Build a tracking sheet with a maximum of 5 key habits, link these to a % goal each week and each day record your progress using numbers to tally. At the end of each month review your % actual against goal — then produce a monthly report to analyze your habits.
Tell me more:
Over the years, I’ve tried and tested numerous apps from Momentum, Productive, Way of Life, Strides and Coach.me with limited results. Essentially they do exactly the same thing as the concept here but for me there is a subtle difference — as it reminded me of one of the first productivity lessons I learned in business.
This dates back all the way to 2004, with my first manager providing a piece of paper to record everything I did each day. Little did I know this was genius. At the time I felt this was a little OTT and didn’t really add much value to anything.
Naive.
The story here is that the process teaches you good habits. Good habits are critical for building momentum and driving consistency. In my opinion one of the hardest acts you can realistically achieve.
The reason this approach worked for numerous reasons:
It makes me record progress throughout the day, in a tally type approach and it gives me real-time awareness of how much I achieve that day.
- The apps are great. However, I found it meant I ended up forgetting about them as a consistent habit then at the end of the day just tick green. If the task was 10 outbound emails, I just ticked it even if I did not know the full amount.
- The process of working in Google Sheets is the same as work productivity — it feels more like a task you embed in your daily activity — rather than something outside of work (i..e using an app).
You’ll find it fascinating after 2–3 months how the visibility makes you doubt your productivity levels massively! Especially, if you are in a sales, demand generation or inside sales position.
Track as you go, it may seem a chore but you’ll 10x your output.Drop me a note if you want the template.
