“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
In my endless productivity quest with my business, Aristotle’s words have never been more spot on. I’ve learned how easy it is to get distracted and fall back into my old patterns.
We are the habits that we repeatedly do. And good habits can make all the difference between promoting your new program on social media and falling down the Facebook rabbit hole.
I’ve shared with you in many of my posts how I use this process to develop my social content calendar or how Evernote saves me time to organize my new coaching program. But these are just the tools to help me get this stuff done quickly and easily.
To really get these tools to work, these programs need to be a part of habit that I’ve created. Something that I’ll do without ever having to think about the steps I need to take.
A habit is created when a number of action steps come together into a process. If repeated enough times, this process becomes a habit. And when this habit happens enough times, it turns the behavior into something that goes into auto pilot, where you don’t even have to think about it anymore.
You just do it.
So what happened these last few months as I’ve been more and more aware of my focus? What’s been going on in the Inner Social Media-ness office as I’m working through all the steps to get my new programs and products out on social media?
I’ve developed some habits that have not only helped me stay focused, they’ve motivated me to keep moving and growing and getting these things done.
My 5 Best New Habits
1. Visual Habit Tracker
My new favorite habit is watching my progress with my visual habit tracker.
I know that the term ‘visual habit tracker’ sounds like a fancy program but it’s really not. Mine is a simple printout of a calendar for the month where I can track a few habits I’m trying to turn into a behavior that I don’t have to think about anymore.
I just do it.
The new habits I wanted to start this year were to eat better, say my affirmations every day and really keep a close eye on my social sites { not just a monthly check-in }. So the days on my calendar become this mix of food notes, check marks from doing my affirmations and weekly follower counts.
Looking at my habit tracker every day reminds me what I actually did that day. Before I started tracking this on my habit calendar, I would end my day wondering did I really do these things or did I think that I did?
I admit there’s been a few days when I haven’t been able to get these things done so I left that day blank. And that’s where the motivation sets in – those empty squares in my calendar were starting to bug me so I made an extra effort the next week to do all my new habits.
This is a copy of my habit tracker but you can use a space in your daily planner or a mobile app to track your habits with your phone.
2. Tracking My Time
I started really tracking my time last year. I wanted to see how long the action steps I was doing with my social updates were taking – and not what I thought it was taking.
I thought I could knock out a batch of images for Facebook in about 45 minutes. But when I tracked my work, it took twice as much time. The whole process took me an hour and a half!
And now that I know this information, I can block off the right amount of time in my schedule and see what I can do to streamline my steps and cut that time to only an hour { or less! }.
If you want to learn how to start tracking your time, take a look at this post that shows you the step-by-step process with a free Task Tracking worksheet you can download to start using today.
3. Prioritize My Day
My priority system is not like most solopreneurs. I don’t just work through a list until I’m done. I do things differently.
My priority habit starts like this: First thing in the morning, I look at my calendar to see what absolutely needs to get done that day.
Then – here’s where it gets different – I see how much time I have to get my work done. I review my planner and ask myself, “Do I have client calls, am I teaching a workshop or taking my son to an appointment that day? What’s going on today that will take my focus off the work on my desk?”
And that’s how I prioritize my day. I base the order I work on things by on how much time I have to work uninterrupted at my desk. Then I run down my to-do list of stuff { making sure I’m not missing any deadlines } and find pockets of time to fit those tasks into my day.
Since I’ve been tracking my time, I know how much each of these things will take me so I know when to work on what project when I have enough time to get it done.
4. Guard My Time
I know how distracting it can be to constantly be checking emails and logging into Facebook.
In a study from the University of California Irvine, researchers monitored workers on the job and studied what happened when they were distracted. Here’s what study lead Gloria Mark told Fast Company about the results:
You have to completely shift your thinking, it takes you a while to get into it and it takes you a while to get back and remember where you were …We found about 82 percent of all interrupted work is resumed on the same day. But here’s the bad news — it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it took me longer than 23 minutes to get back to my work. So now, I guard my time and block off certain times of the day to check email, go on Facebook and respond to messages.
I’m also aware of my top energy times of the day and do my best to NOT use that time to do low-energy work like checking emails or posting in my Facebook groups.
I’ve learned that my time is precious and when I use it wisely, I get more done in my day.
5. Take Productive Breaks
I use to work straight through the day. Eating both breakfast and lunch at my desk and taking a 10 minute break to step away from the computer { which was mostly, getting my breakfast or lunch together to bring to my office ! }.
I would end the day saying, “Hey look at me getting so much done!” And that worked great for the first few months – until the burnout set it.
Then I’d take a day off and start back up again with my ‘work through the day’ schedule. But seriously, was I really getting more done by pushing myself to work more hours?
Not really. Eventually, it took its toll on my energy level and even during what I consider my my high-energy hours of the day, it was starting to be a struggle to focus.
So now I take productive breaks AWAY from the laptop.
I make time for a 30 minute lunch and then in the afternoon, I plan a 20 minute break to walk my dog. Getting outside in the fresh air helps me feel recharged and it even gives me extra boost to keep me going until the end of the day.
Want to learn new habits to help you be more productive?
The Social Media Productivity Planner will introduce you to a new way of managing your social media marketing so you can get new followers, show up more consistently online and grow your social presence to get more clients.
You’ll go from feeling overwhelmed and unproductive to having a social presence you want to share with everyone. You’ll gain your time back to run your business, be with your family and make more money doing the work that you love.
The steps in this planner will give you a simple easy to follow process to incorporate a social media routine into your weekly schedule. When you work through the worksheets in the Social Media Productivity Planner, you’ll not only be more productive but you’ll get connected to the right people who want to buy your stuff.
You’ll get the steps to work through the process I use every month so you can see which social sites you should be using and focusing your valuable time. Plus, you’ll get printable tracking charts and brainstorming sheets to use every month to grow your social media progress.
If you’ve been looking for a way to fit social media into your crazy busy schedule, download the planner today!
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