How To Be A Productive Entrepreneur?

By Chaitanya Gundluri | April 20, 2018 | Startup Motivation | 1 Comment

I meet hundreds of entrepreneurs every month and we travel together for a certain period of time for various good reasons, I mentor leaders and as well learn a lot of good things from them, but most importantly what I holistically do in this whole process is, I observe their every move. Everybody doesn’t succeed in this journey as an entrepreneur, but the few who succeed have one common best quality in them, they are highly Productive. Productivity is the major driving force that separates them from the rest who don’t succeed.

Every entrepreneur I talk to, claims that they are highly productive, in spite of being productive why are they not succeeding? let me tell you, they are in a wrong belief that being busy is being productive. NO, being busy is actually not being productive, if you are always busy then you are not well planned. Productive people are not always busy, they spend time on their interests, they don’t work round the clock. Wondering how this is even possible for them when the others are not able to do it by working even 20+ hours a day and 7 days a week? then this is for you? with all the love and respect to you, I request you, don’t just read and forget these few points which you are going to learn now, practice it at least for next three weeks and see the change in your personal and professional life.

The 90/90/1 Rule

I learnt this from Robin Sharma, he asks, to identify the “One Most Important Task” which is the major driving factor for your success and do only this “One Task” in the first “90 minutes” of your workday for next “90 Days”. No matter how busy you are, highly prioritise working on this one task for first 90 minutes every day. Most of the entrepreneurs start their work routine by checking emails, Social media notifications or by having meetings with their team, although doing this is very important, it’s not essential to do it in the first 90 minutes of the day, if you still believe in having a mandatory review meeting with your team at the early hours of the day, better start your work 90 minutes early and focus on important tasks before your team reach office.

This rule worked for me in a great way, I identified that reading books and writing blogs are the key factors for my success, I holistically dedicated my first 90 minutes in doing this which helped me in successfully establishing two promising brands. When you are doing this please turn off your mobile phones and keep yourself away from all kind of distractions, no matter how important it is, things can wait.

Break your workday into Small Capsules

Every successful entrepreneur I worked for, mentored and associated with, has one best quality in them, they respect time a lot. Time is the first priority for highly successful people, they break tasks into work capsules followed by small breaks, they prioritise the work capsules and do first things first.

To be highly productive, plan your work in small capsules and ensure to have three small breaks as well, don’t use this breaks for lunch, coffee and snacks, use this to relax your mind, be it talking to your loved ones, listening to music, reading your favourite blogs or taking a power nap. Relaxing at timely intervals fuels brain which helps you to be more quick and creative while executing the next work capsule. Elon Musk eats in the meetings to save time, he doesn’t waste his breaks to feed himself.

Be not reachable, that’s OK

Calls and notifications are the real problems of productivity, I see people checking their mobile every now and then, this will simply divert attention, waste time and extend work hours. Everything can wait, if you miss a call, you can always call back. Most successful people are always not reachable or at least tough to reach, this makes them enter into the 5% successful entrepreneurs club, if you too dream to be in this club, then you have to follow their footsteps. Practice switching off your phone at least when you are on important tasks and meetings.

Do fewer meetings

Cutting down on unwanted meetings saves you lot of time, It’s not necessary to talk to everyone in person, get information in the email and talk over the phone for any further clarification. Meetings should help you to grow, give time only to such meetings. Mark your important meetings in the calendar and invite people through the calendar, mention the timing, clear purpose and duration of the meeting and try to wrap it as per the schedule. Most importantly review the accomplishments of the meetings in the last five minutes.

Choose right participants, I see people adding their peers in the meetings for no reason which will lead to unwanted discussions and divert the purpose of meeting sometimes. Most importantly, use meetings to make decisions, solve problems and to reach conclusions.

Do only 20% or less office work

Setting a right system ensures 80% or more delivery by your team with or without you, if your team need your handholding in executing even the simplest tasks then it shows how badly you failed in setting a right system. You need to set a foolproof system that helps your team to easily carry with the workflow even in your absence. Having right reporting and reviewing tools, setting right KPI’s, clear goals, building strong work guiding tools, sound rewards and recognition policies and so on so forth will highly motivate the workforce. The combination of right tools, programs and policies help in setting a great system which results in high productivity.

Establishing great system will reduce your involvement in daily tasks and saves a great amount of time which can be utilised effectively to focus on the other important things to be future ready.

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