How to Accomplish MORE? Do Less!

You've watched the productivity videos. You've tried the system. You've downloaded the template, colour-coded the calendar, and set the timer for the deep work blocks. It's still not working. Argh.

Rest assured, you're not doing it wrong. It's just that the person who made the video doesn't know that you were up half the night, no day looks the same, your clients don’t fit neatly into morning routine framework, and your brain is running about three weeks ahead of your to-do list at any given moment.

Generic productivity advice is designed for a generic life. Most of us don't have one of those.

So here's a different approach.

MEET DAD

When someone comes to me after a bit of hands on advice and support, the first thing I do is look at what's actually on their plate. Often the problem isn't how to do everything. It's that we're trying to do too much.

I work through this using a framework I call DAD: Ditch, Automate, Delegate.

Ditch.

What's on your plate that doesn't actually need to be there?

The tasks you do out of habit. The commitments you said yes to without thinking. The things that feel important but aren't really moving anything forward. We look at these first, because before we talk about doing things more efficiently, we should probably talk about whether some of them need doing at all.

Automate.

What are you doing manually that a tool could do for you?

There's a lot of good, affordable kit out there that most small business owners either don't know about or haven't had time to set up. Invoicing, scheduling, follow-ups, social media: a surprising amount of the operational grind can be handled with the right tools. I can help you work out what's worth using and whether it'll actually work for you. (Not all of it will. Some of it's more faff than it's worth)

Delegate.

What needs doing but doesn't need doing by you?

This is where a lot of people get stuck, not because they can't delegate, but because they don't know who to delegate to, or because the thought of handing something over feels like more work than just doing it themselves. I know a lot of good people such as bookkeepers, social media specialists, designers, VAs and I'm happy to make introductions where it helps.

Try it yourself

Grab a piece of paper. Write down everything that's on your plate right now. Do work and life together, because they're not separate problems.

Now go through the list: What could you ditch? What could you automate? What could you delegate?

If you work through it and want help with what's left, or if you want to work through it with someone rather than alone, get in touch.