Being Kind is your business super-power.
How do you Be Kind in Business? By applying the MAGIC formula:
Moving
Attuning
Giving
Inspiring
Connecting
It applies to:
- Yourself
- Your clients
- Your team
- Your prospects
Getting to Know Yourself
We can be more effective and productive if we learn to attune to ourselves.
Get to know ourselves, work out how we tick, and then work according to our natural rhythm and natural strengths.
In what areas can we do this?
- Our energy patterns throughout the day,
- sleep rhythms,
- productivity triggers,
- work patterns, and
- personality type.
Energy Levels
I know that my most creative time is first thing in the morning. Following my dog walk, my mind is on fire. That is when I can produce my original material.
Knowing this, I avoid scheduling meetings before 11am. Pre-11am is my time to create stuff.
After lunch, I have an energy slump. I will generally have a power nap and then do routine answering of emails and other admin that doesn’t require vast amounts of brainpower.
Later in the afternoon, I have a slight energy revival. This is time for fun, creative tasks that don’t require a lot of original thought – things like video and audio editing and non-taxing phone calls.
Obviously, the above only works if I have control of my day – sometimes others will dictate the timetable.
Sleepy Time
I have realised that I don’t work well at night. I like to finish work by 6pm, do nothing else in the evenings and to be in bed shortly after 10pm.
I’m an early morning person. Other people are night owls.
We are all different. Work out your natural sleep rhythm and design your life and your work to maximise your effectiveness.
Trigger Happy
What do I mean by “productivity triggers”?
I have discovered that I am triggered to be more productive for different tasks by different locations. I like writing in the library. I love reading books in coffee shops. I like doing admin in my office.
I also find that changing my clothing puts me in a different mindset for different tasks, even when working from home.
Underlying all this is my discovery about myself that I am stimulated by variety.
What triggers your productivity? Can you engineer those things into your work timetable?
Pattern Matching
I like to do things little and often. For example, I’m usually reading five books at once, all different genres. I have set locations for each and set times in the day when I read them. I only read them for five or 10 minutes each.
I realise this might seem a bit strange. Other people want to concentrate on one book and read it from start to finish before they start the next one, but that doesn’t really work for me.
What suits you?
Similarly, I like to break work tasks down into short discrete steps and then spread them out over several days. I can then have a variety of work in one day, switching between projects each hour or so.
What work rhythms, routines and habits, will help you to maximise your productivity?
In Touch with Type
What is your personality type? You may have come across Myers Briggs, the enneagram and DiSC These tools can help you to identify the most effective way to navigate through life and work, how you work both by yourself and with other people.
Are you an initiator or sustainer?
We all know people who are good at starting things but then get bored. Likewise, we all know people who don’t really like starting things but are great at keeping something going. Which one are you?
How are you at delegation? This is a learning curve for me. I find it hard to delegate things where I have a small degree of competence, but I’m not an expert. Invariably, I have to ask myself, “What can only I do, and what can I pass on to someone else who can do it better and faster than me?”
Attune Time
Take time to find out how you tick, and then work accordingly. It’s a surefire way to increase your effectiveness and productivity,
Be kind to yourself: attune to yourself.
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You may find my free eBook helpful. 18 pages and easy to read: “Be Kind to Yourself: Six Magic Insights to Transform Home-Based Working.”Get your copy here: https://www.work-life-magic.com/be-kind-to-yourself-free-ebook/
Please pass this on to anyone you know that might find it helpful.