Productivity tips are many, and I bet you’ve read dozens – if not hundreds – of articles on this topic. The problem is, most of them just rewrite or paraphrase the same hacks: make a plan, use calendars, prioritize, wake up early, delegate your work where appropriate, and so on and so forth.
Sure thing, these tips work, but savvy businessmen know it’s impossible to operate on every trick they find online. What you need to do is choose productivity techniques that work for you. We all are different, after all, and each of us has own individuality.
That said, I’m not going to plagiarize or paraphrase copybook maxims but concentrate on the productivity hacks that work for… women.
Surprise-surprise, but men and women are yet different. No matter how everyone cries aloud about gender equality, physical and psychological otherness is still here, isn’t it? So, the five daring tips on productivity I am going to describe here are for female startupers planning to launch a small business or managing it already.
1) Schedule less
I don’t encourage you to forget about planning and calendars, but try to stay realistic when scheduling working days or weeks. More tasks in Evernote will not make you more productive: appointing a meeting on 10 am with another one on 11 am when it takes 40 minutes to get there doesn’t look like a great idea, does it?
Too many tasks on your schedule bring nothing but frustration or even a work depression. So, stay reasonable when organizing your business days. Know your limits and plan accordingly. As we know, even procrastination can make us more productive, if used right.
2) Know and follow your body rhythms
I bet you heard of internal clocks of human bodies, but let’s be honest: who many of us consider them when organizing working days and business plans? And speaking of female startupers, they need to remember about body rhythms depending on monthly periods, as well.
Internal clocks and monthly period phases determine your physical and mental condition during the day. That’s why some of us are more active on mornings, while others prefer working at nights. Examine your body rhythms precisely and consider them for better productivity.
3) Accept failures
Most admit that discrimination still takes place in the workplace one way or another, which leads to a confidence gap: women are less self-assured if compared to men, so they find it challenging to move outside of a comfort zone and start taking risks for business success.
A fear of failure prevents you from acting like a leader, productive and masterful one. Your lack of confidence makes you worry about rejection, not being expert enough, and what others will think. Yes, this fear is challenging for female startupers to overcome, but they can handle it with changing… body language. According to social psychologist Amy Cuddy, it not only affects how others see us but may also change the way we see ourselves.
What else you can do is accept failures as an inevitable part of success: learn from them for better work and future.
4) Network like crazy
Some female startupers admit they hate networking but understand the need for building connections for better productivity and business success. Admit that you can’t manage your startup alone: learn to work with others for best ideas and solutions for your startup.
Consider networking as a part of your job because meaningful business relationships are what matters in our fast-growing, digital world today: build them on LinkedIn, visit events and conferences, outreach influencers, and don’t be shy to build your personal brand online for others to know you and speak about your startup.
5) Learn to say no
Sounds easy to do, but it’s not that simple:
As Kristin Wong writes in her article in The New York Times, we are “social animals, and the word no feels like a confrontation that threatens a potential bond.” But what else this word does is saves your time for better concentration, planning, and work.
In the fast-moving world, everyone expects us to do more in less time. Most agree on this, willing to be a nice team player and believing they become more productive if help every time others ask. It doesn’t work like this: we all know that multitasking is a myth, so you do nothing but kill productivity when losing focus on your work for considering requests.
What can you do?
- Don’t be afraid to admit you are busy and promise to consider the request when you have time.
- Make your answer concise: no need to apologize for your busyness.
- Consider the consequences: you can’t reject resorts all the time as it may influence your professionalism and reputation of a smart leader. Weigh the risk of every refusal and come to a wise decision.
In a word…
Women own more than nine million startups in the U.S. alone today. They influence economies, giving workplaces to nearly eight million people around the world. Yes, traditional gender expectations are still here (women trying to balance career, motherhood, and marriage), but female entrepreneurs can handle that with effective time management and prioritizing.
If learning all productivity tips and deciding which work best for them, ladies will be fully armed to rule the business world. (Figuratively not literally speaking, of course.)