1 Thing Every Business Owner Should Do Daily to Get More Done

Guest Post by Angela Bryant & Marike Fichard, the owners of Cowork Crowd

Did you know that we’re on autopilot most of the time?

The vast majority of our thoughts and behaviours – the 95% that are subconscious – are habits that our brain has formed over time.

Including how we approach our working day.

But when you get out of autopilot and are intentional about doing this one thing differently, you’ll get more done and will move forward in your business more quickly – guaranteed.

This is it: Start your work day with a power-hour of focussed work.

What does that mean?

Well, all work hours aren’t equal.

And all tasks aren’t equal either.

A power hour is unlike any other hour. It’s when you’re working – without distractions – on the tasks that will move your business forwards the most.

Our brains are always looking for the easy tasks to do first – something unimportant or non-urgent.

And in this age of technology, research has shown that we have pings and pop ups interrupting us every 41 seconds. Once disrupted, it takes us an average of 23 minutes to get back to focusing on our original task.

Which means we almost never work fully focussed on the most important task.

But when we do – magic happens. When we’re in the zone, working fully focussed, in flow, we deliver a completely different quality of work. We can be more productive in one hour than in the whole of the rest of the day.

So how do we do it?

Our easy 5-step ‘Your Most Productive Hour’ plan works for everyone.

We’ve tried and tested it in over 1,000 member coworking sessions and it really doesn’t matter what your personality, neurotype or circumstances are, it works.

It’s based on the works of productivity thought-leaders, neuroscience and our experience working with women business owners.

1. Plan and commit

Decide ahead of time when your power hours will be. Add them to your calendar and be intentional about showing up for them. Can you create a weekly schedule built around your power hours?

2. Specify a task

Scrutinise your to-do list to work out which tasks will move your business forwards the most. There are different prioritisation techniques, but keep it simple by picking one task based on your priorities for the week.

3. Remove distractions

Our brain is always scanning the environment, trying to find distractions. So keep your phone in a different room or switch it to Airplane mode. Remove all notifications from your phone and computer, or turn off your computer’s wifi. Do whatever you need to do so that you don’t see or hear any distractions.

4. Introduce Accountability

This one step is the one that all productivity experts agree on and also the one that most business owners will ignore, but adding accountability is crucial. It can come in many forms but most involve checking in with someone to share what you’re going to work on (and again afterwards to say whether you’ve done it). This could be with a:

Business friend or family member
Business coach
Mastermind
Facebook group
Coworking community

5. Set a time limit

Tasks fill the time we have available (Parkinson’s Law), which means that setting a time limit or deadline for a specific task or work session will help your brain to shut out whatever isn’t important and focus only on what you set out to do. This works especially well for perfectionists, overthinkers, rebels and competitive personality types.

That’s it! Keep a note on your desk with these five steps and when you find yourself not working with full focus, use it to remind yourself of this approach and to figure out which of the five steps you’re missing from your day.

In Atomic Habits, James Clear says, “You don’t rise to your goals, you fall to your systems.”

This 5-step plan is your system to get out of autopilot mode and in to working with full focus so you can get more done.

We’ll leave you with a quote by JD Meier: “Is your day by default or design?”

If you want to experience how this plan comes together – and start working fully focussed in a matter of minutes – you’re invited to join us for a 2-hour coworking session. To sign up – email us at hello@coworkcrowd.com and we’ll send you the details to join one of our sessions.

Angela Bryant & Marike Fichardt are the owners of Cowork Crowd and based in Oxfordshire and Surrey. Cowork Crowd is a productivity, accountability and coworking membership for women business owners. The coworking sessions are online, backed by neuroscience and help to stop procrastination, work more fully focussed, produce better quality work and take more time off.
Website: coworkcrowd .com
Facebook: @coworkcrowd
Instagram: @coworkcrowd

If you found this post useful you might also like to check out a post from our archives, Knowing Your Planning Method and How it Can Help You Succeed!

Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash