MSS #033 How to audit yourself for a productivity boost.

MSS #033: How to audit yourself for a productivity boost.

MSS #032: See your productivity rise with these 7 questions..

26 August, 2023

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Are you busy, busy, busy?

Busyness of the mind and being busy in business are often viewed as being effective, because we are doing lots of things.

As we get busier, we can tell ourselves how busy we are, which leads our minds to think we want more “things” to keep us even busier, so we look for more busyness opportunities.

STOP…………PAUSE…………you need time to reflect.

To refresh and reflect effectively, you need simple questions to zone in.

If you would value this, read on, if not enjoy the perils of continued busyness.

Either way take care.

Ready? Then read on….

Audit yourself weekly.

Do you audit yourself?

I mean make a specific regular time slot to sit down, without distraction and review how you work.

With a view to acknowledging the good stuff and seeing how you can be more efficient and effective?

Few people do, as they convince themselves they are too busy to have time. And somehow busy = good in our minds. A badge of honour “look how busy I am”.

It really depends, what you are busy doing, but I guarantee a self-audit will make a very positive difference.

What does an audit look, sound and feel like?

The best audits are,

· Regular, same day and time – weekly is good.

· Time limited – 30 minutes works, more likely to start doing it.

· Same questions – takes away excuses (you can develop the questions over time).

Which questions you use makes a difference? But any questions will be a step forwards.

Try these self-audit questions,

What went well?

What went wrong?

What can I automate?

What can I eliminate?

What did I enjoy doing?

Who / what drained me?

What progress was made?

Let’s delve deeper.

To start with just to get the audit habit established, just ask one or two questions, maybe not much detail.

After you get the same time, same day weekly schedule established, you can ask more of the questions – until you answer all 7.

I strongly suggest you get a dedicated book / journal, say A5 size. Put the questions on the front page. Date each audit entry and note the answers to your questions. As you look back on this, you will have a record of your progress journey.

Now I will go through each of the seven questions and give you a few more insights. Here we go then……..

1.What went well?

· Acknowledge what went well.

· Keep a running list reminds you of success on challenging days.

· Reflect then write down how you can achieve this outcome more often.

2. What went wrong?

· 1st simply accept it, let it go, avoid fixating.

· Write down ONE thing you can do differently next time.

· Write down ONE thing you learned, keep it in a journal.

· Write down ONE opportunity this has created.

Without mistakes you are not growing or pushing hard enough. James Joyce out it best,

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery”

Embrace mistakes as learning points and that you are pushing hard enough. Making the same mistake twice, means the lesson has not be learnt yet.

Mistakes help us grow and learn.

3. What can I automate?

· Examine works flows repeat regularly.

· Assess what process, technology, person can make this more efficient.

The aim is to save time, so you can spend more time on the higher value add tasks, which includes thinking and resting time.

4. What can I eliminate?

· Be honest, what activity adds no value?

· Ask yourself why you keep doing it.

· Eliminate it and replace it with ONE useful action.

This requires brutal honesty. As sometimes these are the tasks we enjoy, but in reality, add little or no value.

5. What did I enjoy doing?

· First celebrate this.

· Second ask yourself how you can do more of this.

· What we enjoy most are the skills we are best at.

Its quite common that we do not value what comes easily to us, because it seems obvious to us. I can assure you others will find what you do easily, really challenging. This is often a great place to focus your business.

6. Who / what drained me?

· Assess what takes your spirit down.

· What does not fit your sense of purpose.

· Write down ONE step that eliminates WHO or WHAT drains you.

· If you cannot eliminate in one step, make gradual changes.

Research shows that for every one negative person, you need five positive ones to balance the effect of the negative person. Never underestimate the negative impact toxic people can have on you and the people around you.

7. What progress have I made this week?

· Keep a running list of progress you’ve made.

· Keep it on one list with a date.

It’s easy to focus on issues not success. Tracking progress and success, helps you acknowledge the good stuff. Proves your worth when you are feeling down and teaches your brain to look for more of the same.

Your turn now.

What are your favourite self-audit questions?

Summary

Quick recap,

• Busyness does not equal effectiveness.

• Avoid self-praise for being busy.

• Self-audit once a week, same day and time

• Important to get the self-audit habit established.

• So, start simple with one or two questions, then build to seven.

• Keep a dedicated journal, so you have a record to look back on.

• Build from the 7 questions with the extra pointers I have give and maybe some of your own questions.

• Most importantly – start this week!

See you next week. If you haven't already, follow me on LinkedIn and hit the bell for daily posts on tips, insights and techniques.

Want more? 

When you're ready, 3 ways I can help you:

1. Build self confidence and resilience fast - £48 training course

2. Work with me 121 - start with a FREE 15 minutes exploration session.

Lets have an open chat and explore how I can help you and what is troubling you.

If we both think we can work together and I have what you need we can go from there.

3. Workshops and Speaking - I run workshops and speak. Book me to help your team increase their productivity.

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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, really hope this helped. Contact me if you think I can help you further at [email protected].

Happy thinking.