(and Boosted My Productivity)
In life and in business, there are a lot of distractions. It can be fun to run down those rabbit trails, but it's easy to lose track, and hard to get back to doing the most important things for the time that we have.
I am a husband and father of 12 children. I am also involved in three businesses. As you can imagine, focus in my life can sometimes be in short supply. One of the tools I use to stay on track is Michael Hyatt & Company's Free to Focus Personal Productivity Assessment™.
I like this tool because it gives me measurable ways to chart my productivity progress in areas that are personally important to me—especially time with my expanding family. We now have 3 and 1/2 grandchildren (one is still in the oven!).
I want time go on dates with my wife Allison, time to create businesses that involve my children, and time to work with our business teams on projects that make a difference.
The assessment helps me evaluate how my limited time is being invested, and with whom. It helps me realize I could (and should) delegate many of the responsibilities I was managing to other people. This creates real opportunities for them. It also gives me the freedom to get clear on my systems and create the space to decide how I would manage my free time.
Each time I take the assessment it helps me get clear again and draws me back to my productivity center.
In my experience, the assessment is a bit like the bathroom scale. It tells me something important but I don’t want to use it too often. I want to give myself enough time to see progress. That is why I take the assessment each quarter. If you're new to it, I suggest you be kind to yourself and give the process time to work.
I go through cycles of productivity in relation to my score and I'm okay with that. Ups and downs are necessary as circumstances change. I am currently a low level 3.
For example, we had our software launch recently. And in June we will be doing a build out of our new musical theater space. During those times of high focus, my Workload portion of the assessment suffers a bit, but my systems stay strong and my results go up a bit. When those temporary moments pass, it levels back out again.
How I have improved
With a little time—and honest reflection each quarter about what really matters to me—this powerful tool has greatly impacted my most valuable relationships. Simply put, I now have more emotional bandwidth to give to my wife, children, and business relationships because of the Free to Focus Personal Productivity Assessment. We have also greatly grown our teams and our income is up over 30 percent in the past two years.
I am a big fan of the assessment and I hope you find it as useful as I have.
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