Secrets From a Productivity Rockstar

Entrepreneurs: How to Be a Productivity Rockstar

"I have way too much time on my hands!" said absolutely no businessperson anywhere.

All entrepreneurs must struggle with time constraints, and the global marketplace continues to squeeze every last drop out of us every single day. Whether you are in the startup stages or are running a mature company, I'm guessing that you need help improving your productivity.

Here are five secrets from an entrepreneur I spoke with who can be best described as a "Productivity Rockstar." She is juggling an established small business, a brand new startup, and three children under the age of five. Somehow she manages to do all that while also fitting in exercise and sleep. Seems crazy, but it's possible!

Plan It Out: The most simple way to accomplish more is to have a plan for doing so. Each week, entrepreneurs should roughly plan out their critical tasks. Then, because "stuff" always comes up, they need to revisit their plan every morning and at the end of each day. If you are juggling multiple companies and/or family obligations, include them in this planning process. Entrepreneurs never just work on one thing at once, and you don't have to do that as long as you are keeping the big picture in mind.

Ruthlessly Prioritize: Because something will always be competing for your attention, you must ruthlessly prioritize based on the plan you created. Of course you need to be flexible, but you simply can't be so flexible that critical actions don't get done. It's all to easy to drop a true priority, like developing a sales strategy for a new product, for a "fire" that demands attention right now. You have to ruthlessly evaluate each fire that comes your way, and be careful not to spend all of your time being a firefighter, which results in absolutely nothing getting done.

Delegate: Entrepreneurs are naturally wired to want to do everything themselves, but you can't scale yourself, so you have to figure out how to delegate tasks to others. The more you can get great people around you who you trust, the better your chances of success in business and in life.

Let It Go: One of the reasons the Disney movie "Frozen" hit it so big is because of its catchy theme song, "Let It Go." All of us can relate to the idea that we are held back by our personalities, gifts and circumstances. And all of us fantasize about letting go of those restrictions to find freedom. An entrepreneur, more than anyone else, must learn to "Let It Go" - let go of perfectionism, fear, failure, money, and everything else that is holding you back from achieving your dreams.

Move + Sleep: So many entrepreneurs fill their days to the brim with work. But when the future of the company rests on your shoulders, there is nothing more important than taking care of yourself. Make time to move your body every day and sleep at least 7 hours. Sure, there is a strong fantasy of the entrepreneur getting by on less than 3 hours of sleep per night, but that's really only sustainable for a short period of time, and is typically associated with severe mental illness and/or breakdowns. Don't be an idiot: take care of your body and it will work hard for you for the long-term.

Check out my Slideshare presentation on productivity if you want to learn more: