Money-Smart Solopreneur. Laura D. Adams

      If you’re unprepared for an interruption in work or business income, it can be devastating to your emotional and financial life. So whether you’re laid off or you voluntarily quit, prepare for it now.

      If you have a financial runway to find new opportunities or you’ve built an income from a side business, quitting or getting fired can be a positive experience. Having a good exit strategy can make the difference between feeling crushed by a job loss or becoming empowered by it.

Secrets to Turbocharge Your Productivity

      Whether you leave a day job to dive into starting a business full time or dip a toe into a side gig, you’ll need to become a master of productivity. While this book doesn’t focus on productivity, I’m recommending some essential tips here that will help you establish good work habits and achieve a lot more for your business in less time, resulting in more profit-making potential for your solopreneur venture.

      The Three-Minute Rule

      This rule is an incredibly powerful way to get small tasks off your plate so you can focus on bigger ones. The idea is to complete any task or chore if you can do it in less than three minutes.

      It could be related to your work or home life, such as sending an email, putting clothes in the washer, cleaning your desk, or filing something. Apply this rule to any task that needs to be done—or that’s distracting you from your work. If it would take you less than three minutes to complete, do it now.

      Give It Ten

      When there’s a more significant task or project on your plate, but you’re procrastinating for whatever reason, tell yourself just to give it ten minutes. If you’re like me, you probably tend to avoid tasks that you think will be complex, take a long time, or you just don’t like doing.

      While you might not complete a big task in ten minutes, beginning it usually unlocks your ability to maintain momentum and get it done. Maybe you’ve heard the proverb “Well begun is half done.” That’s productivity gold! Simply getting started on a project—especially one you’re dreading for some reason—makes it so much easier to keep going.

      So the next time you keep putting off work you need to do, work on it for ten minutes. You might use a clock or timer on your phone to keep track. You have permission to stop after those ten minutes are up. But you’ll usually keep going once you realize the task is easier than you thought or that it’ll take less time than you anticipated. Taking action by getting started can unlock a world of achievement.

      Match Tasks to Energy

      While everyone gets the same 24 hours in a day, the quality of those hours varies considerably. Your energy level throughout the day depends on many factors, including your sleep and wake cycles, known as your circadian rhythm.

      Pay attention to your body and notice when you’re tired and when you’re most alert and thinking clearly. You might notice that you have a dip in energy at the same time every day. Whenever you’re most alert is when you should be working on what you value most. If that’s your budding business, carve out that slice of time to focus on it.

      For instance, if you’re a morning person who works a day job and a side business, get up a little earlier to knock out some business tasks before you head to the office. If you’re spent mentally after a full workday, the evening might be the best time to exercise or do household chores. The reverse is true if you’re a night person.

      The idea is that adjusting your life and work schedule to match your natural energy patterns will make you more effective and efficient at everything. In reality, we only have a few peak hours per day to fire on all cylinders, so don’t waste them on low-priority tasks. Save your errands, chores, and physical activity for times when you’re not as sharp mentally.

      If energy-matching is a new idea for you, begin observing how easy or difficult it is for you to complete different tasks. When you feel challenged, instead of pushing yourself to continue working, try doing the task at a different time of day. You may get it done faster and with a better attitude.

      For example, although I usually wake up early, I wouldn’t say that I’m a morning person. After getting up, it takes me a while to feel completely alert. So I prefer doing my high-priority and high-focus tasks, such as writing or project planning, in the mid- to late morning. By then, I’ve had some coffee and gotten a few low-priority chores out of the way. By mid- to late afternoon, I usually don’t feel as focused, and I’ll turn my attention to administrative tasks, errands, and exercise.

      Trying to fight your body’s clock typically doesn’t work. So use your natural energy rhythms to your advantage and schedule work that matches it.

      Schedule Everything

      Speaking of scheduling, that’s another critical way to get more done. Schedule everything in your paper or digital calendar. When you have your entire day mapped out, it’s easier to stay on track and avoid distractions.

      I even put taking a shower, cleaning out my junk mail inbox, and engaging on social media in my digital calendar. For me, if it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t get done. To make scheduling easier, you can use the repeat function to set up any recurring tasks that you don’t want to forget.

      Knowing that everything you need to do is centralized in one place can give you incredible peace of mind. To stay on task, remember that your job is to focus on and complete what’s in your calendar. And if you finish ahead of schedule, you can begin the next most crucial item, turn to an easier item, or take a break.

      And speaking of breaks, be sure to schedule those, too. Whether you want to eat, mindlessly surf the web, or take a walk, breaks boost productivity. My favorite way to rest my mind and reduce stress is to listen to short podcasts or chapters from an audiobook.

      Delegate More

      The most effective way to boost your productivity is to delegate or outsource tasks that someone else can easily do. For example, I have a virtual assistant who helps me with communication, graphic design, and social media outreach. My goal is to focus on the core business tasks that I do best and enjoy.

      Letting go of tasks isn’t easy, and it may make you uncomfortable. If you’re a control freak, like me, you probably believe that no one else can complete a task as well as you. And you may be right.

      So begin delegating slowly. Also remember that in many cases, getting low-value tasks done quickly, but not always perfectly, is better than having them pile up on your plate. Plus, outsourcing creates opportunities for your fellow business owners.

      Stop Being Busy

      Have you ever heard of Parkinson’s law? It’s one of my favorite adages because it’s so true. British naval historian and writer Cyril Northcote Parkinson wrote in 1955, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

      Consider making it your computer screensaver or putting it on sticky notes where you work. It’s a great reminder to stop keeping yourself busy with low-value tasks and start doing work that matters.

      I’m sure you’ve been in a situation where you procrastinated doing something for days or months, but somehow pulled out all the stops and completed the task just ahead of a looming deadline. If something must be done tomorrow, you’ll get it done tomorrow. If you have a week, you’ll take a week. You may not have more time than anyone else, but you can often use the time you have in better ways.

      However, don’t try to get more done by multitasking. You really can’t focus on two things at once, especially high-value tasks. It’s much better to focus entirely on one thing and do it well than to complete several things poorly.

      Check in with yourself throughout the day to see what your energy level is and whether you’re being productive or just busy. If you’re not solely focused on the most valuable task possible for your business, switch gears quickly. Focus on high-value tasks by setting strict deadlines, scheduling them in your calendar, and getting