Envision Possibilities
Productivity Coaching, Time Management Consulting and Leadership Coaching for business and nonprofits - get your most important work done. Collaborating with leaders and their teams to become more strategic, focused and productive. Leadership and Board Coaching, Strategic Planning Facilitation, Productivity Coaching and Time Management Consulting, Professional Speaker.
Productivity Coach, Productivity Consultant, Leadership Coach, Time Management Coach, Business Consulting, personal productivity, time management, nonprofit, board coach, collaboration, strategic planning, facilitation, change management, leading productive teams, project planning, board development, volunteer engagement, association management, workplace productivity, executive director.
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Envision Possibilities

05 Aug

Posted at 14:01h in Envision Possibilities, Procrastination, Productivity, Stress Management, Tips for Easier Living

It’s August. It’s hot. Everyone’s either on vacation or thinking about it. You might be wishing you had more time to rest, slow down, and escape the heat—but somehow, the work still needs to get done.

That’s why how you spend your work time really matters. You don’t need more hours—you need more impact from the hours you already have.

Here’s something I often share: “One unit of focused time is equal to four units of broken focus.” — American Academy of Family Physicians

In other words, ten focused minutes can be as productive as forty minutes of distracted, fragmented effort. The math is simple—and persuasive. Especially in a season when we’re all craving more time off the clock.

Start with Clarity: What Matters Most?

Before we dive into distractions, let’s talk about focus. You can’t focus effectively if you don’t know what you’re focusing on. Each morning, take a moment to clarify your most important priorities for the day. I like to jot mine down on a simple sticky note—just a few key tasks that, if completed, will let me feel good about calling it a day.

This doesn’t mean creating a massive to-do list. In fact, it means the opposite.

As Lin Yutang wisely said: “Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.”

Letting go of the nonessentials is an act of leadership. You protect your time by honoring what matters most—and letting the rest wait.

Eliminate Distractions: Your Phone Isn’t Helping

One of the biggest threats to focused work? The small device that’s always within reach. Our phones—helpful, powerful, and endlessly distracting—can derail even the best-laid plans for a focused work session.

Want to tap into the power of those “ten focused minutes”? Start by putting your phone in another room. Seriously. Airplane mode is great. Do Not Disturb works too. But if it’s physically out of sight, you’re less likely to reach for it out of habit.

Consider turning off all but the most essential notifications. For me, that’s calls and text messages—nothing else. During focused work sessions, even a single ping can break your concentration and cost you more than just a few seconds. Research suggests it can take 20+ minutes to fully recover from an interruption. Multiply that over a few distractions, and you’ve just lost your entire work block.

Plan for the Ramp-Up: Flow Takes Time

Here’s something we don’t talk about enough: it takes time to settle in and focus. So don’t expect to sit down and immediately start cranking out brilliant work. That’s not how human brains operate.

Instead, plan for ramp-up time before you dive into focused work. Do a quick check of your email or messages, respond to anything urgent, and then intentionally clear the decks. Grab water. Take a bio break. Cue up music that helps you concentrate. Close the extra browser tabs. Then give yourself permission to go deep.

This preparation isn’t procrastination—it’s setting the stage for high-quality work. It’s part of what turns ten minutes into something powerful.

Work Smarter, Rest Better

In this summer heat, when our energy can feel low and our motivation stretched thin, we don’t need more hours—we need more impact from the hours we do have. That starts with focus, clarity, and protecting our attention like the limited resource it is.

So before you burn out trying to push through an endless list, stop.

  • Write down your essentials.
  • Silence the noise.
  • Create the conditions for deep work.
  • And remember: ten focused minutes might be all you need to make real progress today.

Want more practical strategies like this? Chapter 11: Time Matters in my book Productivity for How You’re Wired dives deeper into how to plan your day, manage your time, and get the right things done without the overwhelm. It’s available now on Amazon—in print, eBook, and audio.

Feeling overwhelmed by too much to do and not enough time to do it? You’re not alone—and you don’t have to stay stuck in that cycle. Through one-on-one coaching, I help professionals and leaders like you cut through the noise, ditch the never-ending to-do lists, and align your productivity with how you’re wired—so you can finally create systems that actually stick.

 

14 May

Posted at 20:40h in Change, Envision Possibilities, Procrastination, Productivity, Stress Management, Tips for Easier Living

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Be future focused. Remember the why not the what. Motivation follow action.

Here are some of my favorite thoughts on productivity. They aren’t what you typically hear, but they’ve helped me and my clients. I hope they’ll help you too!

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

This is one of the hardest lessons to learn. We often think that because we can do something, we should just do it. But building in a pause and asking whether it’s in our best interest to say yes is a powerful shift. Here are some questions to consider when deciding if the answer should be yes:

  • If I say yes to this, what will I have to say no to in order to make time for it? Remember, time is finite. You can’t keep adding commitments indefinitely. Are you willing to give up time at the gym or working on a project that matters to do this?
  • Is there someone else who can do this well enough? Not only could it be a good opportunity for someone else on your team to learn a new skill, but it might also be better for you to stick to your high-value work and let someone else do this.
  • Will doing this help me achieve a long-term goal or intention? Look at your goals for the year. Does this action support them? If not, the answer is most likely NO.

Retraining your brain around this takes time—it’s a new way of thinking. 

It may be less about setting boundaries and more about considering the future result of saying yes.

This is what we call a “time horizon” issue. If you look at your calendar three weeks from now, it may seem like you have plenty of time, and you might believe you won’t need to compromise your boundaries to say yes. But is that truly the case? You know how often things pop into your life and take up time that you didn’t anticipate.

Ask yourself: How would you feel if you had to fit this event, action, or task into your calendar this week or today? Would you still say yes?  

When learning a new habit—remember the why, not just the what.

When we try to change something, our brain tends to push back. Doing something different— even if it’s for our benefit—can trigger the brain’s threat response, leading to fight, flight, or freeze. That’s not the ideal mental state for making lasting change.

When making a change, it’s natural to focus on the “what”: the specific steps to implement it. For example:

  • “I’ll go to the gym every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning before work.”
  • “I’ll do my daily planning with my coffee each morning.”
  • “Even though the report isn’t due until Friday, I’ll schedule time to work on it Monday.”

But what often happens? You know the answer! So try shifting your focus. Instead of just the “what,” consider the “why”:

  • “I know I will feel better physically and emotionally if I work out three times a week.”
  • “When I take five minutes to plan today’s tasks, I get more done, feel less stressed, and enjoy my free time more.”
  • “When I give myself time to write, pause, and revise, the quality of my work improves, and I feel more confident.”

Motivation follows action—not the other way around.

I often hear people say, “I just need more discipline.” But I believe discipline isn’t the key. How do you gain motivation? Simply—by taking action. Once you start, it feels good. Completing tasks feels even better. Success breeds success.

Remember, motivation follows action, not the other way around. This makes building habits easier. Give it a try: see if it’s motivation you need, not discipline.. 

A final note:

All these mindset shifts are valuable. But as we’ve discussed, trying to change too many things at once makes it harder to sustain those changes. My recommendation – pick one and test that for a few weeks.  Good luck! 

If you enjoy my blog, you’ll love the insights in my book, Productivity for How You’re Wired, available on Audible, in print, and as an ebook all on Amazon.

24 Oct

Posted at 16:17h in Envision Possibilities, Focus and Prioritize, Planning Tools, Productivity for How You're Wired, Time Management

My last blog post we discussed the importance of setting your goals and intentions. This week we move on to Step 2 of the Productivity Flow Framework: Time Mapping.

A time map helps you create a vision of how you want to spend your time. You can think of this as a vision board where you are creating a picture of something you aspire to, or as a budget for your time. This is useful for several reasons:

  • It forces you to think through how you are going to fit in time for the various priorities you’ve identified in your goal and intention setting exercise.
  • It helps you allocate your time most effectively — both at work and at home.
  • It shows you if you need to re-prioritize commitments.
  • It helps you see if your expectations are realistic and feasible.

When you create your time map you’ll want to consider any or all of the following: 

Morning Routine: Do you need time for the kids or pets, exercise, meditation, showering, getting ready, and eating breakfast? Or should you sleep as long as possible and only do the essentials to get to work on time? 

Work Time: 

  • Starting Time — How long is the commute? Do you read the news, peruse social media, check email? How much time do you want to spend on these tasks? Factor in these variables to determine your realistic start time.
  • Work Transitions — Are you magically going from one meeting to the next? Even in the era of Zoom, it does take a couple of minutes to make it to the next call. Oh, and you wanted to recap notes in between? And take a bio break. And grab a glass of water. Planning transition time is important.
  • Focus Work — When can you do your flow, creative, and cognitively taxing work? Can you block out interruptions and do it during the day, or is this better left to an early morning, late afternoon, evening, or weekend block of time? If you block two hours for focus time, does that include checking email, clearing your desk, getting a snack, or anything else you need to do to be able to attend to the work itself? Would it be helpful to build in ramp-up time?
  • Ending Time — When is your work hard stop? Being intentional about when to stop working supports you in developing realistic guardrails. 

Exercise: Do you like to exercise before, during, or after work? Do you need to plan in time for getting to the gym? Shower time? How often do you want to work out? How long are the work outs?

Self-Care: Do you want to have time to take care of yourself? Pleasure reading? Pedicures and massage? Yoga? Meditation? Alone time?

Friends and Family: Do you want time to go out with your friends or partner? How much time do you want to spend with your parents, kids, and family? What else do you want to add in?

Other areas from your Goals and Intentions: Do you need time for a second business? Extra learning? Professional development? Personal projects?

This is your opportunity to think through how you want to use the time you have. About how long transitions REALLY take. About how much sleep you REALLY need, how much exercise you REALLY want to get, and even about when you will take time to appropriately fuel your body with food. 

Start thinking about what matters to you.  Use a template from the book or design your own. What’s most important is that you take a bit of time to identify just how much time you have to “spend.” Time mapping empowers you to depict how you REALLY want to live. It is your opportunity to create a vision for what your ideal week will look like and your first step to living it. 

This is an excerpt from Chapter 8 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Worksheets and online templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

10 Oct

Posted at 11:50h in Envision Possibilities, Focus and Prioritize, Planning Tools, Productivity for How You're Wired, Stress Management, Time Management, Tips for Easier Living

 

In my last blog post I explained the importance of setting your goals and intentions, and we discussed why adding intentions was so important. In my book Productivity for How You’re Wired, I share 3 different models you can use to set goals and intentions based on your structure preference. You can create your own plan by following the steps below.  Definitely do the first 3 steps. Steps 4 and 5 are optional based on “how you’re wired.”

Step 1: Identify Focus Areas

Focus areas are the spaces in which you want to spend the time of your life. In a financial budget you’d have areas such as home expenses, utilities, clothing, food, and entertainment. For your life’s Focus Areas these may be business/work, professional development, personal growth, self–care, family, spirituality, friends/social, volunteerism, service, activism/advocacy.

Step 2: Set Goals and/or Intentions
A few people can state their goals or intentions off the top of their heads. Most can’t.

If the answers don’t come easily to you start by developing your priorities (Step 3). Then use your priorities to back into your goals and intentions. While it goes against every rigid business planner’s process, completing your priorities first can help you see exactly what matters. Ask “what is the purpose of doing these things” (the priorities.) The answer will bring the goal or intention into focus. Keep your goals and intentions concise and clear. They cue you to remember. They do not need to include ALL the details.

Step 3: Determine Strategic Priorities
The next step is to figure out the three most important things you want to accomplish in each focus area. Your priorities should be actionable within the established time frame of your plan. The priority should identify what you will do.

  • Start with an action word such as plan, complete, strategize, or implement.
  • Be concise – provide enough detail so you understand what want to do, but not so much you can’t easily grasp the action.
  • When identifying your priorities, it is often helpful to prime the pump by ask yourself questions such as these:
    • What project, task or action is critical to my success/my organization’s success?
    • What do I want to accomplish?
    • What would I be disappointed with if I didn’t achieve?
    • What do I need to do to be who I want to be? 

Step 4: Create your Mission/Purpose/Success Statement

This is your WHY, your driver, what motivates you in work and/or life. If you know your WHY, add it now. If not, it often comes into focus as you complete the rest of the map. This step is optional. Add it if it supports you. Your statement should inspire you:

  • Use words that will reinforce what is important to you.
  • Define what success means to you.

Step 5: Plan your Quarterly Tactics

If you thrive in high structure and you’re excited about having a full–blown, step–by–step quarterly plan, this last section is for you. However, if the thought of doing this last step sounds dreadful, you’re best to skip it.

  1. Think the project through.
  2. Now put the project elements in order. Consider what steps must come before the others. You’ll probably identify a couple of things you are missing. Add those in.
  3. Estimate the time you’ll expect to spend on this element. A good rule of thumb is to double your time estimate.
  4. Now plug the elements into your quarterly plan.

Start thinking about what matters to you.  Use a template from the book or design your own. What’s most important is that you take a bit of time to identify how you want to “spend” your time.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 7 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Worksheets and online templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

24 Jan

Posted at 19:44h in Envision Possibilities, Focus and Prioritize, Productivity, Time Management

It's not really balanced...

Work-life balance isn’t really a thing. Betty Friedan has been quoted as saying “you can have it all, just not all at the same time.” Balance implies evenness, sameness, a destination. It isn’t.

No one is ever in balance for more than a moment. Perhaps what we are striving for is harmony. In classical music, sometimes the percussion is louder, sometimes the strings are louder, sometimes the brass is louder. There are forte sections where everything is blaring at once and there are pianissimo sections where sound is barely audible. And there are rests, quiet spaces when no sounds are made at all. Just like life! In life, different parts are louder than others at different times, but as a whole, it can be harmonic and beautiful.

When on a deadline or project, work is loud. During times of celebration or sadness, family is loud. While training for a 5K or other personal endeavor, self-care is loud, and when on vacation there are times of quiet and silence. Framing life like a symphony and striving for harmony seems so much more reasonable.

If one were to divide a “life pie” into four balanced parts — work, family, self-care, other interests —  you would be spending an equal amount of time on each portion.  That’s not how life is.  And we know no day, week, or month is ever the same. To think it would be is not realistic. Additionally, imagine how boring life would be if every day and every week were the same.

What would be possible if you gave yourself permission to live in harmony and not strive for perfect balance all the time?

Harmony at Work

The same concept of harmony applies to work as well. If you are only doing unrewarding tasks and projects, it’s hard to stay engaged. Therefore, when creating your task list, consider the importance of putting meaningful things on your list. If all you do are things to please others, you won’t be very motivated to do your best, most productive work.

Traditionally, around Thanksgiving, I write a blog post about our lives being too full, like a Thanksgiving plate. If we fill our Thanksgiving plate with foods to please everyone else, we won’t have room to eat the foods we love. This results in us leaving the Thanksgiving table unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Then later, we eat more pie than we should. If you want to be satisfied, it is important to make room for the sweet potatoes and stuffing, or whatever your favorite Thanksgiving food of choice is.

In life and work, it’s important to make room for the things that matter too. Is it time to pull your passion projects off the back burner? Is it time to stop spending precious time making unimportant things perfect? Is it time to have more fun? With variety, NOT BALANCE, you’re much more likely to be productive.

This is compiled from Chapter 5 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Worksheets and online templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

20 Dec

Posted at 14:54h in Envision Possibilities, Focus and Prioritize, Productivity, Time Management

 

This is not your typical business school goal setting post! It’s about getting clear about what’s important to you.  Because when you know what is important, it is easier to say yes to the things that matter.

Intentions and Not Just Goals?

Goals are useful in some cases. They just aren’t applicable for everything. Considering intentions (how you want to live) expands your possibilities.

Goals have specific outcomes

  • Make profits over six figures this year.
  • Complete the team on-boarding program by June.
  • Lose four pounds a month each month this year.

Intentions clarify how you wish to live

  • I work smart and provide a great service.
  • I live a healthy, happy life.
  • I give my best self to my family.
  • I continue to learn so I can help other leaders grow.

Goals AND Intentions 

Most people have both goals and intentions. To focus on one and not the other is addressing just a portion of what is important.

My clients tell me they need help figuring out how to get all their work done. In reality, work is only part of the challenge. Many say they would like to take time off without worry, spend more quality time with their families, and even have a bit of time for themselves. As you work through identifying your own goals and intentions, you may want to consider more than work. Remember, a key reason to improve productivity is to have a full and better life.

Use the Planning Map Snapshot format below to plan a better 2023

Step 1: Identify Focus Areas — The life areas you choose to prioritize.

  • Focus Areas are the spaces in which you want to spend your time. In a financial budget, you’d have areas such as home expenses, utilities, clothing, food, and entertainment.
  • Your life’s Focus Areas may include business, work, professional growth, personal growth, self-care, family, spirituality, friends, volunteerism, service, activism, or advocacy.
  • Only Four Areas! Challenge yourself to limit your number of Focus Areas to four. When you spread yourself too thin, you end up accomplishing less. When you force yourself to narrow your focus, you do better work and are more productive.

Step 2: Determine Goals and Intentions — The ultimate outcome you are striving for.

  • A few people can state their goals or intentions off the top of their heads. Most can’t.
  • If the answers don’t come easily to you, start by developing your priorities (step 3). Then use your priorities to back into your goals and intentions. While it goes against every rigid business planner’s process, completing your priorities first can help you see exactly what matters.
  • Ask yourself “what is the reason these priorities are important? What is my purpose in accomplishing them?” The answer will bring the goal or intention into focus.

Step 3: Set Priorities — The overarching projects and tasks you need to complete to achieve your goal or live your intention.

  • The next step is to figure out the three most important things you want to accomplish in each Focus Area. Your priorities should be actionable within the established time frame of your plan.
  • The priority should identify what you will do.
    • Start with an action word such as plan, complete, strategize, or implement.
    • Be concise — provide enough detail for you to understand what you want to do, but not so much you can’t easily grasp the action at a glance.
  • When identifying your priorities, it often helps to prime the pump by asking yourself questions such as these:
    • What project, task, or action is critical to my success or my organization’s success?
    • What do I want to accomplish?
    • What would I be disappointed with if I didn’t achieve?
    • What do I need to do to be who I want to be?
  • Was it hard to identify three priorities for each life area? Having too many priorities is more often the problem. Remember, it’s better to do a few things fully and well than attempt many things that never reach completion.
  • While you may only have three priorities per goal or intention, when you consider your four Focus Areas, you will have twelve priorities for the entire year. Completing twelve priorities is a challenging, yet generally attainable target.

My wish for you for 2023 is that you take a bit of time to get clear about what’s important for 2023. I suspect that if you do, you will actually have a happy New Year.

This is compiled from Chapter 7 my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Worksheets and online templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.