Married to the Hustle: Faith, Love, and Business for Entrepreneurial Couples

Five Productivity Tips Every Entrepreneur Needs to Maximize Their Day

• Alex & Jessica Fortis • Season 2 • Episode 10

Share episode

Send us a text

Feeling busy but not productive? These five powerful strategies will help you take back your time and get more done with ease.

Jessica Rosario shares her top productivity secrets for entrepreneurs who are tired of spinning their wheels. From creating simple systems and optimizing your morning routine to identifying your peak productivity zone, these tips help you eliminate distractions and reclaim your energy and focus. Whether you're chasing quick wins or tackling big projects, her approach will help you get things done without burnout.

You don’t need to do more—you need to do what matters most. Start building habits that fuel your focus, freedom, and fulfillment.
 https://Jessrosario.com/fbgroup

Now that you've listened to the Married to the Hustle Podcast, it's time to join the community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/marriedtothehustle

Another way to support the podcast is to leave a review. Your feedback helps us to continue creating valuable content and reach a wider audience.

Thank you for your support!

Alex & Jessica Fortis

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to the maximize your day podcast, a place for entrepreneurs for building their business, in pursuit of freedom and flexibility to do the things they love. I'm your host, jessica Rosario. I'm a New Yorker turned Floridian who knows a thing or two on how to effectively manage your time while juggling multiple priorities. I'm an ex-corporate leader who walked away from my nine to five-ish to launch and grow my business. In this podcast, I share insights on mindset, business productivity, habits and strategies to help you take control of your to do list and maximize your day, which will help you feel more confident and less overwhelmed and getting more done in less time. I'm so excited you're here. Go ahead, listen in. Welcome back. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about how to be a productive entrepreneur and I'm going to be sharing five secrets to getting things done to help you be more productive.

Speaker 1:

Every entrepreneur wants to be productive. It just feels good to look at something tangible and say you know what? I created this, I made this, I did this To get things done, to check things off a list, to make a serious dent in your checklist. You want to feel a level of fulfillment in everything that you do and those are the things that make you feel more productive. But you see, productivity looks different to different people, but the feeling as a whole is universal. For one person, creating an incredible presentation or meeting the needs of a specific client can make them feel amazing, fulfilled and they just really got things done. But for another, it may mean developing a new product or coming up with a new design. For you it may be something completely different, but you know the good feeling that you get by putting in a productive day. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Productivity encourages a true sense of purpose and it offers a deep feeling of accomplishment that's important to a happy and fulfilled life. Being productive also gives you the freedom to spend more time with the ones that you love and less time worrying about the things that are left unfinished. There's nothing better than maximizing your day If you're looking for that sense of purpose and happiness that can come from being productive.

Speaker 1:

I'm sure in this episode you're going to find some ways to focus on the things that will get you there. Now don't get me wrong. Productivity isn't always easy, especially when you're dealing with life. There are so many things that can cause your productivity to falter and even come to a complete stop. Trust me, I've been there.

Speaker 1:

As an entrepreneur, you're constantly battling a thousand distractions that can block creativity and derail a productive morning or afternoon or evening, whatever your most productive state is. And these distractions may stem from your personal life. They may be work related. It could be, you know, family related, family issues, or it could be perhaps that your car broke down or anything like that that can cause you to get distracted. But on the other hand, there's these other distractions that we kind of have control over right. All day long you're receiving notifications, text messages, slack messages, emails oh my gosh, social media pings, mentions, you name it or it could be calls. It could be that you started scrolling one moment on your phone and you didn't realize 45 minutes had already passed. So just as you start to get to important matters, you start to realize that unless you put your phone aside or shut off all distractions and notifications, you're going to be sucked into that big black hole of social media.

Speaker 1:

Even if you're able to set aside these distractions, you may still feel like you're not really accomplishing anything. So you're feeling busy but you're not productive. You're getting things done but you're not getting the right things done. You answer a whole lot of emails. You reply to a whole lot of texts and messages, a lot of people that are waiting for your response, whether it's Slack, whatsapp or Voxer but you still come away each day feeling like you didn't accomplish what you wanted to do. Have you ever felt like you were working really hard but getting nowhere? You go to bed exhausted, wake up exhausted, but you don't feel like you have anything to show for it. You know there has to be a better way, but you just don't know where to start.

Speaker 1:

So I've put together some examples for you on how to become a more productive entrepreneur, and although there's only five examples doesn't mean this is the end. All be all of the list. Examples doesn't mean this is the end all be all of the list. Make sure that you identify some of these and feel free to add some things that you can implement on your own as well. So example number one it's implement systems. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:

Systems are lifesavers for every single thing that you do, are lifesavers for every single thing that you do, whether it's a system on how to follow up, whether it's how to strategize, whether in your business, or if you're in your corporate position, creating templates that you're constantly doing over and over and over again. Why are we reinventing the wheel? And even grocery shopping? Do you meal plan for the week? And it doesn't have to be too complicated, I promise you. I remember the first time that someone told me about meal planning, I thought I don't have time to meal plan. But now the way I look at it is, if I don't meal plan, I won't have time to meal plan. But now the way I look at it is, if I don't meal plan, I won't have time to do the other things that I want to do. So you can implement systems in almost every aspect of your life in order to make your life easier and feel more productive.

Speaker 1:

Example number two and some people will frown upon this, but I will just say wake up earlier, whatever that means for you. That could be 30 minutes, that could be 45 minutes, that could be one hour. What does your morning routine look like? Are you waking up in the morning and running around Like, as I always say, like a chicken without a head? Like you just wake up in the morning and running around like, as I always say, like a chicken without a head. Like you just wake up in the morning, the alarm goes off. You jump off the bed. You barely have time for breakfast. You're yelling at the kids to get ready because you forgot to set your alarm, or perhaps you snoozed the alarm.

Speaker 1:

All of those things have an impact on the rest of your productivity for the remainder of the day. So it's really important to take the time to do you in the morning. You know whether it's an additional 15 minutes, 30 minutes. What can you do during that time? Just so many things you can journal, which I highly recommend. Time Just so many things you can journal, which I highly recommend. You can just meditate, and I'm not saying fall asleep again and wait for the nine minute snooze, but taking the time to just sit there and make space for yourself.

Speaker 1:

Find the room to start your day right on a positive note. Is it a devotional that you're reading, or is it a professional or personal development book? And hey, it doesn't even have to be any of those books, right, it actually can be a fiction book that you absolutely love. What book is sitting on your nightstand ready for you? So identify what are some ways that you can change up your morning routine in order to help you boost your productivity for the remainder of the day.

Speaker 1:

Example number three eliminate distractions. Oh my goodness, turn off the notifications or put your phone on. Do not disturb. How about phone face down? There's something about me reading a book and having my phone next to me and the moment I see it light up, I automatically shift my eyes to my phone and I lose my line on my page. All of those seconds take time out of your day. So if you could have finished reading a chapter in a book, you probably got through half of it because you were constantly looking at your phone. Probably got through half of it because you were constantly looking at your phone. So a good way just put your phone face down or keep your phone where it's not within reach.

Speaker 1:

Set boundaries. So if you're done reading, if you're done meditating or whatever that routine is going to be in the mornings and you want to jump on social media for a couple of minutes, what is the purpose of it? Are you going to jump in whether you're managing a business and you're going to go in there and see if anyone mentioned you or commented and you're going to respond? Have a purpose for your social media scrolling and then some of those boundaries can be time right. So jumping into your social media in the morning, it could be maybe five or 10 minutes, or just don't jump into social media at all in the morning. You can leave that for your lunch break or perhaps in the evening time. You know, I highly recommend that you eliminate distractions that are keeping you from being most productive.

Speaker 1:

And when it comes to boundaries and we can do a whole new episode on that by itself but boundaries are so important when it comes to family matters as well I remember a client of mine who said that when she gets home from work because she was in a highly stressful job she would lock herself up in the bedroom for one hour. She had three children, one of them who was a teen, and that one hour they knew that they could not knock on that door unless it was urgent. They knew that if it was to complain about you know, this one took my clothes, or this one wore my shirt without my permission, or, mommy, can I have a snack? Or anything like that they knew not to interrupt her for that one hour because that one hour was her me time and the family knew about it. So, setting those boundaries and getting buy-in from family as well is really important.

Speaker 1:

Example number four identify your most productive state. Oh my goodness, I cannot tell you how important that is. When I have a conversation with a client, I always ask them what is your most productive state? Because if your most productive state is in the mornings, then that is the best time for you to get things done. Now, if you're not a morning person, that may not be your most productive state. For some, their most productive state is in the afternoons, so they might drag themselves a little in the morning, but once the afternoon hits, they know they have this boost of energy that they're ready to conquer the world. Hey, if it works for you, that's fine. Just know that it's important for you to identify your most productive state.

Speaker 1:

I actually polled in my Facebook group about six months ago and I asked that specific question what is your most productive state? And you'll be surprised how many night owls are inside of my Facebook group. I had so many entrepreneurs and corporate career women's who women who were working at all hours of the night past midnight, to be up already at six, seven o'clock in the morning. I don't know how they do it, but that is their most productive state, when everyone is sleeping and there's absolutely zero distraction. So identify your most productive state and run with it. And if you're not sure what that is, play around with it. Get yourself your to-do list or your project list. Work on that time for that week and the following week change it to the afternoon and see how much you can accomplish between the two. But identify what that is and I promise you you will boost your productivity every time.

Speaker 1:

And my last example, number five, is eat the frog or grab your quick win. There is a book that talks about this, about grabbing. You know, tackle your biggest project or your biggest item on the to-do list and crush it first. Now I will tell you, to some that causes procrastination, so beware of that. For me, I like to grab a quick win. If I have a major project in my hands, for me, it is really important that I eliminate every other smaller thing, that I can just accomplish those little quick wins before I tackle my big project, then that's exactly what I'm going to do. So for some people they want to do the hardest things first. Hey, do you? But for others, they want to grab that quick win that's going to help them feel like they have some level of momentum. It eliminates procrastination and when you have that feeling that you're in the zone and that you're in your most productive state, the zone and that you're in your most productive state, you're going to be able to crush those other larger goals. So there you have it, my five examples on how to be a more productive entrepreneur.

Speaker 1:

And let me just recap those Implementing systems is number one. Number two wake up earlier. Number three eliminate distractions. Number four identify your most productive state. And number five eat that frog. I'm sure you've already implemented some of these steps and you've put in the work and you can be fulfilled in what you've already completed. I know that you'll find these five steps helpful. I love feedback and I just can't wait to hear what new habits you've been able to implement to maximize your day. And don't forget, just subscribe to the podcast to be notified the second a new episode is released and share with your friends who you believe could benefit from listening. Contact me at JessRosariocom to share your feedback, ask questions and make some topic suggestions. You never know what the next episode is going to be about Until next time. Maximize your day and own it.