Work at Home Productivity Tips –

Last week we talked about how using single minded focus results in greater productivity and less stress.

This week we will discuss how to use what I like to call the 'spiral of success' to plug our focused time pockets into a bigger picture.

I first became aware of this phenomena through Mark Joiner in his free Simpleology 101 course (I highly recommend it), in what he calls the band of excellence.

He said that when he was serving as an officer in the US army, they noticed a pattern.

THE TRICK IS TO MAINTAIN YOUR PROGRESS  

Basically, the trainees would be successful in each training quadrant if they focused on one at a time, but not if they tried to train in all areas at one time so they staggered the training quadrants and implemented a system of review and refinement which resulted in a steady upward movement in proficiency and skill.

Using this method, it's important to maintain the progress that you've made with each quadrant in it's turn.

For example, if your prime focus for this month is product development, you need to maintain the other areas that you have been working in such as content and marketing.

This can be done by including a few time pockets for these tasks, or in today's world, we can set it and forget it when we work in that quadrant during it's focused time allotment – or we can delegate it out so that it's sure to be taken care of while our focus is elsewhere. 

The objective is to maintain past targets and to move forward on our major target or theme for the month or week or what every you have set your focused theme time period for. If you need a refresher on that, you can go to podcast #1 – Using Themes for Increased Productivity.

You can visualize this concept as a spiral or as a series of steps moving up.

Every time that you complete a cycle, you will move up a level in that area.

Over time you will see considerable results in the area of your choosing – granted of course that you are doing the right things.

Focusing on about 3 general areas, tightening and consolidating as much as you can, getting help when possible, using systems and automation will help you to make steady progress.

Map it on a long term plan – how far ahead you need to go will depend largely on if you are using monthly, bi weekly or weekly themes and how long it takes you to hit your static targets.

STATIC TARGETS 

Static targets are things like product development.

There is a measurable end – when you have planned the products that you want to create and have completed them.

You can use the spiral system within each theme as well as you will probably want to create multiple products, although at completion they should be bumped to the marketing quadrant theme.

HORIZON TARGETS 

Which brings us to what can be called ongoing or flowing targets. These are never really finished although you can create a measurable end through setting up marketing campaigns for specific products.

On the whole, for example, marketing your blog or website has no end in site.

We could think of these quadrants as horizon targets because they will always be something we are moving towards… traveling towards the destination which is more traffic, exposure and ultimately sales – but never reaching the oasis where we can retire and relax – until we retire that is.

Here are some ACTion Tips that you an use to put this concept into practice.

1 – Create your major themes and plan the activities that you would like to work on within these themes. Listen to this podcast or read the transcript.

2 – Create a daily schedule incorporating time pockets and single minded focus to work on your themes, listen to last weeks podcast #8 – The Power of Single Minded Focus, or read the transcript if you need a refresher. 

3 – Incorporate maintenance into your minor activities so that you don't fall back on your progress or keep it in mind when you are working on your current theme to build in automation or delegation – this is also called leverage. Leverage is something that is necessary for us to understand and implement to multiply our efforts into maximum income potential, especially as home business owners with full responsibility for getting it all done and creating an income.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

-I found an article on the Home Biz Notes blog that you may want to keep in mind when you are creating your master themes and time pockets plan… Are You a Growth Maven or a Lifestyle Guru?

– And another one with some good tips on Keeping Up With Your Daily Responsibilities. 

– For some indepth training on anything related to business and productivity, Brian Tracy is 'the man'. He's one of my favourite time management business professionals – easy to listen to and learn from, packed full of actionable and practical learning material in any area of business – something for everyone. 

The Newest Way to Learn from Brian Tracy – Brian Tracy University

-And again, Zen to Done – a post about simplifying and productivity wouldn't be complete without it. Beautifully presented and including worksheets and schedules to use in your own business, a great find at a 'zen' price – Zen to Done- The Ultimate Simple Productivity System