10 Productivity Tips to Help You Stay on Track at the Jersey Shore this Summer

Living in the Jersey Shore area is a great gift. After all, we live where everyone else wants to vacation! But when it comes to staying focused, sometimes it’s hard as an entrepreneur to run your business instead of wanting to hit the beach.

Work days are shorter, we get it.  However, you can’t wait until September to get your business back on track. The challenge we hear from many people is with staying focused and prioritizing.

Here’s the Truth: Whether you’re on vacay or not…A key differentiator between people who succeed in their business and those who do not is personal productivity. Leaders and entrepreneurs who are consistently making things happen know how to achieve what they want in less time than others. Highly successful entrepreneurs do these things every day.  As Jersey Shore area businesswomen, we want to share these tips with you.

Here are 10 things you can start doing today:

1. Pick ONE task to focus on.One thing many successful entrepreneurs have in common is the ability to focus on what matters most. Pick one thing and do that one thing.
2. Block out distractions. That means the beach. Martina Navratilova says, “I concentrate on concentrating.” If you don’t have the willpower to be self-accountable, try Rescue Time. It is an application that runs in the background of your computer and measures how you spend your time so you can make better decisions.
3. Set a strict time limit on meetings. In general, people don’t need as much time as they ask for. Meetings can be time vampires. So, be strict when it comes to managing your time so you can focus on high value tasks.
4. Set up productivity rituals. I swear by waking up earlier than most consider normal. You also know that because of this, there are tasks that are done by 6am. Therefore, setting up rituals that automate behaviors, make us more productive – without depleting our energy reservoir. 4am may not be your cup of tea, but force yourself to prioritize so that you know that you will finish at least one critical task during the period of the day when you have the most energy and the fewest distractions.
5. Get up earlier. Research shows that mornings can make or break your day. Use the mantra “mind over mattress” to motivate yourself to get out of bed to pursue your goals.
6. Outsource personal chores.Highly productive people are selective about how they expend their energy. They don’t waste time or energy on tasks that others can do. Do a cost/benefit analysis of how you spend your time and see if it’s worth offloading some repetitive tasks so you can focus on what will bring value to your company.
7. Increase your effectiveness through technology.There’s a plethora of programs to make a small-business owner more effective in increasing productivity. A few popular tools—some of which are free—include Dropbox to store files online; Any Meeting to host a webinar and Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule your social media postings.
8. Don’t say yes to every request.Most of us have a deep need to be liked. That translates into us saying yes to everything – which could be the end of your productivity.
9. Stop multi-tasking.New research confirms that all the distractions invading our lives are rewiring the way our brains work. Be one of the few who develops the mental and physical discipline to have a focus on one thing for many hours.
10. Learn from others.Understand that for you to move to your next level of success, you must be in constant student mode. Whether you’re learning from others, attending school, reading books, attending seminars or taking a course– you have to gain access to the information you don’t know so you can get to where you want to be.

And with all of the above– you can still make time to relax at the beach! Prioritize, complete your goals and then break out the beach chairs.

Your productivity is your life made visible. Protect your time, your energy, your business, your life.

Growth is not possible alone. Everyone has something to learn and something to teach. Come connect with a phenomenal group of women, rooted in the Jersey Shore community! Learn more at ETTWomen.com

ShoreTV New Jersey Guest Bloggers: Lynette Barbieri and Vanessa Coppes are the founders of ETTWomen.  They share the vision of helping others, especially women on how to accomplish their personal and business goals. Barbieri is a Money and Business Coach. Coppes is an Author, Lifestyle Blogger and a Branding, Marketing and Social and Digital Media Strategist.