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The start of a new year is always a great opportunity to get a fresh new start on our goals. Many times our goals include making more money, getting ahead in our jobs, and getting healthier. Often it can become easy to procrastinate and take away from our path to success. Global data shows that as many as 85% of people do not feel actively engaged at work resulting in a net loss of approximately $7 Trillion. That’s not a figure you would want to present to your boss at the production meeting. We can assure you that! As agents, we need to constantly work on mastering our craft and honing our skills to help as many clients as possible and make the most of our opportunities. We have compiled this list of helpful tips for increasing productivity around the workplace that we know you will find helpful as the start of the quarter begins to ramp up.
Tips for increasing productivity: 80/20 – The Pareto Principle
The Pareto Principle, named after the economist Vilfredo Pareto, specifies that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. For instance, professional athletes practice countless hours a day before and after games. They achieve the greatest results not during practice but during the actual game or championship. Their years of preparation lead to a small defining moment in their career. Years of work and effort culminate into the four quarters, two halves, or nine innings in which their skills are bound. Agents, we can begin to prioritize and identify the 20% of the effort we give out to the 80% of the desired results we get (20% of the time following up or making outbound calls to 80% of additional sales or referrals) and rank the most critical tasks in order of favored outcomes. If you spend too much time on tasks that do not increase the bottom line, you need to start to prioritize the high-impact tasks to get the results you want.
Eliminate Multitasking
Many people maintain that they can multitask. They provide various examples, such as being able to text a client during a meeting or claim listening to music while studying for an exam works for them. Neuroscience research has shown us that the brain does not do tasks simultaneously as we might have expected. The truth is our brain works much like a TV. Each task is a channel where we must switch from one to another. When we listen to music, switch to reading a book, then decide to talk to someone, our brain goes through a new process. The best way to take advantage of your time will be to do one thing at a time. You will be able to focus on one thing that has your full undivided attention, and others will not take away from your concentration. Your results will speak for themselves. You can learn more about multitasking in a short excerpt found here.
Eliminate Unnecessary Decisions
Every decision you make takes up a small amount of your mental energy. Choosing your outfit for the day, determining what route to take to work, or deciding what you will have for lunch uses mental energy. We can increase our mental prowess and ultimately have more brain power to tackle the big stuff by eliminating unnecessary decisions. People like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have been known for wearing the same outfit day after day. Doing so saves brain power and time for other things. Albert Einstein was also notorious for wearing different variations of the same gray suit to avoid deciding what to wear every morning. Planning your meals, driving route, and attire can compound into more decision power to help you tackle the next lead or close the next sale from a customer with a strong rebuttal. Failure to plan is planning to fail. You must be aware and learn to harness this skill toward the decisions that matter.
Agents
We hope this information on tips for increasing productivity is useful to you.
Empower Brokerage is dedicated to helping you make informed decisions about your health and finances. Whether it’s through webinar training, one-on-one calls, seminars, or marketing plans, we want you to be successful!
Give us a call at 888-539-1633 or leave a comment below if you have any questions.
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Jose has been a career agent working with Empower Brokerage since 2021 helping clients from all walks of life find tailored solutions for their healthcare needs.
