How ‘Focus Fridays’ Can Supercharge Your Team’s Productivity

Your to-do list is never ending and the emails keep coming. Try this one thing this Friday to boost your productivity and grow your business faster.

I was recently listening to a podcast that discussed the concept of designing your week around special events to give you something to look forward to in your day-to-day life.

They suggested implementing a “Taco Tuesday” or a “Spa Saturday” to break up the monotony.

The idea is a good one and here is something that I do. Let’s talk about “ Focus Friday.”

This little this little time management trick will help you focus and get things cleared out all your calendar.

I always say that cash flow follows your calendar which simply means what gets calendared gets done and if we prioritise the right things in our calendar than the cash flow will take care of itself.

Here is what the pod cast recommended and is very close to what I do.

1. Block Off a Focus Day Each Week.

Once a week schedule yourself a recurring weekly appointment for a 3-4 hour block of “Focus Time”. We’ll call this day your “Focus Day” (even though you’re really only blocking off a 3-4 hour block during that one day.)

Use the focus to work in 50 minutes sprints. So set aside an hour at a time, spent 50 minutes sprinting on a task and then 10 minutes reviewing finalising and cooling down.

In a three-hour session you can achieve 350 minutes sprints and you’ll be amazed what you get done by having that level of focus.

Try to choose a time earlier in the day to avoid being side tracked by random emails and tasks. For me, this is “Focus Friday”

From 10-1, I turn my mobile phone off, don’t check my emails (my notifications are always turned off!) and just focus on my sprints.

This is an opportunity to think about and focus on the tasks that are really going to move the needle on your business, to help you grow to the next level.

Here are a few of my favorite “Focus Day” activities:

• Connecting with strategic partners and mapping out what we’re going to do together next.
• Producing content for social media and email campaigns.
• Producing great teaching content for members of our Mastermind Tribe.
• Looking at what may have become a drain in my business and how to either get rid of it or replace it with a gain.
• Meeting with my business partners to plan and implementation process for a business growth strategy.

This uninterrupted block of time allows me to focus on work in my genius.

The end result is I leave my office on Friday afternoon knowing that I’ve actually achieved something that will help take my business to the next level and help take our clients businesses to that next level as well.

Rather than spending my Friday simply ticking things of my to do list I’ve made some real change and it sets me up for an amazing and refreshed weekend.

2. Score Yourself

The next tip I have for you should be done immediately after your Focus Day time is complete a review and to score yourself.

It’s pretty simple, I use a project cycle chart which enables me to map out my projects every six weeks, set up what I want to achieve on my Focus Friday and then

Score how I’ve gone. It’s a great way of keeping a running tally on how I’m doing and creates very easy accountability. If you like a copy of our project cycle sheet email mastermind[email protected] and I’ll happily give you one.

This will allow you to objectivity look at your value creation for this time and get better and better over time.

3. Enlist Your Team’s Help.

My Focus Days are something that my team knows all about and they help keep me accountable.

I also encourage them to follow the same process. They love it and they also keep me accountable to sticking to it. They understand why focus time matters for the company, and we work together to help create the buffer needed to focus on creating real value for our clients.

4. Spread The Word

Once others see what you can achieve by following this simple hack they will want to adopt it and sharing your wins and processes is a wonderful gift.

It is always worth remembering that the best way to get what you want in life is to help others get what they want.

The more time you can focus on these super valuable tasks away from your inbox and your phone, the closer you will get to building a business rather then a job.