Surrounding yourself with the right network of people helps you maximize productivity, improve time management, and enjoy doing the work you do best.
What Can World Cup Teams Teach Us About Business Productivity?
Here’s a World Cup statistic that you might have missed this year: Every team that traveled to the games brought an average of two staffers for every one player.
About 1,250 players represented the 48 countries, with an additional 2,528 team delegates traveling with them. A typical team of 26 players had a staff of more than 50 professionals there in support roles. Coaches and coaching staff. Physical therapists and trainers. Security. There would be someone who’s in charge of logistics. (Presumably, this person is great at time management.) Someone who’s in charge of equipment. Assistants.
There are a lot of technical roles that need to be filled for the team to travel smoothly and get to each field ready to play.
What about the other roles that professional sports teams need filled?
For example, a nutritionist and other culinary professionals who are responsible for keeping the athletes fed properly. This year, Norway’s team made headlines for traveling with three chefs and brought in more than 1,000 pounds of Norwegian fish and cheese. But it’s pretty standard for teams to bring in food and chefs from home.
Sports psychologists and/or performance coaches are part of the traveling team, too. The Brazilian team hired its first team psychologist, Marisa Santiago, and during the World Cup she had a designated room in the team hotel where players could stop by each night for solo or group sessions.
Your Business Needs a Productivity Team, Too
It takes a lot of people working in distinct roles to give an elite group of athletes everything they need to play their absolute best game. Isn’t your business a lot like that?
There are the core support roles that you have to keep filled. Even a one-person operation needs to work with a lawyer, an accountant, and an insurance agent, at minimum.
Depending on the size of your business, your team might include also bosses, administrators, peers, HR, support staff, etc. All the other people filling key roles that keep the business running, while you focus on your area of expertise.
But just like an elite sports team, rounding out your team with specialists could take you to the next level. From “able to function well” to “as ready as I can be to excel.” Many of those specialists are already in your available network of mentors, industry friends, non-work friends, health providers, coaches, teachers, or household help.
What roles do you need to keep filled on your personal productivity team?
To be clear, the idea of creating your own “personal productivity team” isn’t to recruit people whose job it is to help you become more productive.
It’s about two things: First, making sure you’re clear about what kind of support that you, specifically, need in order to work at peak productivity. Then, evaluating your personal and professional network to notice who’s filling which role, and where you’re feeling gaps.
Think about this: Are there other specific types of support I really need/ crave to help me run my business at peak productivity and enjoy peace?
This will be different for everyone, of course, because our brains are all wired differently. You and your specific business have very specific needs. But to get you thinking, these are some of the roles you may feel you need to keep filled in order to work at peak productivity.
Someone who can give you a reality check, in a way that speaks to you.
If you fear you’re off-base in some way, or have made a mistake, who can you trust to tell it to you straight?
Someone who can help you see the brighter side when necessary.
Who’s that work friend or real-life friend who can pull you out of a panic spiral, or talk you down when you’re overwhelmed or catastrophizing?
Someone to bounce ideas off of, if you typically work alone.
This could be a partner or friend, though you may need this to be an industry peer. E.g., a fellow lawyer or fellow real estate agent who understands the specifics of your work and can help you brainstorm ideas or troubleshoot problems.
Someone who can see your business’s big picture in a way you can’t.
This might be someone experienced in your industry, or if your biz is stagnant, a really savvy marketing person who tells you your branding is totally off. As a time management coach, I’m often able to help clients look at their business in a new way just by digging deeply into the way they’re prioritizing their time.
Someone to help you stay physically and mentally healthy.
Again, everyone’s different. You might need multiple people on your team who help you maintain your physical and mental health, including roles like therapists, trainers, PTs, massage therapists, etc.
Someone who can take logistical/admin tasks off your plate.
There might be specific areas in your business or personal that routinely become necessary burdens. Paperwork or reports that have to be compiled every month, supplies that need to be reordered, website content that needs to be updated, etc. On the personal side, things like getting dinner made every night or keeping the dog walked enough might be recurring pain points. Who can you lean on for that kind of coverage when you need it?
Whose Productivity Team Are You On?
As you think about who you can trust to help you work at peak productivity, think about the role you fill in other people’s lives and businesses.
What support do you give others? Do people feel more productive, more confident, more inspired, or more knowledgeable after talking with you? Does it feel important to you that people in your network value your time and input?
If that’s something you want to do more of (e.g., mentoring others, building work relationships that aren’t directly about revenue), time is probably the biggest drawback. That’s a sign that you need to make a shift around time management. You’re allowed to prioritize activities that fuel you and feel aligned with your goals for your life, even if that means giving your time away for free to help someone else.
Bring True Focus into your personal productivity team.
From overworked attorneys trying desperately to get on top of billable work, to overstretched entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t afford to take time to sleep — I’m here to help you stop, breathe, and figure out the actual time management strategies that are going to help you be in charge of your time.
Get the most important things done and maximize productivity during your workday so you can actually enjoy your life at work and on the personal side. Reach out to schedule a free Strategy Session and let’s talk one-on-one about what’s possible for you.
Be well,
Sarah
- Who’s On Your Personal Productivity Team? - July 27, 2026
- 10 Questions to Ask Yourself in a Mid-year Productivity Review - June 22, 2026
- 4 Summer Time Management Mistakes You Can Avoid This Year - May 21, 2026
