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BRRRR! It's been crazy cold in Indianapolis - and across the country this week. With temps below zero, I've been tempted to curl up at home with a hot beverage and the remote control. How about you?
 
However ... like you ... I've had important things to lead and get done this week! The mission and purpose that fuels our work is significant. Our teams, churches and ministries are counting on us.

So, let's talk ideas and tips for productivity. Here are some of my favorites for thinking strategically, leading a team and getting tasks completed too.

Tip #1 - Know yourself and work accordingly. What energizes you? What motivates you? Given your personality and to-do items for the day, build your schedule.

 

Often, I will check email early in the day. For me, I feel more energized if I’ve checked in with our team, checked in on a few projects and addressed any urgent matters. Then, I can be focused for meetings, brainstorming, writing or any other significant responsibilities I have that day. Later, I'll check email, Slack, Basecamp, etc. to follow up on more details or quick tasks. This routine energizes me and helps me think both big-picture and to track with a few details all in a day's work. What schedule works for you?

Tip #2 - Find the balance between connecting with others and having focused work time. Meetings, conversations and interacting with others is key to my work and yours, I'm sure. Yet, having focused time to plan, organize, think and work is also very important. Find the balance by adding specific blocks of work time to your calendar. Then during those blocks of time, work from home, visit your favorite coffee shop or work in a different space at your office. At Fishhook, we have an upstairs conference room. Sometimes I'll work away in that space, and no one even knows I'm up there.

You also might close your door. Put earphones in. Or designate certain times of the week with your team as blocks of time when there will be more of a focus on getting work done team-wide than on connecting or having meetings. At Fishhook, these are Tuesdays. Many of our church clients have staff meetings on Tuesdays. So we use this as focused time to get stuff done!

Tip #3 - Group things! Always looks for places where there is overlap or where you can combine agendas and projects to get more things done at one time. This is a huge productivity strategy for me. Here's one example of how it works. Throughout the week, I'm thinking of multiple ideas that I want to bring up with our leadership team. So I'm continually updating our weekly leadership team meeting agenda to reflect what I'm thinking about or what needs to be discussed. Then, before our next meeting, I look at the agenda with the various ideas/thoughts. I look for ways to group things. What are the themes? What items can be grouped together so we're not moving forward on five things - instead, we're moving ahead on one or two key priorities.

Tip #4 - Make everything a game! Seriously, I try to make most activities in my life fun. (I may always be a 10-year-old girl in my heart.) I tell myself that if I get something planned, written or emailed, then I can go get a drink, a snack or scroll on Facebook for a minute.

Tip #5 - When I'm stuck, I go to the bathroom ... I take a quick walk outside ... I distract myself for a couple minutes with another simple task (like washing the dishes in the Fishhook kitchen) and then come back. It is shocking how effective this tip is for improving productivity or inspiration. There is something about getting moving and saying a quick prayer. Then, as you return to your work, there is often a renewed energy to move ahead. 

I'd call these my top 5 productivity tactics! What tips work well for you?