So finally, let’s get into the details of why do you need to be productive and stay focused to achieve your goals and be a few steps ahead of your competitors.

I would like you to take a moment and ask yourself…

• Would you like to have more time to read about new trends and studying new skills within your industry?
• Would you like to deliver eight projects a month instead of four or even less?
• Would you like to feel that you actually worked during the day instead of feeling guilty because you didn’t do anything useless today at work besides scrolling social media, especially if you work from home?

I know we start with difficult questions, but trust me, there is a reason behind it. I believe that now you have a better understanding of your objectives and obstacles.

I would like you to write down three reasons why you would like to become more productive and stay focused. Do it now, even if you will throw this away, it is essential to pour your thoughts into a paper, so it is tangible for a couple of minutes. Take a moment to think about what you just wrote. In the meantime, I will tell you a bit more about where we are going with all of these.

To be honest with you, I struggled a lot, like really a lot, when I decided to work online. I felt overwhelmed because I had access to almost unlimited knowledge. I didn’t know where I should start. I didn’t want to miss out… Do you know that feeling?

I wanted to do everything at once because everything was essential for me to start a business and grow it. But it is impossible to manage:

• creating the strategy,
• writing an offers,
• setting up an account on Upwork,
• developing the website,
• designing personal branding,
• organizing my portfolio,
• and others.

All at the same time.

So, I decided to break the whole strategy into smaller pieces and give them importance, about which we will talk as well sooner or later. But it wasn’t enough…

That’s why, today, I would like to introduce to you something called implementation intentions. In my personal opinion, it is one of the most excellent tools ever invented for self-development, created by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer.

Let me tell you about his simple experiments in a short story.

He divided students into two groups and asked them to prepare a short report about how did they spend Christmas.

The first group received an assignment: “You will earn some extra points, but you need to write a note of how did you spend holidays…”

The second group received one more task to the previous group: “… and decide now, where and when you will write about it.”

In other words, students from the second group had to specify where they will spend their Christmas and when they will have some time to write the paper.

For example, I will visit my parents, and I will stay there for two days. On the 26th of December, I will put an alarm at 6 pm, and I will write my report in my old room about how did I spend this time with my family.

You may wonder what happened later?

Can you believe that only 33% of students from the first group completed the task, while in the second group, the result were above 75%? Additional requests helped students to be more effective.

When they have been asked whether they actually wrote a paper in the time and place they decided before, 100% of them said yes.

Peter Gollwitzer confirmed these results with another experiment, this time with patients who had a hip endoprosthesis procedure. We all know that rehabilitation of your leg can be time-consuming and pretty hurtful.

So again, patients were divided into two groups. Both groups received a flyer with specific suggestions of exercises and how to make them correctly. In one of them, there were 13 blank pages that patients could use any way they wanted.

The second group received pages with the header “this week, I will do…” and short instruction “write down exactly what you are planning to do, for example, if you are planning to go for a walk set the time, the date and where you will go.”

As you can imagine, people who wrote this kind of note had better results than the others, and their rehabilitation went so much better when compared to the first group.

Why do I tell you these stories that seem not really relevant for you at the moment? Well, the truth is that you can influence your productivity thanks to this method. It’s so easy.

You only need to define where and when you want to devote yourself to work on developing your business, studying new skills, working on a particular project for your client, or anything else like even changing your bad habits. Implementation intentions will increase the chance of success and finishing whatever you decided to do.

So do it now, instead of wasting your time. You cannot hesitate every day whether I should study now or maybe after watching a few episodes of Friends. Or should I work on my article right after work or when my baby will fall asleep? Why? Because at the end of the day, you will find only excuses to postpone it for later or even never. Take advantage of any time slot you have available. Also, you can set an alarm that will remind you to do it. Thanks to this, you will be able to work on your project every day, even if it’s only 30 mins.

I know it seems like a small and not significant tool, but I promise thanks to your productivity and ability to stay focused, you will build a solid foundation that will hold your business empire.

With that being said, I would love to share with you a free tool for monitoring your progress using the power of implementation intentions that will bring you up to 40 additional hours a month to develop your business and see results.

But let’s discuss first what exactly it is the whole progress monitoring or habit tracker thing? I am sure that you have already heard that it is something worth doing, or you previously used some printable materials or excel sheets, or maybe apps like Productive, Habitify, or others.

Habit tracker or progress monitoring is not only a fashion that is out there right now – it is a really powerful tool. Every day we mark how our progress at work looks like with the decisions we previously made. Did you make your today’s task, or did you let it go, or you finish a part of it, or you have done a bare minimum? Even when you are marking those skipped days and see that your plan is getting further from achieving – you feel motivated to change it and get back on the track. You might also analyze what went wrong during these days and find a way to fix it. It is easier to spot it when you see it.

I strongly believe that if you would like to make changes in your productivity, being focused, personal development, being effective, grow your business – progress monitoring is a necessity.

How does it work for me? As this article is quite long so far, I’ve decided that another time I will share with you my daily routine and morning rituals that help me start a day, focus on my priorities, and what I want to achieve in my business. When I decided to monitor my progress at home and work – many things in my life have changed for the better.

Time for you!

After you sign up for the newsletter, you will receive an email where you can confirm subscription and download the free tool for monitoring your progress using the power of implementation intentions. Then you can print it, hang it above your desk or hide it in your calendar. 

Remember about what I said at the beginning. It’s essential to define where and when you want to devote yourself to follow your plan. That’s why I designed more space than ever in the left column so you can elaborate on it. So instead of general “watching a copywriter’s course,” you can say, “I am going to watch a copywriter’s course for 15 minutes at 7:30 am while drinking my coffee in my favorite armchair before going to work.” Don’t forget to mark when you made it – a fantastic feeling. If you couldn’t do it that day, it’s also fine.

You may say, it’s only 15 mins per day, why should I write it down, it’s not even a lot. BUT 15 mins x 30 days is 7,5 hours a month for only learning one new skill or progressing with your business. I know how difficult and challenging it is to devote half of the day for something additional in my busy schedule, but thanks to this method, I get even 40 hours a month to focus on what is really important to me and my business.

We can compare 40 additional hours to a regular working week from 9 am to 5 pm from Monday to Friday. In a yearly perspective, it is 12 additional weeks to be more productive and be ahead of your competitors. Wouldn’t you want to have more time to develop your brand and products? So…

If you have any questions, leave the comment below!

Thank you,
Eva