Happy New Year on The Stress Less Show! It is our first episode of the new year and the new decade and we are kicking our productivity into high gear this month by learning new tips on how to work less while achieving more! In this week’s episode, I am so excited to have executive coach, Erin Owen, back on the show to share some of her tried and true tips on how to be more efficient in our careers.
As an entrepreneur and coach with nearly 25 years of professional experience, Erin has learned a thing or two about efficiency. She has taught online courses on The Power of Doing Less and has written books on managing your time and energy. While her work as a coach has inspired her to dive into the topic of efficiency over the years, she also has a personal stake in knowing how to get down to business ASAP!
“I own my own business. I run every aspect of the operation, including client service and coaching clients. But I'm also a busy mom. I have two kids that I'm raising. I'm involved in the community. I'm a volunteer on two boards. I don't have time to waste.”
Between being a great mom and an excellent coach, Erin has come up with three great tips that can help you increase your efficiency at work so that 2020 is the year you accomplish more and stress less!
Tip# 1: Say NO to opportunities that do not support your vision
Erin’s first tip might be my favorite because it is 100% in line with how I live my own life and what I teach to my clients. A major key in working efficiently is to start by making sure what you are working on is truly in alignment with where you want to go.
There are a lot of responsibilities and opportunities out there for all of us, and we cannot say yes to them all! When you are asked to take on a new project or role at work, take time to consider if it is an opportunity that fits in with what you want out of life. Because saying yes to something outside of that vision likely will only bring you further away from where you want to go.
“Maybe you believe in God. Maybe you think a universe source, however you believe... Think about the fact that what you're saying yes to you're asking for more of. So be careful what you say yes to, and say no to what doesn't align with your vision.”
Tip #2: Don't schedule anything during your low energy periods of the day
Another important thing we tend to overlook as we take on our workday is our energy levels throughout the day. Erin stresses the importance of scheduling your day around when you are feeling energized to be productive so you can work at your best.
“Most of us have really low energy mid-afternoon between 2 and 4 p.m.”
If afternoon slumps are a daily occurrence for you, choosing to set aside time work on high priority tasks can help ensure you are able to accomplish more before the afternoon comes. If afternoons are when you are at the top of your game, try saving the big work meetings and projects for later in the day. The key, Erin mentions, is identifying when your high and low energy periods are in the day.
“Take a simple log on your notes app or on a piece of paper and notice. When do you zone out? When do you notice that you're repeating things when usually you're more efficient and creative at doing them? And see if you can notice a pattern across days, across weeks.”
Tip #3: One Touch: Read it once, deal with it, and don't repeat!
Erin’s last tip is a major one for our notification crazy world. How many times has this happened to you? It’s Friday evening and you are out with friends or about to sit down to dinner when you hear a PING from your phone. You instinctively reach for it, see a new work email came in, and you just can’t help but read it discreetly. Now, instead of having a good time with friends and enjoying your weekend, you constantly go back to that email, thinking about what you are going to do about it when you get to work again on Monday. Erin suggests that we avoid this trap by using the one-touch rule. Only touch a notification once. Read it and deal with it one time.
“We spend so much time and energy unnecessarily repeating activities and we are wasting hours of our lives.”
We don’t have to read an email the second it comes in, especially if we are not prepared to deal with what is inside. By using the one-touch rule, we start to bring awareness to how often we are repeatedly checking our emails, texts and messages and learn how to set these notifications aside until we are actually prepared to answer them.
“Don't mindlessly check your voicemail. Open your e-mail, check your Facebook messages, whatever that is. Be there when you're ready to give it attention.”
If you are looking for more support in creating your vision for this year and making 2020 your most productive yet, Erin is offering our audience a 50% discount on her New Year Planning Assesment! Learn more about it here and use the discount code STRESSLESS when checking out!