5 Small Habits That Can Make or Break Your Productivity

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If you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, it can feel like your whole day got turned upside down. Why? Because your first 90 minutes set the stage for the rest of your day. 

Pivotal habits, such as eating breakfast and journaling, can significantly change the trajectory of your productivity. They give you a better outlook on the day and clarify your work intentions. 

What small hacks can keep you motivated and productive throughout the day? These five are key:

 

  •  Defining your ‘why’

 

Get used to it: You won’t enjoy every task you have to do in a day. Nobody gets inspired by things like taking out the trash or sorting through emails.

That’s why you need to establish your “why.” It’s never a smart idea to rely on willpower alone to get you through menial work. 

Simon Sinek, author of “Start With Why,” suggests treating your “why” as your root. Yours might be different than someone else’s, and that’s OK. What’s important is that your goals and your tasks logically grow out of it. 

Ask yourself: What do you ultimately want out of your productivity? To enjoy leisure time? To live out your potential? 

Make your goal something greater than paying the bills. For example, you could think of it as: “providing a secure life for my family and children.” When you have a clear direction for what you’re doing, it’s easier to get through rough times. 

 

  •  Mapping out your week on Sunday 

 

If you want to be more productive, you have to plan your week out on Sunday.

There are probably a million things you would rather do on Sunday, but you only have to spend 30 minutes to plan out the rest of your week. Then you can go to the beach or catch up on your favorite television show. 

Here’s how you can map out your week on Sunday: 

  • Write everything down that needs to get done.
  • Separate main priorities from what can wait. 
  • Add main priorities to your calendar. Stick to three or fewer per day.
  • Add sub-priorities to your main priorities. If you want to landscape your yard, for example, you may need to make a trip to the hardware store. 
  • For to-do items that can wait, schedule them during leftover availability.

Now you have a weekly schedule. Review it and make sure it truly reflects what you have to get done. Also ensure that you don’t have any events conflicting with each other. You wouldn’t want to schedule a client visit the same time you have to conduct employee training. 

With your remaining time on Sunday, take care of housekeeping items. Prepare meals, do laundry, and clean up. This ensures you can keep your focus on more important things during the week than what you’ll be eating for lunch the next day. 

 

  •  Having a morning routine 

 

Is your go-to morning routine hitting snooze on your phone several times and throwing your wrinkled clothes on? Habits like that ruin the rest of your day. You set the stage for hurriedness and laziness from the moment you open your eyes. 

Some tasks you might consider including in a morning routine:

 

  • Reviewing your goals

 

Are the goals you set out for yourself on Sunday still valid. Focus on finishing those first. Once your priorities are done, work on the ones that are not as pressing. 

 

  • Making your bed 

 

Making your bed is a small task that can make you feel like you accomplished something big. It takes less than five minutes and builds your confidence.

 

  • Exercising

 

Did you know that experts say mornings are the best time to exercise? Exercise wakes you up by getting your blood flowing bright and early. 

 

  • Implementing a get-out-the-door routine 

 

Getting out the door on time helps you feel ready for work. This means having your clothes ironed and ready to put on the night before. Have essential items — like your laptop bag and lunch box — packed and in a specific spot. Place pre-planned meals in the fridge and ready to pack.  

 

  •  Decluttering your workspace 

 

Have you ever tried getting work done when your desk is full of junk: pencils that don’t work, papers you don’t use, knick knacks that are collecting dust?

It can feel impossible to work in that environment. Clutter makes it difficult for you to focus, and hard to relax. It also reminds you of all the cleaning you should have done but haven’t.

Take a few minutes to clean your workspace, starting with your desk. Put items in a box that you don’t need. Get rid of the paper agendas from old meetings. Return books that belong to another department.

Then, clean up your computer. Delete old files, and archive your emails. Organize the documents you actually need into folders.  

Finally, take care of the area around your work station. Vacuum the carpet. Clean out your filing cabinet. 

 

  •  Working smarter, not harder

 

There’s no point in discovering your why, having a schedule, morning routine, and decluttering your workspace — if you’re overworked. Why grind it out when you can find alternative ways of working?

Working smarter might mean outsourcing data entry tasks to a digital assistant. It could mean listening to your favorite podcast on your walk instead of when you’re trying to meet a deadline. 

Working smarter helps you focus on priority tasks. It also shows you the value of delegating appropriate tasks, allowing your time to be better spent elsewhere. Working smarter allows you to get tasks done quicker, which lets you use the leftover time to relax. 

To get the big things done, start small. Know what you need to get done, take care of yourself (and your workspace), and find efficiencies where you can. That’s all there is to it. 

How Do You Measure Your Efficiency?

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Why Online Appointment Software Should Be on Your Christmas List

There’s a misconception that productivity and efficiency are the same things. But that’s kind of a problem when it comes to improving your performance. But how do you measure your efficiency?

Ben Mulholland explains this nicely over at Process Street. Productivity “measures output over time, whereas efficiency measures input versus output. Together they can tell you how quickly something is completed, the resources it takes to get there, and (through analysis) whether the whole thing is worth your investment.”

Or, as Jessica Greene from Zapier, explains, “Productivity measures how much you do or produce within a given timeframe. Efficiency, on the other hand, is about being productive with less effort.”

“So if you answered 50 more customer support tickets this week because you worked through them as fast as possible, you were more productive,” writes Jessica. “But if you answered 50 more tickets because you used a text expansion app to respond to commonly asked questions, you were more productive and more efficient.”

In other words, “to be more productive in a way that won’t burn you out in the long run, you have to figure out how to be more efficient.”

Hopefully, this clears the difference between productivity and efficiency.  But, more importantly, I hope that you understand why it’s essential to measure your efficiency. And, here’s how you can do just that.

Performance metrics.

If you have employees, you probably use performance metrics to see how, well, they’re performing. Typically, they fall into one of the following four categories.

Work quality metrics

“Work quality metrics say something about the quality of the employee’s performance,” explains Erik van Vulpen over at HR Analytics. “The best-known metric is a subjective appraisal by the direct manager.”

Examples include:

  • Management by objectives. The management objectives are goals that an employee works towards and receives points if he reaches them.
  • Subjective appraisal by the manager. Usually, a nine-box grid holds the stats for assessing performance and potential done by the manager.
  • Product defects. Product defects are usually involved in an industry that manufactures products. You could determine performance by the number of defects the employee was responsible for.
  • The number of errors. Similar to the above, the “number of errors” can be applied to programming.
  • Net promoter score. “NPS is a number (usually between 1 and 10) which represents the willingness of a client to recommend a company’s service to other potential clients,” explains Erik van Vulpen.
  • 360-degree feedback. 360-feedback is when peers, subordinates, customers, and managers are asked to asses the individual’s performance.
  • 180-degree feedback. 180-degree feedback is a simpler alternative to the above where only direct colleagues and managers are involved.
  • Forced ranking. Forced ranking is when a manager ranks their team from best to worst.

Work quantity metrics

“As quantity is often easier to measure than quality, there are multiple ways to measure this employee performance metric,” notes Erik van Vulpen.

  • The number of sales. Applicable if this is you or your employee’s responsibility. You may also want to look at the number of (potential) client contacts one has, the number of phone calls one makes—the number of company visits and the number of active leads.
  • The number of units produced. Besides traditional manufacturing, this metric can be used in areas like content creation. For example, you could use the number of keys someone can hit per minute on their keyboard.
  • Handling time, first-call resolution, contact quality, etc. Mainly, each of these metrics is relevant if involved in customer service. But, as you can see, most measurable usages in one area can be figured for application in another area of production.

Work efficiency metrics

Work efficiency is finding the balance between quantity and quality. To achieve the resulting number, “metric considers the resources (e.g., time and money: quantity) needed to produce a specific output (that’s quality).

Organizational performance metrics

Finally, Erik says that “Organizations can also use employee performance metrics to assess their own competitiveness,” such as:

  • Revenue per employee. Calculate the income per FTE (Full-time equivalent).
  • Profit per FTE. Similar to above, but focuses on profit instead.
  • Human Capital ROI. Here you would asses the value of human capital, such as knowledge and personal attributes.
  • Absenteeism Rate. Absenteeism is usually a self-explanatory metric. If you want to dig deeper — I’d suggest finding out the “why’s.” The why may have to do with the work or people at work. Check your environmental factors.
  • Overtime per Employee. “Employees who are willing to put in the extra effort are generally more motivated and produce more (in terms of work quantity),” writes Erik van Vulpen.

Can you use these metrics also to help you identify your efficiency? Sure. But, there are more natural ways to find your metrics.

Achieving goals.

Weren’t goals a part of management by objectives? Yes. But, as Choncé Maddox writes in another Calendar article, “Goals, in general, can be challenging as they often prompt you to change your life in a major or minor way.”

What’s more, it’s not always easy to tell if you’re even close to reaching your goal, let alone achieving them. And, to muddle things up, even more, goals are constantly changing depending on what your priorities are at the moment.

One way to get out of this predicament is to use a strategy like the SMART goal formula.

“SMART goal is an acronym to describe goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound,” explains Choncé. “For example, setting a vague goal such as ‘I want to lose weight this year’ probably won’t give you the best results.”

What if you said that you wanted to “lose 40 pounds in 10 months by getting on a low-carb diet and exercising four days per week?” According to Choncé, “That’s a much better goal that follows the SMART formula. You’re specific by saying how much weight you want to lose, giving yourself a deadline, so you know when to expect results, and specifying how you’ll reach your goal and measure your results over time.”

Work quality.

Yes. Work quality was another performance metric you can use to measure your team’s efficiency. But, I think when it comes to yourself, we can simplify this.

Are you meeting deadlines? Did you also meet the requirements of the task or project?. For example, were you able to crank out an 1200 work article or cover all of the meeting agenda points in the time allotted? If so, then I’d say that you’re pretty darn efficient

Punctuality.

What does this have to do with efficiency? In my opinion, quite a bit. It shows that you’re able to manage your time correctly. For instance, if you’re running late to a meeting, maybe it’s because you underestimated how long the previous task took to complete. Or, perhaps you’re so disorganized that it totally slipped your mind until the last minute.

Behavioral traits.

Efficient people avoid bad habits. I’m talking about failing to plan ahead, not having a routine, multitasking, procrastinating, or being easily distracted. They also try to everything on their own when there should be tasks they’re delegating so that more of their time and energy on what’s important.

Feedback from others.

Now we’re circling back to feedback. And, there’s a good reason for that. We have a tendency to be biassed towards our own self-assessments and performance. You may think that you’re killing at work until someone brings it to your attention that you actually haven’t been delivering your best work as of late.

Hearing feedback from others can also be challenging. But, instead of avoiding peer or management feedback, solicit it from people you trust. Try asking a peer, business partner, or family member.

To become more efficient, expect more of yourself.

Hopefully, you know how to measure your efficiency. But, there’s one last step you should take. Raise your expectations.

Let’s say that met you have a met or requirement, instead of being complacent. Push yourself to go above and beyond. It’s great that you can write a 1200 word article in under three hours. But, can you produce the same number of words in under two? How about upping the word count?

You don’t know what your true limits are — because you can always up-your-count on almost anything. Try it. Pushing your limits, keeps you engaged, and forces you to embrace better habits so that you can become more effective and efficient.

6 Tips for Scheduling a Stellar Event

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The right event can change everything. Maybe it’s the conference that gives you a million dollar idea. Or the workshop that makes all your work goals fit together.

With that said, 18 million events are scheduled in the U.S. every year. How can you make sure yours is one to remember? 

Getting the small things right makes a big difference. Be sure to:

  •  Get the instructions right.

No one likes it when there are typos on the event invitation. Could you imagine showing up for an event and being told it’s actually another day? 

When you write out your invitations, make sure to do so plenty of days in advance. This gives you time to proofread your invitation draft. 

When you’re ready to review your work, begin by checking the basics: event location, address, time, and any instructions about parking. Then, proofread for spelling and grammar. Finally, have a second pair of eyes look it over to ensure everything is correct. That way, you can send it out with confidence. 

  •  Use the right tools.

If your event will have a lot of attendees, you’ll wind up with a lot of scheduling requests in your inbox. Those can take hours to sort through. Protect your company’s productivity by letting attendees RSVP themselves using scheduling software.

Think, too, about your event’s sessions. If you’ll be doing one-on-one consultations, ask attendees to book a specific time with you. That way, you don’t have dozens of attendees all trying to do their one-on-one with you at the same time. 

  •  Know your attendees.

Different types of events attract different types of people. It’s important to think through who’s going to be at yours. What level of knowledge will they have about the topics to be discussed? What pre-work might they need to do in order to get up to speed.

To understand your target audience, think about what type of business you are:

    • Caterers & event planners
      You can plan food tasting and event planning events with potential clients. Give them the white-glove experience. Get tablecloths, put together swag bags, and appoint an experience manager.
    • Nonprofit organizations
      Nonprofit events require a host of people for events: volunteers, paid employees, and external stakeholders. Scheduling software can help you spend less time on grunt work, and more time raising money for causes you love.
    • Salons & spas
      Salons and spas have all sorts of different clients, but they do have one thing in common: a focus on beauty and wellness. Put together sessions centered on self-care. Use scheduling software to seek input about what would make your event maximally relaxing.
  • Shipping & retail
    Shipping and retail stores are used to handling complex logistics. Be sure you invite product representatives, set up the space well for them, and give attending customers plenty of attention.

  •  Send out invitations early.

How can attendees plan for your event unless the invitation is sent out early? A good rule of thumb is to give people at least three weeks notice to plan for your event. If you are planning a nationwide event, like a corporate conference, give at least a year notice.

To determine how much notice you need to give, put yourself in the attendees’ shoes. If they need to travel, then booking and planning everything will take more time. Conference, hotel, travel, food, and entertainment arrangements add up. 

Smaller events, such as meetups, require less preplanning. Often, attendees just have to RSVP and show up. Small-scale events like meetups should still look professional, even if you don’t have to give attendees more than a few weeks’ notice.

  •  Make it easy for others to meet with you.

If you’re the point of contact for an event, it’s important that you’re available. Imagine the horror if you accidentally double book yourself with two vendors. The solution is to display your availability on your calendar. 

Here’s how you can do it:

  • Check your company’s availability
    Leave your calendar availability open only during your work hours. This prevents you from planning a meeting during your personal time.

 

  • Make some hours off-limits.
    You have a lot to do other than meeting with event staff. With your schedule in hand, pay close attention to when you’re busy, and block off hours when you want to focus on other tasks.

 

  • Set expectations

                        Whenever you meet with someone, you need to share:

  • An agenda
  • Meeting expectations
  • Who else might need to be in the meetings 
  • The number to call or videoconferencing site to visit (if applicable)

  •  Start and finish events on time 

When the big day finally arrives, you need to keep a strict eye on the clock. You don’t like it when other people disrespect your time; don’t do the same to them. 

Even if everyone hasn’t arrived at the designated start time, go ahead. If 90% of people are already there, it isn’t worth upsetting them for the 10% of latecomers. End either five minutes early or right on time. Don’t push the event beyond the time allotted, even if you aren’t quite finished.

Events are a lot of work to plan and put on. A little forethought can go a long way. Get the details right, and give your attendees an experience to remember. 

How to Leave Work at Work

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50 Top Productivity Quotes For Work and Life

As an entrepreneur, I’m always thinking about my business. Sometimes it’s just reflecting on what I’ve accomplished or the areas that need improvement. Usually, that’s not a problem. What is a dilemma, though, is allowing these thoughts to interfere with my personal life. One example would be — bringing stress home with me or not being 100 percent present with my downtime.

If you’re in the same situation, you’ve probably been told just simply to set boundaries. Setting boundaries sounds excellent on paper. But, in reality, that’s not always possible. The good news is that are effective ways to leave work at work.

Plan your ideal week.

Yankees legend Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.” For me, that means planning in advance, like mapping out your week. The reason? It’s a simple way to prevent work and life from always being at odds with each other. More importantly, it provides structure so that you can establish boundaries while also remaining productive.

While everyone has their own way of planing out their ideal week, here are some pointers to steer in you in the right direction:

  • Get a head start. Use either Friday afternoons or the weekend to list your priorities and add them to your calendar.
  • Sketch out your ideal week by using time blocks. Take into consideration date-specific events and tasks, and know when you’re most productive.
  • Create theme days based on your energy. For example, if you have the most energy and focus on Tuesday, that’s when you should schedule deep work.
  • Establish fulfilling routines. These are the activities that help you relax and make you happy, such as meditating or family game night.
  • Limit your plans. Stop overcommitting yourself by focusing on your top five high-objectives for the week.
  • Be ruthless. Delegate or drop anything from your to-do-list that isn’t a priority. Get comfortable saying, “no.” And, learn how to block out distractions.

Have a ritual to transition from work to home.

To me, this is all about changing your mindset from “work” mode to “home” mode. It’s like if you’ve ever played a sport. You’re just not going to show-up without warming up or listening to music that gets you psyched. On the flip side, when you’re done, you need to cool down and get back to homeostasis.

You can do this on your commute home by listening to a podcast that interests you but isn’t work-related. Call a friend or family member — studies have found that this energizes you more than coffee. Think about what you’re grateful for. Or, do a crossword puzzle.

Some people also immediately change out of their work clothes into something more comfortable as soon as they get home. Others go to the gym after work. Just try a couple of daily rituals out and see what works best for you.

Go on a tech detox — without stressing yourself out.

Technology is a blessing and a curse. It allows us to work whenever, wherever, and keep our fingers on the pulse of our business at all times. However, that also means we’re expected to work more hours.

In fact, according to a RescueTime study, people work an hour or more outside regular hours on 89 days of the year. But that’s not really the issue. It’s the anticipatory stress of receiving work-related messages off-hours.

Researchers from Lehigh University, Virginia Tech, and Colorado State University found that we feel more stressed and exhausted from expecting emails after hours than actually responding to them.

“It’s not only that employees are spending a certain amount of extra time answering emails, but it’s that they feel they have to be ready to respond, and they don’t know what the request will be,” said Samantha Conroy, one of the study’s authors. “So if they’re having dinner with their family, and hear that ‘ding,’ they feel they have to turn their attention away from their family and answer the email.”

What’s the solution here? Well, you can realistically go on a tech detox by:

  • Adding breaks and designated tech-free times. For instance, not responding to emails when having dinner — you can check your messages after.
  • Blocking apps at certain times, like when you’re meditating after work.
  • Assigning tech-zones in your home.
  • Allowing yourself to get comfortable with boredom. If you’re standing in line at the grocery on a Sunday, don’t look at your phone.
  • Consider removing social media apps from your phone. Some people also uninstall communication tools like Slack from their personal devices.
  • Spending your downtime in places where electronic frowned upon.
  • Stop relying on technology as much. Instead of using your phone for your alarm, invest in an old-school alarm clock.

Have mental clarity.

Mental clarity, according to Elizabeth Grace Saunders in HBR, is knowing “what needs to get done, and when you will complete it.” The most prominent example would dedicate “a place where you write down the many tasks that you need to do.” It doesn’t matter if it’s “in a notebook, a task management app, a project management system, or in your calendar.” The idea here so “that you’re not lying in bed at night trying to remember everything on your mental to-do list.”

After you’ve created this list, you’ll need to “plan out your work.” Ideally, this would be scheduling time in your calendar for your priorities. Sounds obvious. But, “this planning reduces the anxiety that something will fall through the cracks or that you’ll miss a deadline,” writes Elizabeth.

“The final part of increasing your mental clarity is to have an end-of-workday wrap-up.” At the minimum, this includes reviewing “your daily to-do list and calendar to make sure that everything that absolutely must get done.” It also wouldn’t hurt to “do a quick scan of your email to ensure any urgent messages are attended to before you leave the office.”

When you decide to check your emails and messages is up to your discretion. Some people do the last check of the night right before they leave work, like within the final 30-minutes of the day. Others prefer to do this activity during the last hour or two.

Prioritize your social life.

I get it. Some days you come home, and you just want to veg out — or get back to work. But, neither are always the answer if you want to leave work at work. The answer? Socializing.

A study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that those who are more socially active are better able to recover from work strain and can sleep better at night.

To make socializing a priority, schedule social activities to your calendar. At the same time, you don’t want to overdo it. Sometimes you leave blank spaces in your schedule to allow for flexibility — like if you run unexpectedly into a friend.

Don’t hard crash your workday.

“Just as it’s never a good idea to hard crash your computer, you shouldn’t hard crash your day,” Michael “Dr. Woody” Woodward, Ph.D., organizational psychologist and author of The YOU Plan, told Forbes. “Closing out your day in an orderly and positive way is critical to making that clean psychological transition into the personal side of life.”

“Nobody likes that feeling of unfinished business hanging over their head while playing with the kids or dining with the family,” Woodward added. “So it’s important that you do what you can to make as clean a break as possible when walking out the office door.”

How should you wrap-up your workday? Well, here are some suggestions:

  • Evaluate your to-do-lists and review tomorrow’s schedule.
  • Check-in with your team to double-check deadlines and make sure everyone’s on the same page.
  • Tidy up and organize your workspace.
  • Tidy-up any loose ends like responding to an email.
  • Reflect on what you’ve accomplished.
  • Turn off your lights and equipment.
  • Commit to leaving stress behind at work.

Find ways to decompress.

Hopefully, if you’ve implemented a fulfilling routine, then you’re already finding healthy ways to relieve stress. Healthy examples of this are — meditating, exercising, and hanging out with friends and family. Other options are picking-up a hobby, learning something new, or engaging in a little self-care. You may even want to vent to someone who you trust — just don’t harp on what’s bothering you.

But, what if these examples are not enough to help you continue at your break-neck speeds? Well, establish a calm and therapeutic evening routine.

Jeffrey Brantley, M.D., and Wendy Millstine, NC., authors or Five Good Minutes in the Evening: 100 Mindful Practices to Help You Unwind from the Day & Make the Most of Your Night, also suggest:

  • Release nagging thoughts. If a work-related thought pops in your head, acknowledge it and name what you’re feeling. You can then tell this thought, “I hear you, but not now,” or “I release you.”
  • Unraveling like a thread. Use visualization to help you decompress, such as unwinding your thoughts like a spool of thread.
  • Surround yourself with humor. Watch a YouTube video, TV show, or movie that makes you laugh. Ask Google or Alexa to tell you a joke. Or, call someone who already makes you laugh.

These 6 Things Can Ruin Your Productivity

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You know the importance of productivity, but something always seems to get in your way. You can’t seem to stop checking social media. Your dog needs to go to the bathroom. The rain outside is so loud you can’t hear your conference call.

Some of those things are out of your control. You can’t plan around every disruption, there’s a lot you can do to protect your productivity. Avoid these six missteps:

1. Multitasking

When you multitask, you train your brain to not focus on the task at hand. It’s nearly impossible to be productive if you can’t hunker down on one major assignment. Cut out multitasking, and work on just one thing at a time.

For example, if you have to write marketing copy for a new software launch, focus entirely on writing during scheduled hours. During your focus time, turn off notifications on your phone. Better yet, put it in another room entirely. If you need your phone to get work done, consider blocking applications that you don’t need to tackle the task at hand. 

2. Not Having a Plan 

If you don’t plan, then you plan to fail. If you start the week without a schedule, you’ll struggle to use it productively. And without daily planning, you’ll get sidetracked by last-minute requests, off-topic conversations, and deadlines associated with future tasks.

It only takes 45 minutes or less to schedule weekly tasks. Start by thinking through what you want to accomplish that week and plotting it out in order of priority. Limit yourself to three big goals per day.

For daily work, try time blocking. Split your day — your full day, not just your workday — into 15-minute chunks. Associate a specific task with each block. When it’s time to move on, do it. If you didn’t get the task done, add it to tomorrow’s time blocks.  

3. Not Taking Breaks

Did you know that taking a break can help you solve a difficult problem? When you focus too much on the task at hand, you don’t give your mind rest to think. Breaks increase creativity and decrease fatigue.

Remember to schedule breaks into your time blocks. Each hour, give yourself a 10-minute break. Every four hours, make it a 30-minute break.

Breaks are your time. As long as you’re doing something healthy with them, you’re doing the right thing. Easy, low-cost options include:

  • Go for a walk.
  • Take a nap.
  • Eat a snack.
  • Call a friend.
  • Read a book.
  • Catch up on the news.

4. Not Having a Nighttime Routine

What you do at night heavily impacts your productivity the next day. Not getting enough sleep can make you feel stressed, fuzzy-headed, and tired the next day.

Sleep deprivation is a nationwide issue. The CDC reports that a third of US adults get less than the seven hours of recommended sleep per night. If you want to get to bed on time and wake up refreshed the next day, you need to have a nighttime routine. 

Here’s how you can do it: 

 

  • Set a standard bed time.

 

Decide what time you want to go to sleep every day, and stick to that time. Your body will become accustomed to it and start to get sleepy at that hour every day. A notification or alarm on your phone can help remind you an hour or two in advance.

 

  • Relax for an hour before bed. 

 

Doing something relaxing before you sleep can help your body wind down. Consider taking a warm epsom salt bath, doing yoga, or reading a book. You can also meditate to soothing music before sleeping.

 

  • Avoid screen time.

 

Screens emit blue light that makes it more difficult to sleep. The light tells your brain it’s still daytime. Stop looking at screens at least an hour before you go to bed, and don’t keep your phone in the bedroom. If you use your phone as an alarm, get an alarm clock.

5. Not Customizing Your Calendar Availability

If people don’t know when you’re available to talk to them, they’ll pop in with questions or random comments at all times of day. Not only is that stressful, but it makes you less productive.

If  you don’t keep a close eye on your calendar availability, you risk double-booking yourself. You may accidentally schedule a business meeting on a personal day. 

To set your calendar availability the smart way:

 

  • Limit your professional availability to your company’s operating hours.

 

Leave your calendar availability open only during your work hours. This prevents you from planning a meeting during an unnecessary time. Block off others times for your own activities or personal appointments. 

 

  • Make some hours off-limits.

 

You can’t meet at every hour of the day. It’s important to keep some time slots clear for getting work done. Know when you tend to be at your most productive, and avoid scheduling meetings at those times. 

 

  • Think through the details.

 

Setting expectations is key. When you are available to meet, make sure you share the top-line details ahead of time. For each meeting, ask yourself:

  • What’s the topic to be discussed? 
  • Why can’t it be an email?
  • How long should the meeting last?
  • Who needs to be in the meeting?
  • If the meeting is virtual, what number should attendees call?

 

  • Sync your personal & professional calendars.

 

Family and self-care time are important. Make sure that people in your professional life can see when you’re carving out time for personal engagements. You don’t want to  have a meeting booked when you’re supposed to be at your daughter’s soccer game. 

 

  • Inform people about exceptions.

 

Life happens. If you need to make an exception to your typical schedule, inform others. Give people at least 48 hours notice, if at all possible. Do this by setting up an out of office message and by blocking off your schedule. 

6. Stressing About Your Schedule.

These productivity tips should make your life less stressful, not more. Take what you need and leave the rest.

If you really want to keep it simple, Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule is a great model. Yours might look something like this:

  • Getting ready for the day: shower, breakfast, personal development, and prepare for work (3 hours)
  • Morning work (4 hours)
  • Review of projects and lunch (2 hours)
  • Afternoon work (4 hours)
  • Dinner, rest, and wrapping up the day (4 hours)
  • Sleep (7 hours)

Need more tips to keep your productivity high? Check out these 25 daily calendar productivity tips to up the ante.

Staying Focused when Working from Home

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Working from home can be pretty sweet—no long and lousy commutes. You can work around your preferred schedule. And, you don’t need to be concerned about distractions like talkative and sick co-workers.

At the same time, remote working does come with its own set of challenges. I’m talking about interruptions friends, family, neighbors, and pets, household chores, or lying on your comfy couch with the TV on. If you don’t keep these interferences in-check, then maintaining your focus is pretty much impossible. But, there are ways to remain focused and motivated when working from home.

Have a designated workspace.

No offense to your bedroom, kitchen table, or couch. But, none of these locations are exactly the best places to work. Take your cozy bed as an example. Working in bed creates a mental between work and rest. That means when you’re trying to drift off, your mind is thinking about work. What’s more, it can decrease the quality of your sleep since looking at a blue screen reduces melatonin.

But that’s not all. Having a dedicated workspace can help get in the zone when it’s time to focus on your work. More importantly, it removes distractions like household chores or binge-watching the latest streaming TV series.

If you don’t have the room for a home office, then experiment with various spots in your home. For example, your focus zone could be a hallway closet that you’ve made into a makeshift office. Or, you could get out of your home and work from a coworking spot of a coffee shop.

Stay off social media.

You don’t necessarily have to go to the extreme and permanently quit social media — unless that’s you’re provocative. But, you should, at the minimum, remove the apps from your home screen so that they don’t interfere with your focus. However, I would go a step further and delete the apps from your phone altogether. It’s easy to limit your usage since you have to log into your account.

To prevent anxiety from FOMO, you could also schedule specific times to check your accounts. I do this in the morning before work, after lunch, and before heading home for the day.

Motivate yourself.

Yeah. I know. You may be thinking that this is much easier said than done. But, in reality, it’s not all that difficult.

Science-backed techniques to improve your self-motivation include:

  • Getting positive. Sound difficult? You can start by monitoring you’re progress and celebrating it.
  • Rewarding yourself. Speaking of rewards, you can treat yourself, like buying a latte or going out with friends, when you cross off an item on your to-do-list.
  • Surrounding yourself with highly motivated people. Stop hanging out with those who drag you down and those you get stuff done.

Structure your day for success.

“Maximize the effectiveness of your time at home by structuring it differently than a typical workday,” suggests Elizabeth Grace Saunders in HBR. “For example, if you work from home only one day a week or on occasion, make it a meeting-free day.” Not an option? Then at least reserve half of your day for focused work. Just remember to pick “a time that works best for you, based on any required meetings and your energy levels.”

“Then define one to two key items that you want to accomplish during this time,” adds Elizabeth. “These could be tasks that require an hour or more of uninterrupted attention, or they could be items that simply require more creative, strategic thinking than you may be able to achieve in the office environment.”

“It’s also helpful to shut down your email during this period — or at least stay away from it for an hour at a time,” she says. “Alert any colleagues of times that you’ll be disconnected so that they won’t be surprised by a delayed response.”

Schedule “lazy” time.

“Don’t make the entire day about work. I know, it sounds counterintuitive,” writes Colleen Trinkaus. “But oftentimes regular remote workers find themselves letting work creep into evenings and weekends.”

You can’t fault them. Without being burdened by a commute, they’ll just dive into work earlier in the day. Or, they may keep working “later into the evening because they aren’t seeing their colleagues leave for the day.”

To avoid overworking, which will ultimately burn you out, “monitor your daily workload – and if you realize you’re putting in overtime, sprinkle in some free time throughout the day to do what you please.” Whether if that’s walking your dog or having lunch with a friend, you need these “breaks will help reset your mind and prevent burnout.”

Adjust your Sunday routine.

I have a ritual every Sunday. I prepare for the upcoming week. Sure. It may eat up a couple of hours. But, it’s been an effective way to ease my anxiety and keep me focused on my work throughout the week.

While you don’t have to follow exactly what I do, here are some ways that you can spend your Sundays:

  • Do any household chores and errands.
  • Review and organize your to-do-list and calendar.
  • Layout your clothes and prep your meals.
  • Attend to your wellbeing, like exercising and engaging in a little self-care.
  • Change your mindset about Mondays. Instead of dreading the start of a new week, view it as full of opportunities.

Swap your to-to-do-list with a done list.

“There aren’t any scientific studies that specifically examine the impact of a “done” list in the workplace. However, Laura Vanderkam, author and time-management sorcerer, extrapolates from some existing research in her book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, writes Melissa Dahl over at The Cut.

Vanderkam has written “that research has consistently found that dieters who keep daily diaries tracking what they ate tend to lose more weight” The reason? It turns out that writing everything down “allows people to reflect on their food choices honestly, and to notice patterns and identify trends that they can then change, if necessary.” And, that concept can be applied to keeping your eyes on the prize.

“Plus, it’s a nice little pat-on-the-back — proof that even if you didn’t get everything on your ‘official’ to-do list done, you did make some progress on something,” adds Dahl. “Sometimes people get to the end of the day and haven’t tackled various priorities, because other stuff has come up, but you did something with your time,” Vanderkam told Science of Us, “Something changed in the world (hopefully!). So what was that? Often it was good stuff. Write it down. Share it with your team. Celebrate it. Just because it wasn’t on the list doesn’t mean it wasn’t important.”

Program daydreaming into your schedule.

You’ve probably been told numerous times that you shouldn’t waste your time daydreaming. But, if you did that, then you wouldn’t have chased your passion and become an entrepreneur.

With that said, you should make some time in your schedule to wander off and daydream. When you, it will help you relax your body and mind, inspire innovation, and unlocks our real purpose.

Pretend like you’re going somewhere else to work.

I’m not saying that you have to follow a traditional work schedule or play by the same rules. But, you should establish a routine that gets you into work mode. I’m talking about waking up at the same time daily and getting into your workspace at a specific time and not staying in your pajamas all day. And, setting-up separate email accounts so that you aren’t checking personal messages.

Match music with your tasks.

“Music isn’t just a means of entertaining ourselves: it can also encourage creativity and help us become more productive,” Deep Patel writes previously for Entrepreneur. “Listening to music can also be therapeutic, relieving feelings of stress so you can concentrate better.”

“Research has found that certain types of music can be beneficial to us while we work,” adds Deep. “Some types of music seem to help with learning and improve our ability to process information. Other types help block out distracting background noise. And, there are “different types sync with our brain waves to induce ‘eureka moments.’”

So, what should you listen to? Research has found that classical, video game, cinematic, and anything between 50 to 80 beats per minute is ideal. You can also listen to the sounds of nature if you like.

Find your tribe.

I’m talking about your fellow entrepreneurs here. The reason? You can bounce ideas off each other, share advice, and help hold each other accountable. Besides, this gives you a chance to combat isolation and interact with people in-person. I suggest you check out local meetups, entrepreneurial organizations, and conferences.

Have a shutdown ritual.

“For many work-from-home entrepreneurs, work bleeds into all hours of the day (and night),” says Zach Obront, Co-Founder of Scribe Media. “Rather than leaving an office and leaving work behind, it’s always with you.”

“Counterintuitively, this leads to less productivity because you’re often half working,” adds Zach. “Creating a shutdown ritual for the end of the day allows you to focus deeply during work hours and recharge effectively the rest of the time.” Learn how to leave work at work.

Creating a Daily Schedule in the Midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic

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To-Do List

While we would all like it to be back to business as usual, the reality is that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has changed everything. With required quarantines, social distancing, and cancelled events and schools, it’s difficult to feel in control of our daily lives or the near future. Now faced with a lockdown that could go on for months, it may be even harder to maintain a sense of order to each day. You need to have a daily schedule in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.

A New Way to Work, Learn, and Live

Remote workers most likely already are accustomed to keeping a regimented schedule while working from home. However, throw kids and a spouse into the mix, and that organized schedule may be anything but. Or, those workers who have not done remote shifts before may not know how to stay on top of their daily schedule and maintain productivity.

Schools and kids will have to adopt a new way to learn and study for the time-being. Also, companies and employees will have to find a way to keep productivity up, where possible, to maintain economic and financial stability. There are so many questions and concerns about what the near future holds that it is easy to hide under the covers or binge watch television until this crisis hopefully passes.

Stay Focused and Keep a Positive Perspective

During these uncertain times, it helps to stick to patterns that remind us of our normal lives. This can be comforting to us, as adults, as well as to our children.

These patterns give us something to focus on and a purpose regardless of how work and school may change in the coming weeks. Doing so may also help those around us adhere to similar schedules so life moves forward and work projects get wrapped up.

A Daily Schedule in the Midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Check our this daily schedule in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic as an approach the “new normal” of using our home as a place to work, learn, play, and live. Setting times to eat three nutritious meals, get rest, exercise, and be productive can also help keep our immune systems high to fight this virus and other health issues.

The schedule also emphasizes sticking to activities that keep us disciplined, such as getting dressed and making our beds, instead of giving up on these areas. It’s just like going to work except you are commuting from your bedroom to an office in your home.

The blocks of time also help us figure out how to work in new tasks that we might not have had to deal with because schools were covering those areas. Think of it as an excellent opportunity to enjoy more quality time with our kids and keep them on a similarly productive schedule.

Coronavirus Daily Schedule

New Opportunities

Most people may dread this new self-imposed quarantine and disruption to our lives, but we can also see it as an opportunity. With our hectic lives, we may have been missing out on a lot of time with our kids and each other. Our hobbies probably were long-forgotten and many other tasks around the house went undone. Now is the time to use those free times on the above schedule to reconnect with each other, pick up those hobbies, and catch up on much-needed activities and maintenance around the home.

Even though you are home and working differently, plan time to catch up with colleagues, friends, family, and neighbors virtually. We have so many technologies that allow us to continue meeting together online through video conferencing and tools like FaceTime and Skype. Be there to support each other and help them maintain the same sense of normalcy you are trying to keep in your own home. It’s a critical time to reach out to others around you to see if they need any help, a listening ear, or a kind word.

6 Ways Wellness Habits Boost Productivity

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Morning Routine

When you think of productivity, you might think about going into overdrive. In reality, it’s about making more time to take care of yourself.

Employees who practice healthy habits are 3.1 times more productive than their less healthy peers. Healthy employees live a balanced life: They make time to exercise, plan, eat well, and unwind after a long day.

Taking care of yourself takes time, of course, but its productivity returns are much greater than the time invested. When you’re well, you:

1. Pay attention to the details

Have you ever tried to work on an assignment when you didn’t get enough sleep? Think about how you felt the last time you pulled an all-nighter to finish up a quarterly report. It probably wasn’t your best work. 

When you pay attention to your mental health, you can do more in less time. By getting adequate sleep, you set the stage for a more productive next day. Clinical studies show that lack of sleep can be even dangerous for workers. Sleep deprivation makes it difficult for you to focus, so be sure to get at least seven hours of quality sleep each night. 

2. Get sick less often

Employees take time off from work for many reasons. The right ones actually increase productivity: Vacations help people unwind, and weddings keep them connected to important people in their lives. But often, it’s because they’re not feeling well.

Taking care of yourself is one of the best ways to cut down on your sick days. Eating well, exercising regularly, and keeping your stress levels low are all important for the immune system. They also minimize mental health days, which many employers are now lumping in with regular sick days. 

3. Beat back burnout

You’ve seen co-workers work themselves straight into a wall. They burned out because they didn’t take care of their health.

By making your wellness a focus, you keep yourself from running out of steam. Particularly important is keeping your stress levels low. Easy, inexpensive ways to do it include:

 

  • Take a walk

 

Sunlight and fresh air are great ways to decompress. Spend a few minutes on your feet, ideally outside. If you need to walk on a track due to weather or availability of outdoor walking trails, that’s a good substitute.

 

  • Meditate for a few minutes

 

Meditation is easier than it sounds. Just sit or lay in a quiet place for a few minutes. Listen to your breathing. Let your thoughts pass by without judgement.

 

  • Break out a book

 

Reading is an easy, healthy way to escape into a different world. Let yourself enjoy the pages for a few minutes before returning to work.

 

  • Eat a snack

 

If you’re feeling stressed, you may simply be hungry. Eat something healthy, like a cup of yogurt, a handful of nuts, or some fresh fruit. 

4. Grow more quickly

When you’re not feeling good, all you can think about is getting better. Keeping your body and mind in top condition make it possible to learn and grow. Wellness can:

 

  • Make you more optimistic

 

When you’re healthy, you feel like you can take on the world. Focus on wellness, and watch your outlook improve. 

  • Increase creativity 

Coming up with new ideas requires you to feel free to let go of the old. That becomes a lot more difficult when you’re struggling to stay afloat. 

 

  • Boost problem-solving skills

 

Challenges don’t look so large when you’re healthy. A happy, healthy mind can see solutions that an ailing one can’t. 

5. Find your groove

Regular, healthy meals. Exercising at the same time every day. Going to bed and getting up on time.

Healthy habits help you find a rhythm that works for you. Apply that same spirit of structure to your work by:

 

  • Setting daily goals

 

Each morning, create a list of realistic daily goals. Keep it brief: Treat anything you get done beyond your top three priorities as the cherry on top. 

  • Scheduling breaks

Particularly when you have a big goal ahead, break it up. Work on one part at a time, and give yourself a rest in between tasks. For every hour you work, give yourself a five- or ten-minute rest. 

 

  • Figuring out your prime time 

 

What time are you most productive? Is it the morning, afternoon, or evening? That time is your prime time. 

During your prime time, get your most difficult tasks completed. When you’re off of prime time, you can work on easier tasks like answering emails or reconnecting with old clients.

 

  • Using time blocks

 

Time-blocking is the act of splitting your entire day into 15- or 30-minute increments, during which you work only on a specific task. When the timer goes off, you move onto the next one.

Remember to block off times for meals and relaxation, too. Those are just as important as your work blocks. 

6. Keep things in perspective

Wellness helps you keep your head on straight. It helps you brush off bad experiences while remembering the importance of things like family and self-care. 

At the end of every day, make time to think about what went right, what went wrong, and what you want to do differently tomorrow. Ask yourself:

  • What actions today brought me closer to my goals?
  • Where did I slip up? What led me to make the mistake?
  • What’s the single biggest way I can make a difference tomorrow?

Wellness changes everything, including your productivity. Take better care of yourself, and watch what a difference it makes. 

It’s OK to Take a Break — Even if You’re an Entrepreneur

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Morning Routine

There seems to be a serious epidemic among entrepreneurs. Whether you’re a rookie or seasoned vet, there’s a mentality that we have to work more than 40 hours per week. There are times when that’s the case. Let’s say that you’re launching a new product or service. You should definitely expect to be putting in extra time at work until it’s complete. But what about the rest of the time? Hey, it’s okay to take a break, even if you’re an entrepreneur

Elon Musk has said that he works a staggering 120-hours per week. Gary Vaynerchuk has suggested you put in 18-hour days. And, Grant Cardone has said that if you want to become a millionaire, you need to work 95 hours per week or 14-hours per day.

From the outside, that just sounds ridiculous. However, that doesn’t always mean that these entrepreneurs are working 10-14 hours straight — every single day. However, with the individuals I work with — that’s precisely what they mean. Day in and day out, for years — they work this many hours or more. I know from my own experience that with a business — it’s hard to tune out and leave it alone. And when you try to tune out — you’re still thinking about the business.

Some entrepreneurs put in more hours without stopping — and they can’t help themselves. It’s not healthy mentally or physically and, many studies now show that it’s not as good for your business as you may think.

In an open letter to Musk, Arianna Huffington wrote, “Working 120-hour weeks doesn’t leverage your unique qualities, it wastes them. You can’t simply power through — that’s just not how our bodies and our brains work.” She added, “Nobody knows better than you that we can’t get to Mars by ignoring the laws of physics. Nor can we get where we want to go by ignoring scientific laws in our daily lives.”

I learned the consequences of ignoring the laws of psychology, if not physics, the hard way. While I wasn’t working 120-hour weeks, I was consistently doing 80 hours. I was spending way too much time at work. As a result, my health was no longer a priority. Relationships with coworkers, friends, and family became strained, and I teetered on the edge of burnout.

Still believing that an entrepreneur has to work more hours to be successful — you can do that work differently. Finally, admit to yourself taking breaks is essential. Take a moment to think logically, with a different thought process. You’ll want to take breaks for the following reasons.

It’s good for your brain.

As Meg Selig points out in Psychology Today, research shows that taking breaks helps your brain in the following ways:

  • “Movement breaks” are essential for your well-being.
    Considering that there’s a mental health crisis in entrepreneurship, this may be the key. Getting up from your desk and moving, even if it’s just a “5-minute walk every hour, can improve your health and well-being.”
  • Breaks prevent decision fatigue.
    “Author S.J. Scott points out that the need to make frequent decisions throughout your day can wear down your willpower and reasoning ability.” Can you guess a simple way to combat this?
  • Breaks restore motivation, especially for long-term goals.
    “When we work, our prefrontal cortex makes every effort to help us execute our goals,” wrote author Nir Eyal. “But for a challenging task that requires our sustained attention, research shows briefly taking our minds off the goal can renew and strengthen motivation later on.”
  • Breaks increase creativity and productivity.
    “Taking breaks refreshes the mind, replenishes your mental resources, and helps you become more creative,” notes Selig. “‘Aha moments’ came more often to those who took breaks, according to research.”
  • “Waking rest” helps consolidate memories and improve learning.
    Waking rest is, “resting while awake, likewise improves memory formation.” Meditation could be an example of waking rest.

Still not convinced? Well, taking breaks can also help you refocus your concentration. And, if you’re stuck on a problem, then taking a breather can help you come up with solutions faster.

“While it is commonly assumed that the best way to solve a difficult problem is to focus relentlessly — this clenched state of mind comes with a hidden cost. [The hidden cost] is that it inhibits the sort of creative connections that lead to breakthroughs,” writes Jonah Lehrer in Imagine: How Creativity Works. “We suppress the very type of brain activity that should be encouraged.”

Opportunity to gain fresh perspectives.

Regardless of how you define your break — take a break. Your break may be merely leaving the office to grab lunch with a friend, or it may be to disappear for a week-long vacation with your family. Stepping away from work exposes you to new things. I know it sounds cliche. But, it’s truth — and we need to know what the truth is for ourselves in our own situations.

Getting out of your workplace helps you develop new ideas. Maybe your break is bouncing feedback from your friend at lunch. Maybe when commuting back to work, you notice a new opportunity that can separate you from your competitors. Can traveling push you out of your comfort zone and give you a chance to have new experiences? Yes, it can. These type of breaks, also, prevent isolation.

Being an entrepreneur can be lonely, and that can be a problem. After all, loneliness can lead to mental health struggles like depression, stress, and anxiety.

Taking a break allows you to interact with others. It could be walking around the workplace and checking-in with your team. While commuting to a meeting, you may strike up a conversation with a stranger. And, when you’re not obsessed with work, you can strengthen your relationships with your friends and family.

Reminds you of the bigger picture.

“When you’re focused on the minutiae of a complex task, it’s all too easy to lose sight of the bigger, more strategic picture,” writes Barry Chignel over on CIPHR. “Take a break, step back, and reassess your goals and priorities to make sure that you’re giving your attention to the right tasks and projects.”

“Being able to see this broader view is particularly important for managers,” adds Chignel. That’s because “they need to maintain their focus on strategic goals and not be distracted by process-driven tasks that could be delegated to other members of their team.”

Cultivates healthier habits.

Make no mistake about it. Working too much adds unnecessary stress to your life. As you already know, stress can lead to many symptoms that affect your health and well-being. But did you know that stress can also influence your habits?

Research has found that during times of stress, we fall back on our habits. That wouldn’t be so bad if you were falling back on healthy habits like exercising. But, what if it’s a bad habit like overeating, smoking, or binge drinking? Well, then, you have a reason for concern.

Frequent breaks not only reduce stress, but they also give you the time to indulge in healthy habits. Instead of eating fast food for lunch, you can enjoy a healthy meal because you’re taking a lunch break. In-between tasks, you can use that downtime to go for a walk or meditate. And, during the weekend or vacation, you can engage in a self-care activity.

How to take a break.

Despite the benefits listed above, entrepreneurs still struggle with taking breaks. So, I suggest taking it slow and easing your way into it.

The most obvious place to start would be working breaks into your daily schedule. I’ve found that you should track your time for around a month to determine when you’re most productive.

Thanks to ultradian rhythms, this is different for everyone. But, in most cases, we have energy peaks for about 60-90 minutes. You then experience an energy lull. Knowing this, you could plan your day by blocking out an hour for work and then scheduling a 10-to-20 minute break.

The caveat for you may be resisting the urge to take longer breaks. Keep your breaks short and use reminders to keep your schedule on-track. Also, make sure that you schedule a proper lunch break as well.

Another pointer would be to learn how to optimize your time. Use whatever trick works best for you. But, the idea here is to reduce your workload so that you have more flexibility in your schedule to take a breather.

And, establish boundaries. Creating and keeping boundaries means when you’re home and spending time with your family, give 100% of your attention to them. When you’re hiking or hanging out with friends on a Saturday, there are no answering work-related messages.

In short, leave work at work. I know. It’s going to take a lot of willpower. But, try it for a couple of hours and work your way up. You’ll notice that everything you built didn’t come crumbling down because you’re disconnected from work occasionally.

Eventually, when you’re comfortable — plan for larger breaks. I’m talking about the occasional day-off. I love to take a lengthy vacation — and work on the vacation, too. And I like to work on short vacations also. Will it be in our best interest to take a real break? Hey, most entrepreneurs will likely resist taking a real vacation at first. Should we try to make the “taking a vacation goal,” together? I’m up for it — if you are.

5 Reasons Why Customer Engagement Is Everything

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If there’s one thing your company can’t survive without, it’s customer engagement. Engaging your customers as people is the single best way to show you care about them. 

Hosting events, sending personalized emails, and giving holiday discounts are all great engagement tactics. While these interactions may seem small, they can payoff with big rewards. An engaged customer represents 23% more revenue than an average customer, and acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing one.

If you’re staring down difficult competition, set yourself apart with customer engagement. For five reasons, it’s a great business strategy:

1. Builds brand awareness

Brand awareness describes how familiar someone is with your company’s values, products, and services. When they see you as an important part of their life, a customer is more likely to return that value to your company. 

Creating more brand awareness doesn’t have to be expensive. Nonprofit associations like BoatU.S. do a great job of engaging their customers inexpensively in a way that keeps their brand top of mind. The organization sends out monthly newsletters, as well as a bimonthly publication. Every issue shares recreational boating skills, DIY maintenance, safety tips, news, insight from experts, and lifestyle profiles.

Some brand awareness efforts that engage people are even free. Getting attention for your brand on social media is as simple as sharing entertaining content like videos, podcasts, blog posts and infographics. If you’re looking for a spendier, more meaningful option, you can also contribute to community causes, offer free samples, or provide on-site service

2. Generates social capital

Social capital is the value you gain from interpersonal relationships with other people. Connecting with your consumers and building rapport with them gives you both a boost of social capital.

Maybe your company offers digital marketing services. You might see an accounting firm advertising on TikTok, for example, and instead suggest they move their spend to LinkedIn ads. Simply reaching out with some free advice is a great way to build social capital. 

You can go a step further by following up with preferred customers in a personal way. Depending on the amount of business you do and your budget, you can follow up by writing personalized thank yous, meeting for coffee, sharing social media posts, or inviting them to company parties. 

When you help your customers crush their goals with your services, you better believe they will tell their friends about it. This social capital associated with referral leads improves conversion rates by 30%. Say “hello” to more business! 

3. Creates emotional investment

The big business push of this decade is the focus on data. But the truth is, every business partnership relies on emotional connection. 

The ability to make your customers feel something is the art of creating emotional connection. Maybe you engage in person with a lunch meeting or happy hour, or maybe you use social media. These investments won’t bring you gobs of instant revenue, but they will help customers see you as a person behind the business. 

Emotional investment is why Oreo’s social media efforts during the 2013 Super Bowl generated so much engagement. When the event experienced a power outage, Oreo capitalized on it rather than fall silent like the other brands. The Oreo tweet, “Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark” went viral, with 14,200 retweets and more than 1,000 comments.

Did that social media post make Oreo any money? Maybe not, but it’s humor helped customers remember that someone was having fun behind the screen. 

4. Identifies switching barriers

A switching barrier is anything that might keep you from switching from one brand to another. 

These barriers can be financial costs associated with switching, like an early termination fee from switching from Verizon to AT&T. They can also be procedural, like the time it would take you to load your favorites and card information from the Starbucks app to the Dunkin’ Donuts app. Or, these switching barriers can be relational: You have a favorite employee that works at Chili’s, so you go there instead of Applebee’s.  

What is your switching barrier? Maybe it’s your client services team that answers phone calls from customers immediately. It could be the way your easy-to-use software tool customizes reports better than your competitors.

Whatever your switching barrier is, you can reinforce it by following up with clients. Find out why they’ve been so loyal. Ask them about things they like, things they would improve, and even things your competitors are offering that they wish you offered. Show them you care, and they’ll stick with you. 

5. Helps you home in on your target user

A perk of customer engagement is that it’s a feedback loop. When you engage your customers, you see all sorts of new opportunities to delight them.

You can’t please everyone, so it’s important to prioritize. Engaging existing customers encourages you to take the good, the bad, and the ugly feedback in stride. Saying “thank you” and making an effort to are great ways to demonstrate your commitment to them. That, in turn, helps you build better products and streamline your sales efforts. 

If you want to make money, you have to win hearts. Customer engagement encourages people to share your story, return your good deeds, and stick with you. It puts your product developers, marketers, and salespeople on a firmer footing, and for everyone, it makes business more fun.

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