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Dec 16

4 Tips to Beat the Procrastination Habit

By Angelica Rains Executive Assistant, Hiring Strategies, Leadership

Procrastination is one of the worst habits you can have as an executive support professional, but it is also one of the most common. Though everyone does it to some degree, procrastination negatively affects focus, productivity, and performance. These four tips will help you overcome procrastination and become more efficient.

1. Understand Why You Procrastinate

If you want to beat your procrastination habit, first you have to understand why you tend to procrastinate in the first place. Start by thinking about what tasks you are most likely to avoid. Do you avoid tasks you find difficult or are you more likely to avoid tasks you find uninteresting? Do you avoid tasks when you’re feeling overwhelmed or anxious? Some people also procrastinate out of indecision. Once you understand why you procrastinate, you can start addressing the root of the problem.

2. Identify and Eliminate Distractions

Having a lot of distractions nearby can make procrastination much more tempting. What are your top distractions? Do you procrastinate by checking non-urgent emails? Do you play around on your phone or chat with colleagues? Once you identify major distractions, you can start to eliminate them. If you have trouble focusing when there are other people around you, for example, you can reduce the temptation to procrastinate by finding a quiet workspace away from others.

3. Be Realistic About Your Goals

One reason people procrastinate is because they feel overwhelmed by a task. This often occurs when a person has too much on their plate. Being realistic about goals and deadlines can make tasks more manageable and eliminate the feeling that you have to procrastinate to cope. You can make to-do lists and goals more attainable by prioritizing tasks by urgency and breaking large projects into smaller tasks.

4. Keep Yourself Accountable

To overcome procrastination, you also need to keep yourself accountable. One way to do this is to choose someone at work whom you trust to monitor your progress. Encourage your friends at work to call you out if they see you losing focus or putting off important tasks. Another way to keep yourself accountable to your goals related to procrastination is to give yourself rewards for accomplishing major tasks and projects on time.

Most people don’t procrastinate because they’re unorganized or lazy. Most procrastinators are hard workers who avoid tasks when they’re stressed or overwhelmed at work. Anyone can overcome this habit if they put their mind to it. The key is to figure out why you procrastinate in the first place, eliminate triggers, and reward better behavior.

Dec 09

Later Will Be Now Before You Know It

By Angelica Rains Career Guidance, Leadership

Knowing what you know now, having all of life’s experiences thus far behind you, what would you do differently?

The Present

Why is this important? Because if you are reading this, you have a gift sitting in front of you. Every single person reading this article has this gift in common.

The gift? Time.

Why is it that the question of “what would you do differently” is most commonly asked following a negative event? It could follow a missed opportunity to land a big client, a health scare, the sudden loss of a loved one. Why must it take being jarred out of the routine of life before reflection becomes a prioritization?

The weekend should not be a 48-hour countdown until Monday, and Friday should not feel like the victorious finish line of a marathon. What if instead of being vulnerable to the regrets of the future, we take a moment, take a breath, and decide what we want to do differently – starting today.

The Past

Fill in the blanks:

I wish I would have____________
I would have spent less time____________
I would have spent more time____________
I would have worked____________
I would have focused more on____________
I would have focused less on____________
I would have worried more about____________
I would have worried less about____________
I would have cherished____________

The intent behind this exercise is not to create a laundry list of missed opportunities. Holding on to regrets can be a form of self-sabotage. In fact, in many cases it is impossible to have made a better decision at the time. We were doing the best we could with what we had in the moment. But as life’s experiences evolve, so do we. Values change, financial circumstances change, confidence and maturity change. We are meant to grow and outgrow past versions of ourselves. But life moves quickly, and the routine of everyday norms can accidentally engage the autopilot setting of survival.

Fill in the blanks above for all aspects of a balanced life, including relationships, career, health and financial. Then take each of the “I would have” statements of the past and revise them to be your non-negotiables for the future.

The Focus: What Would You Do Differently?

It is not possible to manage time. It keeps marching forward regardless of what we do. However, our energy is one of the most valuable things we can control. What do you allow to take this most precious asset of yours? Who and what receives your focus and your attention? If you ever feel like your energy is depleted but are not sure where it went, you may need to focus on the proverbial “apps you have running in the background.” With so much high-tech in our daily lives it can leave little energy left for high-touch attention. Consider the following to give yourself more battery life:

Give yourself a full hour to start your day before allowing yourself to check email on phone/computer
Eat lunch anywhere besides staring at the phone/computer
Disable push notifications for social media, news, email, etc.
Leave devices in another room during meals and while sleeping
Delete certain apps entirely and relegate usage of those apps to a web browser only
Switch your phone display to grayscale, making the colorful icons less attention-grabbing

Recognize that there is something bigger at play here: there may be a deeply rooted connection as to why the phone ceased to be enjoyable, and instead something you are virtually compelled to use. Connect the feeling behind the activity:

Feeling lonely, so time to check social media plan something enjoyable with a friend/family
Need something positive to happen at work, so I’ll keep refreshing my email spend time making new possible opportunities happen at work
Nervous about all of the chaos going on in the world, so need to check the news again do something that makes life feel less chaotic today
Feeling bored, so need a distraction to work on being comfortable spending some time alone with your own thoughts

In a culture that is bombarded with information and stimuli, finding time void of noise can seem inconceivable. However, it is in that void that we are able to tap into the part of the brain that can process thoughts of deep significance. Give your mind the space to take all of the information it’s received and make use of it in important ways by doing things differently.

Instead of a fear of feeling bored, consider instead a failure to appreciate the repercussions of not being bored enough.

Later will be now before you know it. It’s time to value the gift of time.

Dec 02

How to Foster a Growth Mindset for Professional Success

By Angelica Rains Executive Assistant, Hiring Strategies, Leadership

Success in C-level support is often determined by mindset. Professionals who believe in their own potential are more likely to progress in their career than professionals who doubt themselves or believe they aren’t capable of becoming better. The following tips will help you foster a growth mindset.

Practice Self-Reflection

In order to develop a growth mindset, it’s important to know who you are. Begin to understand as much as you can about your skills, talents, and challenges. This will give you a clearer idea of what areas can be improved upon and what talents are being underutilized in your current job that can still be tapped later. Self-reflection helps you gain insight into who you are and what you can become.

Embrace Your Ability to Change

It is common for people to believe that things like intelligence and personality are set it stone. In reality, most aspects of who you are can change if you put your mind to it. If you think your intelligence and capability are static, your focus is on proving your worth instead of on personal growth. Most qualities that define you are really just a starting point. By pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, gaining new experiences, and expanding your knowledge, you can change many aspects of yourself, including your personality, aptitude, and skillset.

Challenge Yourself

One of the main reasons people fail to grow in their professional life is from not challenging themselves enough. When you do the same kind of tasks every day, you become comfortable with the status quo. However, when you embrace new challenges, you often discover new talents you didn’t know you had. By taking on tasks that are outside your comfort zone, you also put yourself in situations that provide opportunities to learn.

Choose Feedback over Praise

Many professionals seek out praise in their work. While praise isn’t inherently bad, it can be an obstacle to growth. When you seek out praise, the tendency is to take on responsibilities with which you know you can excel and lean heavily into the talents you already have. However, it’s unlikely you will get smarter and more skilled by playing it safe. To grow, it’s essential to perform tasks you know will require effort on your part or even tasks that can lead you to instances of failure. Be open-minded about failure and seek out feedback. This is the only way to learn new skills and expand your capabilities.

When you cultivate a growth mindset, you have the ability to continuously gain new talents, improve your intelligence, and become a more valuable employee. To shift toward a growth mindset, you have to learn about your strengths and weaknesses, come to terms with your potential, challenge yourself every chance you get and embrace failure.

Nov 25

Tips to Stay Organized Even When You are Busier Than Ever

By Angelica Rains Career Guidance, Executive Assistant

Do you have trouble staying organized? You’re not the only one. Executive Assistants, Chiefs of Staff, and Office Managers have busy schedules, and the work can often become overwhelming. These tips will help you stay organized even when you are your busiest.

Keep Things Minimal

Whether it’s your desk or your email inboxes, cleaning is always harder if you have a lot of stuff. When it comes to emails, delete those you know you don’t need and archive those you aren’t sure about. Decluttering your desk can also make your work feel much more manageable. It’s important to discard mail, documents, and other paperwork you don’t need before it piles up and becomes overwhelming. Having a shredder nearby can make this task easier since you will have a secure way to get rid of paperwork you no longer need.

Create an Organized System for Notes and Lists

Having sticky notes and random lists all over your office makes it hard to keep track of important reminders. It is a good idea to explore digital options such as G-Suite so you can keep all your notes and lists in one place that is easily accessible. If you prefer paper, try using folders or sleeved organizers. They are easier to keep organized than stacks or bulletin boards.

Prioritize Tasks

Making lists of the task you need to complete can help you stay more organized. However, you should consider how important each task is. Lists aren’t useful if they are too ambitious. Consider what tasks you can delegate to other people and what tasks aren’t worth doing at all. In some cases, you may have a task that stays on your list week after week. Maybe it’s more of a long-term goal than a task. If it becomes clear that it’s a task you’re never going to accomplish, remove it from your to-do list.

Schedule Time for Cleaning

If you schedule time for cleaning on your calendar, you are more likely to get it done. If you devote a half hour each week to cleaning your office, you can prevent the space from ever becoming so disorderly it feels unmanageable. You might also want to schedule a day each month for a larger clean out. Time spent organizing isn’t wasted time because it will allow you work more efficiently, saving you time in the long run.

Organization is a critical skill for professionals in C-Level support, though it can seem impossible to stay organized if your schedule is always jam packed. You can improve your organization by prioritizing tasks, scheduling time for cleaning on your calendar, moving towards a paperless system, and keeping your work environment minimal.