Tech Tips from CoopSys – Episode 4: How To Be More Productive
In this episode of Tech Tips from CoopSys we’re tackling something that every single one of us has to deal with day by day: We are constantly challenged to “work smarter” and be more productive without making more work for ourselves.
Most of us are wearing more than one hat, sometimes too many to count, in a business… and you just can’t get to everything all at once. So, how do we maximize our time and make the most of our resources?
We certainly can’t stop time, and we can’t always just hire more people or purchase things to try and solve problems. Some of you may have been expecting a list of technology tools to boost productivity, but before we make any suggestions about that we wanted to start with fundamentals and hone in on some basic principles that will allow you to get more done in all parts of your life, including business.
That said, we cannot ignore the whole world of useful technologies that can help boost your productivity! We’ll dive into some of those in an upcoming Tech Tips episode. It’s extremely important to choose wisely when it comes to adding technology in or changing what you use to solve problems, and the process of determining the best fit has to happen before you jump.
In this episode, Scott Spatz, President of Cooperative Systems, invites us to take a look at how we spend time and what we do during these times in order to discover opportunities to leverage what’s available to us already!
The 5 core issues discussed here are:
- The 80:20 Principle — The Pareto Principle
- 90-120min — Ultradian Rhythms
- Eat The Frog — Mark Twain’s Philosophy
- 40% — Rule of Multitasking
- 12 out of 40 — Meetings on Meetings
We dubbed them as “core principles” because there are clear implications of each of these that you can follow in order to be more productive overall.
We also discuss a few things you can do to make your meetings more impactful and efficient. They are:
- Test the tech or tools ahead of the meeting to avoid technical snafus
- Come with a formal agenda in place
- Work off of notes from previous efforts on those relevant topics in order to make headway
- Be more efficient by having all participants using the same productivity tools
- Use visual aids to keep everyone engaged in a common place
- Take notes for the team to reference and track progress
- Get feedback and rate meetings. Find out how you can improve so that everyone gets the most out of the time you all have together.
One other little set of items offered in this Tech Tips episode are the 5 simple takeaways:
- Prioritize tasks. Identify goals and work backwards to define the work.
- Change pace. Honor those Ultradian rhythms in your day.
- Tackle the tough stuff. Identify those things that are super important that you may be procrastinating.
- Do not over-multitask. Know your limits and check yourself to be more productive.
- Host purposeful, efficient meetings.
We hope this brings to light some actionable items you can be doing personally, and things that you can encourage your teammates to pay attention to in order for everyone to get more out of their day and be more productive. In doing so, each person will be positively impacting your organization’s bottom line.
For more tips on how to better yourself and your business, stay tuned into our Tech Tips from CoopSys here or on our blog. Get in touch with us to learn how partnering with Cooperative Systems can super-charge your business operations:
"*" indicates required fields