Focus is key, goals are key, there is no room right now for procrastination. --Andie
Andie Weinman, president and CEO of Preferred Jewelers International / Continental Buying Group Inc., was born with the “Jewelry Gene” working in the jewelry industry since she was only ten years old. Her first job was as a cashier in the opening of a catalog showroom doing a fantastic job even at that tender age. Andie holds a B.A. in musical theatre and a B.S. in marine biology from The University of Tampa. When she realized that seawater and marine biology were not good on her hair and she wasn’t quite good enough to make it on Broadway, the jewelry business beckoned. Andie has picked diamonds, sorted color stones, shot waxes and performed a multitude of jobs in the manufacturing of jewelry. Her negotiating experience and prowess has given her the reputation as being tough but fair in her dealings with vendors. In 2012 the Indian Diamond and Color Association awarded Andie the Prestigious Doyenne Award of the Year.