3 Things You Can Do To Feel Productive This Week

If you’re extending your Twixmas languishing for as long as possible then I don’t blame you one little bit. When else can we relax without worrying that our inbox will be overflowing if we leave it closed for weeks and safe in the knowledge that nobody is expecting a response anytime soon and that focusing on ourselves over our work is fully expected and accepted?

I’ve been making the most of this time and filling it with family films, long dog walks and a little self- and business development in the form of podcasts and e-courses.

As somewhat of a workaholic (stated as a matter of fact, rather than worn as a badge of honour), I’ve also been enjoying taking on a smattering of small work-related tasks that usually fall to the bottom of my never-ending to do list.

If you’re struggling to justify an extended break, or simply want to keep busy and avoid potential New Year boredom, maybe these 3 tasks will suit you too …

Photo credit: Anna Moffat Photography

1. The unsubscribe button is your friend

As a marketer and champion of small businesses, it might surprise you to hear that I’m a huge advocate of hitting the unsubscribe button.

On a personal level, as soon as something is no longer of interest to me, I want it out of my inbox so that I don’t have to waste any more time thinking about it. I’m pretty ruthless when it comes to my productivity, I like to maximise return on every minute, nay second, in my day. For me, unsubscribing naturally falls under this category.

From a business perspective, it also makes sense to me. I don’t want an email list full of people who are not interested in what I have to say, or for whom my content is no longer relevant. Continuing to communicate with those people is at best a waste of time and at worst, annoying and costly.

So I always advocate clearing your inbox, making space and making savings, both for yourself and for the business contacting you.

2. Scheduling for the win

My online calendar rules my life. Sad, maybe, but 100% true. If it’s not in there, it won’t happen. This means that scheduling, or time blocking, or both, are hugely important to me and something I’ve spent time mapping out this week.

As my business has grown and evolved, I’ve placed ever more importance on protecting my resources (energy, concentration levels, state of mind and so on). This means that I limit client calls to certain days of the week, leaving full days to focus on my own business which gives me the space I need to focus on future growth.

I also time block so that I can manage each of the different parts of my business with greater ease. I have regular meeting slots with my team and regular chunks of time reserved for content creation, content approval, blog batching, newsletter batching, podcast recording and I have re-jigged my calendar to eating - yes, my meal times are scheduled as nutrition wasn’t always a focus in 2021.

For 2022, I’ve also scheduled in exercise hours, as this was another thing that dropped off last year and that can’t go on.

I’ve also made the decision to only check emails at the start and end of each day and have set up an auto-responder communicating this.

3. Relaxed e-learning

It’s very important to me that I keep my existing skills up to date and develop new skills too. I’m always part of a mastermind and online memberships and I also invest fairly regularly in digital courses on very specific topics.

Right now I’m studying SEO and advanced email marketing, because you can never know too much and these are two key areas I want to develop even further within my business. I also have my eye on another new programme to support me and provide accountability in 2022.

This time of year feels to me like the perfect time to advance my skills and map out the key areas of knowledge I’m going to need in order to hit my annual goals.

I know that many of you feel exactly the same and have specifically told me that growing an audience is the most important area for your business development right now.

If you’re ready to learn how to grow an engaged audience who will buy from you, then my new programme Audience Growth Club is perfect for you.

Audience Growth Club runs from Mon 10th January - Friday 11th February and you can find out more here.

I’m also running a free workshop where you can find out more about Audience Growth Club AND where I’ll be sharing Five Things You Can Do To Grow Your Audience Today - it’s happening on Friday 7th January at 2pm.

Join me, no obligation, here.

Wishing you a very happy, and productive, new year in business