Blog

Top Tips For Becoming A Top Producer

Contributed by: Andrea Ashcraft

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a list maker.

In the past, I took a sheet of paper, listed every single thing that I could think of that needed to be done, and wrote “To Do” in big block letters across the top. 

I thought that I was doing a great thing for myself by transferring everything from my mind to paper; however, I started noticing that I felt more drained than energized after creating my list.

Seeing nearly every line filled in on my paper of what I needed to “do” felt overwhelming, and I even noticed a physiological difference: I felt a pit in my stomach, and my shoulders began to slump.  

My psychology background told me that the labels I put on people, situations and tasks make a difference.  So, knowing that the tasks weren’t going anywhere, I relabeled my “To Do” list as a “To Accomplish” list.  

Soon, thoughts of “I have so much to do!” were replaced with thoughts of, “OK, what’s next?,” the pit in my stomach was replaced with feeling proud of myself for being productive, and my slumped shoulders were replaced with more confident body language. 

However, over time, I noticed that I started to cherry-pick from my “To Accomplish” list.  I chased the “winning” feeling of checking off a box so much that I consistently chose to do the easiest tasks on my list.  

When it came to the priority tasks, I always found something more comfortable to do first, but growth doesn’t happen in our comfort zones.

Rather than continuing to scan my “To Accomplish” list to identify the “tasks of least resistance,” I began to scan for the top priorities and wrote “TP” next to them.  

Then, I set a timer and told myself that I could only work on a top priority item until the timer went off. 

I also set alarms and created calendar reminders so that “TP” popped up at random times throughout the day as an accountability tool and a reminder to ask myself, “Is what I’m working on right this second a top priority?”  

If the answer was “No,” I told myself that it was time to finish what I was working on and switch over to a “TP” task.

When fear crept in, and I felt especially resistant to tackle a “TP” task, I changed my self-talk from defeatist statements such as, “I can’t do this” or “I don’t know what I’m doing,” to asking empowered questions such as, “How can I approach this?” or “What solutions would you suggest if a friend brought this same problem or task to you?”

After finding myself consistently dragging my feet when it came to doing the tough stuff, which only added guilt and stress to the mix, I knew that something needed to change, especially after I heard interviews where some of the world’s most successful people said that they choose to do the hard stuff first each day.  

Tackling your top priorities early in the day not only moves you one step closer to achieving your goals, but also builds your emotional management muscles, making you feel calmer, more confident and more in control of your day.

When you know that something absolutely needs to be done because there’s a deadline attached, or it’s a task that is critical for reaching a personal or professional goal of yours, replace asking yourself how you feel about the task with taking the next best step.  

Today’s action plan: make a list, check it twice, identify your top priorities, and start!