I just interviewed Dave Crenshaw, author of “The Myth of Multitasking” and “Invaluable” (www.DaveCrenshaw.com). During this power-packed one hour, Dave exploded the myth that multi-tasking is a good thing and took us through a really cool exercise to show it zaps productivity as much as 50%… not just for you the business owner but for EVERY employee as well.
He also showed ways to increase your productivity by 10-15 hours a week… that is equivalent to 12-25 work weeks per year!
www.SmallBusinessGrowthClub.com members will get full access to the interview but for the rest of you, I want to pass on a few gifts Dave provided in this interview.
First, here are four areas Dave guided us through to becoming more efficient and effective:
- Set Boundaries on your time – Dave turns off his cell phone and email at 5pm every day and on weekends. This forces him to be more productive in the time allotted.
==> ACTION – Set ONE boundary that will free up quality time for you - Create Personal Systems – if you are multitasking so will everyone in the company. First work on your habits and set the example.
==> ACTION – Check emails twice a day…not whenever the bell rings! - Utilize State of the Art Technology – Not expensive… just up to date. Having a slow computer can add 2% to your time…Not much you say? Well, that equates to ONE WEEK a year!
==> ACTION – Check emails twice a day… not whenever the bell rings! - Upgrade Your Business Systems – if you are interrupted all the time and it seems like constant fires, then you have a “system” issue. One tactic Dave teaches is to create scheduled one on one meetings. One client gained 30% of their time with this one technique alone.
==> ACTION – Identify ONE frequent reason you are interrupted and look for simple ways to reduce these interruptions.
Dave’s other gift… go to www.DaveCrenshaw.com/exercise to see how much Multitasking is slowing you down… takes less than 2 minutes.
To Your Success,
Scott
