YOUR CEO ROLE: TRANSFORM YOUR LEADERSHIP AND PRODUCTIVITY WITH INNOVATIVE TOOLS

As a CEO, your time is incredibly valuable, not just to you, but to your entire organisation. With the landscape of business constantly evolving, finding ways to enhance your productivity and leadership effectiveness is crucial. I’d like to introduce you to a suite of tools and strategies that have the potential to revolutionise the way you manage your time, your team, and your business.

 

TIME SAVING TOOLS

Firstly, allow me to present Timely, the world’s premier AI-powered automatic time tracker. Imagine having the ability to automatically track every second spent on projects, emails, meetings, and more, without the hassle of manual inputs or timers. Timely does just that, allowing you and your team to concentrate on what truly matters. It offers insights into how you’re allocating your time, helping you make informed decisions to optimise your schedule.

Embracing ClickUp as your centralised project management solution can significantly streamline your operations. It’s not just a tool for managing projects but a comprehensive system that integrates all facets of your business, equipped with automation to save you invaluable time. I use ClickUp to manage the following:

• Business to dos and operations (including recurring tasks)
• Business and marketing goals and strategy
• Services and products pricing and info
• Internal projects
• Content/social media planning, creation and management
• Lead pipeline and clients
• Testimonials and portfolios
• Team recruitment and onboarding
• Team management including meetings, holidays, contact details, invoices, etc
• Client work and projects
• SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)
• Client and team communication

A tool that I have found invaluable is Reclaim. Reclaim is the smart(est) calendar app that optimises everyone’s time for better productivity, collaboration, and work-life balance. For me specifically, it allows me to sync my 3 different calendar accounts, so that my availability is accurately reflected in each, meaning I don’t have to worry about double bookings. I can also add in buffer times between my meetings, so I don’t have to deal with back to back meetings.

 

EMAIL INBOX MANAGEMENT

How do you get to zero emails in your inbox? Surely, it’s a myth?⁣⁠ Well, I’m here to tell you that it is definitely not a myth and it can be done! Going to Inbox Zero takes time, but it removes time spent trying to find emails⁣⁠ and reduces clutter. This then improves organisation and structure for your business⁣⁠ and ensures you are not missing anything important⁣⁠. Use these tips to help improve your email management:⁣⁠

• Add a specific time block in your calendar each day to review and respond to emails⁣⁠. I usually do this as the first thing I do when I log on each morning
• Use separate emails for business and personal use⁣⁠
• Prioritise your emails (using flags) and utilise the 80/20 rule (focus on only 20% of the inputs that lead to 80% of results)⁣⁠
• Use labels, folders and categories to organise your emails⁣⁠
• Unsubscribe from emails and newsletters you no longer read⁣⁠
• Create canned email responses for emails you send regularly⁣⁠
• Use filters to help sort your emails automatically⁣⁠
• If you receive push / text alerts from your social media, then disable the email notifications⁣⁠
• Hit that delete button! Or at the very least use the archive option

Here are some specific actions you can set up in your inbox, depending on the content of the email:

• For info/subscriptions emails: Create a Label so it is put away into a folder (you can auto this). Then add a time block in your calendar to go through these
• To action emails: Send these to an inbox list in ClickUp (where it creates a task in your to do list to action). Then either:
• Delete, because there is no reply to the email required and you don’t need the info
• File it away by adding the relevant label, as you want to keep the email, but no reply is required
• Add a label called “To Action”. So basically you are moving the email away from the inbox, as you need to action something first before you need to reply. The idea is to then review this label each day to respond to the emails that you have actioned
• To reply to: Reply, then either delete or file away if no further action required. Really think about whether it is really needed or not. If it’s info that you might want another time, think about storing that info in ClickUp instead
• To follow up: Reply to email, then there are the following options:
  • Use the Snooze functionality in Gmail which will hide the email from your inbox until a certain time (which you set), so if you want to follow up with the email in two days, add a 2 day snooze
  • Add a label “Follow Up”, which is the same principle as the To Action label above
  • Forward the email to create a task in ClickUp, that adds a +2 days due date and assigns the task to you

CALENDAR MANAGEMENT

And what about your calendar? You need to make sure your calendar is organised and structured to aid productivity. If it’s not, then I suggest adopting a time blocking strategy to help you do this.⁣⁠ Time blocking divides your day up into specific categories, enabling more focus on the task at hand, rather than scattering your focus on several different activities.⁣⁠ Use these tips for time blocking:⁣⁠

• Identify the key elements in your life e.g. CEO of your business, needing to keep fit and healthy, managing a household etc⁣⁠
• Break down your daily workload into tasks⁣⁠
• Set up a schedule for when these tasks need to be completed (use a tool to do this e.g. Google Calendar)⁣⁠
• Schedule your largest and hardest task when you have the most energy⁣⁠
• For your business, assign themes to each day, e.g. Admin day, CEO day, Creative day, etc
• Commit to your time blocking schedule and establish a routine to complete it⁣⁠ (a great book to read on this is Atomic Habits by James Clear)

MINDSET

But it’s not just about the tools; it’s about adopting a mindset of efficiency and delegation. Ensuring tasks are assigned to those best suited, thereby freeing you to focus on the broader vision and goals. This approach not only accelerates progress but also empowers your team, building trust and driving forward with a shared purpose. You may want to know everything that is going on in your business and down to the detailed level, but how much does that impact the process? How much of a bottle neck are you creating by being involved with everything and everywhere? Let it go. Trust your team and use an amazing Project Management tool like ClickUp to help manage your business, where it can show you the key data you need to see to help drive your business forward.

 

YOUR NEXT STEPS

1. Analyse where you are spending your time each day. Ideally use a tool (Timely) for this
2. Identify all the data you need to see as a CEO and map to a tool that will centralise all the information you need
3. Clear out your email inbox and create labels/folders for all the different categories
4. Implement the inbox actions and strategies mentioned above to get yourself to zero inbox and stay there!
5. Use time blocking in your calendar to ensure you are organised and productive
6. Book a call with us (below) if you want help with the above!

READY TO REVOLUTIONISE YOUR BUSINESS?

Are you ready to take the next step in your leadership journey? To learn more about how these tools can be seamlessly integrated into your daily routine and to receive personalised advice on elevating your CEO game, I invite you to book a call with us. Let’s explore together how you can enhance your impact and lead your business to new heights. Discounts apply up to and including the event dates, then they will no longer be available.

 

BOOK A CALL

https://portal.sldvirtualworld.com/public/appointment-scheduler/669a230091286abaf87d720d/schedule

 

Whether it’s launching your dream business, scaling to new heights, revolutionising your operations, or finding that perfect work-life balance, I’m here to guide you every step of the way. Let’s make your business aspirations a reality. Don’t miss out on our exclusive offers – book your call today!

 

Looking forward to revolutionising your business!

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