Does 2018 Really Have To Be Your Most Productive Year?

I’m a fierce competitor against those who stress the need to be more productive. Life hacks, tips, tricks, and five-minute rules all promise to make you more productive. Why? What is it exactly that you are producing? Unless you work on a production line chances are your success isn’t measured by the number of units created.

The allure of having a clean desk, inbox zero, a complete cloud system to work through your day sounds exciting. You can agree. It does. Those are nice things to have. However, there is no promise that in being more “productive” you will get any closer to reaching your goals and doing what really matters. In fact, all these so-called life hacks are more likely to be a form of procrastination.

What if I told you it’s okay to have a messy desk and write the book you said you were going to write last year? You can have a full inbox and still only answer the emails that matter. Quit trying to be productive and actually produce something that matters. While there are a number of ways a virtual assistant can benefit you, you can first benefit yourself by simply doing less.

For my clients who still charge by the hour, a hefty fee, I never have to remind them of what their time is worth. It’s a no-brainer to only do what matters. Every minute that ticks by doing something that doesn’t matter or could be done by someone else is money lost. They don’t worry about being productive. They only care about doing things which will add value now and in the future. In other words, they don’t sweat the small stuff.

Most of my clients are coaches and consultants. The other 25 percent are in some form of entrepreneurship venture. It can be hard for them not to measure success by the number of emails they answer. One email answered could be the $25k deal they’ve been working on. Which came from a newsletter that was sent, which sparked a coffee meeting, which then began the discussion of working together.

Now you might say, that was a productive cycle. It wasn’t. What it was, was meaningful. You see the goal is to have meaning and add value. Not produce something of mass quantity for anyone. They are creating content which has meaning and value to exactly the right person. My clients aren’t producing widgets. If you produce widgets, by all means, keep cranking them out.

There is also the misconception that your “productivity” must complete the entire business cycle. That’s absolutely false. In fact, if you really want to boost your productivity you need to let the work go because you can’t do it all yourself. More importantly, if this is a relay race, a project with a deadline, you can’t do it all yourself. Don’t confuse a relay race with a marathon.

You see in a marathon you don’t start from blocks, the start isn’t as crucial nor is it as distracting. You’re not even trying to gain momentum from the beginning you are trying to get your pace down. A pace you can keep for the long haul until it’s time to actually speed up. When you have a project, with moving pieces, you are in essence in a relay race. Passing a baton along the way. Your marathon is the life of our business. The relays are new projects and revenue streams you create along the way.

Here is where many business owners also get confused and see themselves as the anchor. It’s the ego leg and the person who gets to cross the finish line, raise their hands in the air. You can’t be the anchor. You’re the first leg of the race and you can only run one leg. It isn’t “productive” to run more than that. You can now transition to the coach but your work is done.

The first leg represents the idea you created for your new product or project. The runner in this leg needs to be a confident starter, familiar with starting blocks, able to deal mentally with false starts and distractions. This runner holds the baton confidently while down in the start position and knows how to run the bend well. Overall skill in sprinting, positioning themselves inside of their lane, and passing the baton, starts the race. This is you. You’re not being productive, you’re creating momentum.

Your second and third legs are the longest legs. They represent the work in between. Here is where productivity is measured. Not your productivity, theirs. This is why you have product and project managers, which might very well be you. However, it is something you manage, not do.

The final leg of the race, your anchor, is not simply the fastest. This is also the person who might need to make up ground. This person needs to be able to maintain their form while under pressure. In fact, one of the qualities of this person should be an adrenaline chaser, someone who becomes totally fired up and demonstrates performance under pressure. Someone experienced in finishing.

While the last leg seems like the business owner or entrepreneur is the natural fit she isn’t. You don’t have the energy required at this point to make up ground even if you can hold up under the pressure. Also, you lack the experience in finishing.

I’m sure someone probably rolled their eyes at me after that last sentence. However, remember this a new product or project. This means you don’t have the experience. Teaching yourself as you go along, learning to code, learning new software, agonizing over trying to figure something out is not where you should be. You should be out getting people fired up about what is almost ready so the moment you go live you have buyers.

What do you really want to do in 2018? What if you did it and your inbox was still full, you had a messy desk, and didn’t have every minute of your day accounted for? Do you think any of it would matter? I’m not suggesting you don’t do anything except the one thing you want to do. What I am suggesting is every article you read, every new practice you’re trying to put into place, every new hack you’re trying to master is actually making you less productive.

You simply cannot do it all yourself. If you’re going to try it anyway, then focus only on what matters which means you won’t be the most productive. However, you will be successful in reaching your goals. Instead of saying 2018 is going to be your most productive year, have your most fulfilling year ever and say 2018 is the year you did what actually mattered.

Because you can’t do it all yourself…..Melissa Smith, The PVA is the bestselling author of Hire the Right Virtual Assistant, Become A Successful Virtual Assistant, and host of the Admin to VA Summit. Contact Melissa here.