How to Be More Productive

This month at our gym, Skill of Strength, we’re focused on our 5th core value.

SOS Core Value #5: BE PRODUCTIVE. Leave your baggage at the door. Click To Tweet

We talk about this concept with our employees often, and we understand it’s a fine line to walk. We value honesty and transparency and we get it. Bad moods happen. Stress sucks. You can’t just turn off feelings and emotions.

Be productive. Lead by example.

We challenge our coaches to lead by example when it comes to being productive and leaving our baggage at the door. We strive to always be positive and encouraging… even when we don’t feel like it. We do what we can to leave our “stuff” at home and show up to be the best we can for our members.

Ditching the baggage at the door doesn’t mean we can’t be real or transparent. If someone asks about my kids and they’re sick, I’m not going to lie. If I’m a little extra spacey because Mike’s been traveling and I’m workin’ and mommin’ around the clock, it’s ok to share that. Heck yes, I keep it real. Being productive in this case simply means we stay positive and focus on the task at hand, coaching and providing a great member-experience.

This works both ways. We expect our members to show up ready to train, even after a less-than-ideal day. Great attitudes make for a much better and more productive environment for everyone. And in case you want to brush this off because you don’t come to SOS or you work out first thing, this still holds true in the morning. Leave yesterday’s issues in the past and start fresh. Be present and focus on what you’re doing right now. There’s plenty of time to deal with “life” after.

Be Productive. Get Moving.

In fact, training first thing in the morning if you can is awesome. It’s an easy way to make yourself a priority before the day gets in the way, create your daily priority list and give yourself the energy to be productive.

I know you feel like you have no time for exercise, but many studies have shown exercise actually increases your productivity at work. Exercise, and moving your body in general, helps you clear your mind so you can stay on task and focus better. Keep in mind being busy is not the same as being productive. It’s hard to think and focus when your mind is cluttered. Movement is a blessing, not a chore. Movement is a productivity helper, not a time suck.

Be productive. Stay present.

While, we originally chose this as one of our core values because we want Skill of Strength to be the highlight in our members days, this is important in ways that stretch far beyond your workouts or a community in a gym.

Life is filled with distractions and it’s hard to feel like you’re actually being productive when you want to accomplish A LOT in each day. I tend to multi-task too often and have a hard time turning work off to go to bed or relax at night with my family. This leads to me feeling like I’m doing pretty okay at a lot of things and not great at much. I bet you can relate.

I’m slowly learning that worrying about what needs to get done isn’t going to do much good for me, or anyone. It’s NOT productive. Sometimes you have to temporarily turn off what’s going on at work to have a dance party in the kitchen with your kids. Baby steps… 🙂

Be productive at work, as a mom and in your marriage.

Yes…it’s possible. No, it’s not easy.

I’ll leave you with this. It’s TWO THINGS TUESDAY and while these are both older articles, they came up in my feed on Facebook over the last week or so and they are great reminders to help us be more productive. Don’t forget, if you’ve been reading something you think I’d love and should share it here, please let me know!

1. Dear Working Mom. I find one of the hardest parts of being a working mom is constantly having to switch gears. I feel like I’m running 3 ships at the same time and it’s not easy switching back and forth all day every day. Even when I think I’m going to focus on “just being a mom” for a day, or even an afternoon, something seems to come up. When I’m ready to have the most productive day ever at work, I get a call from daycare or remember I forgot to sign my kid up for an activity before a deadline. I often find myself saying things like okay, go with the flow or control what you can control.

2. The Silent Marriage Killer. This one is good. We talk a ton about setting expectations in my 6-week online nutrition coaching groups. {Next one starts January 8th!} It’s really important to set appropriate expectations for ourselves, and as this article points out, for our marriages.

One way I have my clients work on setting appropriate expectations is to ditch the word should. Instead of worrying about what should be happening, we only deal with what is actually happening and what is right now. Here in front of us. We call that reality. If you argue with reality, you will always lose so you might as well get reality on your team. Productive, right?

Make it a great Tuesday. Get out there and be productive with your time. One thing at a time. FOCUS. When your training, train. When you’re working, work. When you’re relaxing relax.

Amanda

PS – if you’re wasting time worrying about the Halloween candy you have been eating this past week that is not productive. Read this and move on.