I know I’ve talked about this many times before and yet, it’s still a question I get asked often. So I wanted to break this down for everyone in hopes that it helps at least one person. This week I want to talk about how I actually stay productive and dive into the routines and systems that I use every day.
Coming from a career that was laid out for me and every job/task I had was handed down to me by my boss and then micromanaged by that “boss†as he sat in his office was a little tough at first.
It took me a couple years to find a good system and routine that actually worked and in turn kept me more productive. So with that, I want to break down a typical day here at Russtek and show you exactly what I do.
Morning Routine
Let me start by saying this, I used to be a 5am club member but over the last few months I have sadly got out of that good habit and have been sleeping in till 6 now. Even though I miss that extra hour, I still make the most out of my mornings.
The first thing I do in the morning is make sure I get my coffee and relax in my “reading chairâ€. I leave my phone on the nightstand and ignore the notifications until I’m ready to start my day.
This is possibly my favorite part of the day as it’s my time to read (I read and listen to the audiobook at the same time) and learn as much as I can.
I will typically read for about an hour in the morning and then start to get ready for the day at 7am. Once I’m ready, the first thing I do when I get to my desk is fill out my Momentum Planner that I have setup in my Rocketbook Fusion Planner.
After trying multiple planners as I talked about in my blog “Where are you struggling in your business?†I took the template from Alex Charfen’s Momentum Planner and put that into my Rocketbook Fusion planner so I was able to keep things eco friendly.
This is the part of the day where I plan everything out. It gives me a chance to reflect on the previous day and take what I’ve learned to create momentum.
The number one thing I do when planning my day is take all the tasks that I have in my ToDoist and plot out the most important tasks that I need to complete that day. From there, I used what I learned in the book, Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. I will take the most important tasks and write those down. From there I will take the top 3 tasks that have to get finished and focus on those.
Those 3 tasks are the hardest and biggest tasks I have on my list and getting them out of the way first will make the rest of the day a lot easier.
How I work throughout the day
Now that I’ve been at my desk for a bit and have planned out my day, I take a few minutes and use Google Calendar to organize my day and block out the time slots I’ll need to complete the tasks I set out to do that day.
This will change from day to day and depends on what I’m doing. On a Monday when I tend to create content and write my blog I will have larger chunks of time blocked out.
Later in the week when I focus on growing my business and researching ideas for my clients I will tend to have a shorter block of time for each task.
No matter what the day is, blocking out time is the most important part to staying on track, creating momentum while becoming more productive.
When I block my time out in Google Calendar I will use a separate calendar from my main account and use that to block out time. The reason for that is it’s not tied into my booking system but will still show up on my calendar in a different colour.
When I block a certain time out, I will focus on the specific task I need to complete with all notifications off and dive deep into my work. After that block of time is over I will take a minute or two and walk around the office and take a breather from looking at the screen.
What this does is it will give me a little break and allow me to stretch out a little bit. It will also keep me refreshed and motivated to keep moving forward with my day.
Ending my day
I never have a set time to end my day but it’s typically between 4 and 6pm. Some days I will be at the desk till about 7pm but very rarely is it past that time.
Once I finish the tasks I set out to complete that day I will go over the work I completed and track the time I spent working. This isn’t an exact science and I don’t track down to the minute but I will round up or down to the half hour on the projects/tasks I worked on.
This is something I do for all areas of my day from meetings, to working on funnels, to working on my business, to each of my client’s work. I will even track personal time I spent throughout the day if it wasn’t productive hours.
After tracking my hours I will reflect on my day and fill out the evening portion of my Momentum Planner and have a look to see what is on the agenda for the following day. Doing this keeps my mindset positive and always moving forward.
Once I’m finished with the “working hours†of the day I will make my dinner and then wash the dishes before I relax and sit down with the news or a show I wanted to watch that night.
This is where I will go over any comments I missed on clients social media platforms and I will engage on my clients platforms for them if I missed that during the day.
Typically I like to be in bed by 10pm unless there is something I am doing or out with a friend so that I’m rested and ready for the following day.
That is a typical day and how I stay productive. There are other tools and resources I use to help me stay productive as well as tools to help me grow my business but we’ll talk about that in the coming weeks.
Do you want a list of all those tools and how I use them all on a daily basis? I’ve compiled all of the tools and resources I use into one PDF and I’d love for you to have it. This way, you can see what I use and how I use it to stay productive!
If you want to be more productive yourself, click the button below and those resources are all yours!