Business Building Corner

Not many people have the luxury of being allowed to revise their work schedules. However, self-employed folks such as LifePharm Global Network IBOs do. Do you take advantage of this luxury? If not, why not? It’s a tough question business owners need to ask themselves. For the most part, the top three reasons people become IBOs are:

1. You have a passion for something (Laminine and all LPGN products) that can earn you income.
2. You want to set your own schedules and goals instead of being told by a “boss” where and when to be somewhere and what to do.
3. You want to spend more time with your families and help others in some way—to improve health or finances.

Are all three reasons proving to be true and working out the way you envisioned? Is your business progressing the way you want? Sometimes Reason 1 (passion=income) isn’t happening because you are not implementing Reason 2 (you aren’t setting a productive work schedule or you simply are not doing anything to advance your business). Worrying about not doing anything makes Reason 3 (spend time with, and help family and friends) moot.

Professional organizers have three basic tips for revising your work schedule to boost productivity:

1. Start your day with something big. This means looking at your priority list and actually tackling the more difficult tasks first. It’s easy to procrastinate and avoid doing something we perceive as unpleasant, but once you get it out of the way, the rest of the day will seem so much easier.
2. Work in short bursts. In other words, segment your work into a series of sprints, rather than one long marathon. That way, you will not feel overwhelmed by your workload. Tony Schwartz, an engagement consultant who has worked with large companies such as Google and Facebook, explains, “It’s better to work highly focused for short periods of time, with breaks in between, than to be partially focused for long periods of time.” For good productivity, a suggested amount of time to focus would be 50-90 minutes, followed by a mini-break.
3. Make a new to-do list daily. To-do lists help unlock productivity, especially when used to help dictate your work schedule. Alex Cavoulacos of The Muse believes that applying the 1-3-5 rule to your daily to-do list will help you manage your work schedule and be more productive. “On any given day, assume that you can only accomplish one big thing, three medium things and five small things,” Cavoulacos explains. It may seem strange but has been proven as one of the best ways to actually finish your to-do list.

Adam Gurian, president of Timex, offers some tips to make the most of your time at work. Here are some suggestions that suit IBOs well:

• Act immediately on phone messages—If a contact took the time to call you and leave a message, reciprocate quickly. It is one less thing on your to-do list and you will have that immediate sense of accomplishment. If you let too many calls pile up, you will be playing catch up the rest of the day.

• Get a head-start on tomorrow—By writing out a list for tomorrow before you leave your work at night, you will have an immediate head-start on your next day and be ready for your new priorities.

• Don't sit at your desk all day—It is important to get up, walk around your home/office and take a few minutes for a mental break. These short breaks are invigorating and help you to be more productive in the long term.

• Stick to a schedule—If a meeting is scheduled for an hour, do everything possible to keep it to an hour. Once meetings start running long, it directly impacts the rest of your schedule for the day.

• Don’t let email take over your day— We are all so accustomed to email that as soon as we see a new email in our inbox we instinctively click on it, respond and focus on the content of the email. These seemingly tiny activities during the day can quickly add up to large amounts of time that not only cause your day to slip away but also distract you from completing your current task. If you are focused on a project, tell yourself that you will not check your email for a set amount of time, so that you complete your activity.

Remind yourself that as an LPGN IBO, you’re your own boss. You can set your own schedule but most importantly, you need to write down your priorities and build your workday around those. The majority of people have a certain time of day in which they are the most productive, so figure out when that is for you, and plan your schedule accordingly.

With Mother’s Day and Father’s Day coming up, now is an excellent time to reassess what you’re doing in your business and if you’re doing what you wanted to do when you set out to start your own business. Happy Revise Your Work Schedule Month!