It’s been a long time since I have introduced myself and thought this would be the perfect opportunity!
My name is Nick Russell and I’m the owner of Russtek Media.
At Russtek, we’re more than just a digital marketing company. We strive to help entrepreneurs not only grow their business online but help them grow in all aspects of entrepreneurship. We do this by helping entrepreneurs become more productive in their daily lives in many different ways.
So, what does a typical day look like for me?
Well, I like to create habits and routines around the way I work so I am as productive as I can be. This means that I have a “schedule†for the week and to start, I block out Mondays and Tuesdays so I don’t have any meetings.
This will allow me to focus on all my client work that needs to be done as well as seup the remainder of the week with a plan to work on the business.
My day typically starts by waking up at 5am (sometimes at 5:30am). I’ll wake up, hyper hydrate with a glass of water that I left next to my bed, getting up to make a cup of coffee and I start reading. This was something I would actually dread and a book would typically take me about a year to finish. That was until I noticed an ad for Audible and I thought I would give it a shot. Listening to the audio book while reading the physical copy has changed the way I read and learn.
To do this I have set up a “reading corner†in my room, a little quiet space where I am able to read and have some time to myself before the day gets going.
Once I’ve finished reading for the morning I start to plan for the day and review my ToDoist. To do this, I currently use 2 planners along with my ToDoist app.
I use the Rocketbook Panda Planner to go over my agenda and what needs to be done, from meetings, calls or anything else that is planned for the day and then I use my Momentum Planner to write down the most important tasks I have and then break that down to the Top 3 tasks that MUST be done that day. These are the 3 most important tasks that will move the needle forward in my business.
After planning my day and writing my intentions out, I usually make my second of 2 coffees for the day and sit down at the desk to get started with work.
Typically I go over and monitor each of the platforms my clients are on and using spreadsheets track those stats. This typically takes a few minutes to complete and then it’s time to check my email.
This is always something I wait to check until I get to my desk. In order to be more efficient and be more productive, I make sure to check email twice a day. Once in the morning when I get to my desk and then again in the evening when I shut things down for the day.
The reason for this is if you start to check email or even your notifications as soon as you wake up, you can fall into the trap of “just replying to one email†and that turns into a couple and it will throw your morning routine off. Once that happens you can find yourself playing catch up for the day.
As for checking email, if this is something you check throughout the day as they come in you will once again find yourself playing catchup and spending way too much time with email and not enough time on what needs to be done.
Once I get to the desk and start working it will depend on the day. As I said above, Monday and Tuesday is blocked off for client work and the rest of the week is dedicated to calls, meetings and working the business depending on what the schedule looks like.
As I get to work, no matter what the day is I tend to block time out for different tasks. Setting time blocks in 1 or 2 hour intervals depending on the task helps in a number of ways. First it creates the habit to get things done without any distractions and to be more productive. In those time blocks, the phone goes away and social media platforms are never open in my browsers so I can focus on that one task that needs to be done.
Something I preach a lot is throughout your day, it’s important to take time off away from the screen. This does a couple of things. It will give you that much needed break from looking at the screen all day and it will also help to recharge your energy and keep you focused and motivated for the rest of the day.
To do this, I take a quick 10 minute break to walk around and just get up from my desk and then I will also (most days, I’m not perfect) take time out for a full lunch. This means stopping everything between 12 or 1 in the afternoon to make something for lunch.
I do admit that this gets overlooked from time to time but I will say it’s very important to have that time away from work to recharge.
While working, the goal is to try and be finished around 5 to 6 so that I can make dinner while watching our local news but that doesn’t always happen.
No matter what time I finish working for the day, I make sure to fill out a spreadsheet where I track all my time spent on different tasks. This helps me to see where my time is going, whether it’s working on a specific client, researching, meetings or whatever the case may be.
Once that is finished I will review my ToDoist app and my Momentum Planner to see where I made out my day. This gives me a chance to reschedule less important tasks that I didn’t finish if I didn’t get “ToDoist Zeroâ€.
From there I will have my dinner and relax with the news on and then finish the dishes. After I clean up I will then review my day at a little more length and write out my wins for the day and where I could have been better. It also gives me a chance to glance at the next day so I am prepared for what’s to come.
Once this is all finished it’s usually my quiet time to just relax. Typically this involves a Habs game in the winter or a Tigers game in the summer. If there isn’t a game on, I’ll typically have one of the Arrowverse shows on…yes I’m a comic nerd!
There’s no question that I’m also a nerd for productivity and finding ways to create momentum in my business. Does that sound like you or are you stuck and want to become more productive?
That’s exactly what our Facebook Group, Entrepreneur Momentum is all about. It’s a group where like minded entrepreneurs work together and help each other grow!
If you’re ready to create momentum, click below and join our group of amazing entrepreneurs!