Productivity
It’s inevitable: as the weather starts heating up, so do the demands on your time.
You sure felt busy in February. But as we move through March, it’s like someone’s gradually turning up a “busy” knob. By the time April arrives, you barely have time to think about how much stuff you have to juggle.
A busy, chaotic spring has the potential to be super productive and fulfilling, both on the personal side and for your business.
Or… navigating a chaotic spring could plunge you into a state of total burnout. And the restorative power of a summer break is months away.
Spring is always like this—there’s so much going on that you can spend all day trying to keep your schedule straight, let alone work at peak productivity.
The more demands there are on your time, the harder it gets to use your time efficiently. How you approach time management and productivity planning has a massive, direct effect on how much money you make, how much sleep you get, and how much peace you enjoy this spring.
With that in mind, let’s talk about something that always happens during busy periods: your well-laid plans for the day get derailed by wildcards outside your control.
Time Wildcards in Spring and Time Management Strategies
Spring time management wildcard #1: Someone gets sick.
All sorts of nasty bugs are still circulating in spring. It might be you, your kid, partner, parent, pet; in any case, an illness could totally upend your work schedule at any time with no notice. And it’ll probably happen on a day when you have a packed schedule.
Time management strategies to keep you on track: Prepare systems to keep the most important stuff running when you’re out unexpectedly.
When you’re sick, you deserve to focus on taking care of yourself until you feel better. When it’s a child or other loved one who’s sick, you get to focus on taking care of them. Health stuff happens, and the recovery periods feel even crummier if you’re feeling guilty or panicked about the balls you’re dropping at work. Putting systems in place to make sure the right people are notified of your absence and things are covered lets you focus on getting well.
Spring time management wildcard #2: Last-minute tasks pop up that throw off your daily plans.
You had a full schedule of tasks planned for the day, but… A client calls with an urgent request. A college senior asks for an informational interview, and it needs to happen today. Your kid has an activity you didn’t know about tonight, and you have to drive them (both ways). Everyone’s busy in spring, and other people’s busyness can make your life even busier.
Time management strategies to keep you on track: Flexible scheduling.
There are those “big rocks” in your schedule that really need to be planned for specific dates and times; doctor’s appointments, client meetings, tax deadlines, etc. But for everything else? The more flexibility you can bring to your schedule, the more easily you can adjust to those last-minute changes. The key here is to remember that “flexibility” doesn’t mean you are blowing things off – you still stay clear to your commitments AND you can put the puzzle pieces into your day in a way that will work best for you.
Spring time management wildcard #3: A fun opportunity comes up… but it would interfere with work.
Let’s say a friend invites you to join them for a long hike or a round of golf on a gorgeous spring day. You’d love to go! Too bad you had a full slate of work planned for that day. Now you have to decide whether to play hooky and enjoy the time with a friend, or stick to your work plan.
Time management strategies to keep you on track: Stay connected with your most important priorities.
Being really clear about your peak priorities is a core part of maintaining productivity when you’re busy and overwhelmed. Knowing exactly what’s most important to you is a huge help when you need to make quick choices about how to use your limited time. Is X spontaneous opportunity more important than the Y tasks you had already planned for that time period? If you can confidently answer “yes,” then you can look at ways to rework your plans and enjoy a beautiful spring day without guilt or second guessing your choice.
Spring time management wildcard #4: A meeting or task takes way longer than you had planned for and puts you behind schedule.
The “quick” call that lasts an hour? Those can happen any time of year, sure. But when you’re already wildly busy in spring, you don’t have a time buffer to allow for things running long. You’ll have to work into the night to get everything done.
Time management strategies to keep you on track: Revisit your priorities for the rest of the day.
Sacrificing sleep and personal time isn’t the solution when tasks run longer than you had allotted in your plans. As you notice yourself starting to fall behind your schedule, stop and strategize about the best way forward. If you’re not able to get everything done today—what are the most important things that do have to get done? How can you shift things to make sure you’re able to end your work day on time, feeling good about where you’ve left things? That sense of accomplishment can help you disconnect from work at the end of the day so you can actually rest and recharge.
3 Practical Tools to Help Maximize Productivity During Busy Times
- Practice the Pause. Practice the Pause is a super simple strategy I created to help you figure out exactly what you need to do next when you’re overwhelmed. Click here to learn the technique for Practice the Pause.
- Time tracking systems. Auditing your time can be a pretty eye-opening strategy for improving productivity. It allows you to notice the places where you’re wasting time, or using your time inefficiently, so you can close those gaps. Try tracking the way you use your time for one full day at first. It could be an app on your phone/computer, or with a notebook and pen, but the idea is to take a really honest accounting of how you use your time minute by minute.
- A list of your peak priorities. Keep them literally close at hand to make decision-making easier when you’re burned out and don’t have a lot of bandwidth.
Too busy to troubleshoot your time management and productivity problems?
Figuring out exactly what’s holding you back from working at peak productivity might not be the most efficient use of your limited time. Especially if you’ve already tried to solve your time challenges on your own but keep falling back into the same patterns. Reach out to me for one-on-one support to figure out a better way to manage your time and move your business forward, without letting your business take over your whole life.
Realtors, spring is an especially critical time of year for you! As your busy season heats up, managing distractions is an everyday challenge. Join me on April 1st at 12n ET for a free training: Time Management in the Land of Constant Distraction for Realtors. Learn actionable strategies to help you stop spinning, close the deals, and have the life you want—even in the craziness of the spring and summer real estate market. Click here to register for this free training.
Be well,
Sarah
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