How writing helps my career and personal life | Hannah Fisher posted on the topic | LinkedIn (2024)

If you want to be more productive make more time for this Time to think. I used to have so much more of it but then I ➡️ bought a house ➡️ moved up in my career ➡️ added a tiny human to the mix and I realized that without making space for it each day, I am stuck in an endless "doing" loop Without scheduling time to think: ➡️ You feel productive yet are burnt out ➡️ You keep going yet progress stalls ➡️> You do everything you should do ➡️> yet nothing changes When you create space to think you ➡️ Create space for new ideas ➡️>Create space to advance in your job ➡️ Create space to focus on what matters

19

23 Comments

You don't wait for your dreams to come true, you make them happen. We all like to dream big, it feels good, it’s fun and it offers endless opportunities. It gives you an out of the daily grind. Yet it won't lead you anywhere without doing this: Taking deliberate action. --> I dream of less back to back meetings but unless I block my time it won't happen --> I dream of a toddler who's potty trained and who knows when that'll ever happen. --> I dream of more time for creative hobbies but unless I schedule it out it'll never happen. Years ago, I’ve always had the dream to one day live in the US, why? No idea. How? Also, no idea. So it remained that, just a dream. But then I realized that this wasn't going to happen unless I made it happen. --> By making time every day. --> By prioritizing it every week. --> By working backward with the end goal in mind. --> By thinking about it like a simple equation you can take smarter action: Dream + X * Time = Result. Solve for X. What’s your X today and tomorrow and for the next year?

23

20 Comments

Focus your energy on what matters most to create the results you want to achieve. I used to spend hours perfecting one tiny detail (because in finance details kinda matter). Still, when I stopped over-perfecting everything, I found that I —> had more energy, —> got more done, —> was in a better mood, —>learned which details actually matter and which do not (numbers absolutely do matter, changing the font for the 10th time does not). One exercise and five questions to ask yourself to identify your 20% inputs. --> Make a list of everything you spend your time on a regular day in one column. -->Add another column to identify the results associated with each task. Quantify where possible. -->Add a third column to identify the goal associated with each task. --> Now rank your goals according to importance and rank the associated tasks according to the results they produce. Make time to focus on the first 20%. For the other 80% ask yourself: Do I need to do this? Can I outsource it? Can I automate it and if so how? If none of these apply, --> where can I schedule it in my day to not take away time to focus on the 20% that matter? --> How can I do this thing better or faster to free up more of my energy to focus on what matters most?

4

2 Comments

43% of people have quit on their new year’s resolution two months ago and only 6% stick with it through December. I’ve used this framework in my career for years, for my professional goals, and business analyses and now Amanda Goetz has inspired me to start using it for my personal goals: Set OKRs and measure strategic KPIs to keep yourself accountable ➡️ OKRs= Objective Key Results: --> Set your objective and a few key results that help you measure whether or not you are on track to achieving that objective. ➡️ KPIs—> Key performance indicators. Think about how you can measure your key results; which indicators are a good way of showing you if you are close to achieving your results? ->If your business goal is to increase the topline by 5% this quarter, then measuring WoW growth can be helpful to see if you are on track. -->If you want to run a half marathon and your measured key result is to run a certain mileage each week at a specific time, then tracking your time/mile on each run may be helpful.

5

2 Comments

If you don’t take rest into account, you will end up going in circles. Some weeks are just a bit too busy and while I didn’t used to do that I now tend to step back for a few days to reset intentionally. (e.g .when your toddler keeps coughing all over you and your husband has a cold it’s time to take a reset week). Here's how to implement a three-week framework: ➡️ Move forward ➡️Maintain ➡️ Reset --> Move forward: This can be anything from fitness, business family to other personal goals. --> Maintain: Maintaining whats needed to keep moving forward in all areas without dropping a ball. I try to use this week to see if I can set up additional systems to make it everything easier and more sustainable --> Reset. Take a week only to do the necessary and focus more on what brings you joy and helps you relax. For me that means more focus on my fitness, family and mindfulness Make the shift in other areas of life as well --> Adjust your reading and other consumption to the focus of the week. What works best for you?

18

19 Comments

We all tend to equal productivity with doing more, but that's flawed. Here's what your brain is doing when you are doing nothing. And why you need to know how to take time off, rest, and do nothing. On these rare occasions when all the dishes are done, no more urgent work needs to be done, and my toddler actually plays silently (and it actually doesn’t mean spreading baking powder throughout the house) I tend to want to rush to do something, anything really but treating this time more intentionally and being okay with not doing anything has been game-changing. So when you tend to just be in “doing mode” 24/7 or feel overwhelmed and stuck, taking a step back is the best thing you can do. —> Your brain activates a state called default mode network when we are “task-negative” simply meaning we are not engaging in any external tasks. —> In this absence of outward-focused tasks your mind may wander to seemingly unrelated things like daydreaming about the future, reminiscing about the past, interpreting what you learned recently; —> by being “task-negative” you actually may be able to make important connections in these areas to construct your ever-evolving self-narrative —> Through making new connections you can up with creative solutions you haven’t thought of before

11

16 Comments

We all know this theoretically, but it’s always infinitely more difficult to actually apply it in life. Short term discomfort leads to long term gains in fitness, diet, business and overall just in life. Eat a clean diet Don’t impulse spend Go on a challenging run Go to bed instead of binge-watching Endure self-doubt and showing up daily -->feel better

14

17 Comments

This is simple but so impactful I never knew this was a thing but after becoming a parent and still trying to make time for my career, personal and fitness ambitions and sleep, energy all of the sudden became a really scarce resource. --- This exercise has helped me the most in managing energy levels and remaining productive on all fronts. I have started doing an “energy” audit every month and it’s been probably one of the most helpful hour I spent. Here's how: ➡️Decide on a day with a more or less regular schedule and each hour write down how you spent your time and if it felt like it drained your energy or gave you an energy boost. Use a scale of 1-7. ➡️ I like to divide my tasks up into personal, professional, or family blocks to get a better idea of how I spend my time and what drains my energy the most. ➡️Review your list to see what drains your energy the most and why that may be. Is it that specific task, the situation, the environment your were in or the people you were with? ➡️What can you outsource, delegate or eliminate on your list of energy draining tasks? If none of that is an option, is there any way you can make it less draining? ➡️Keep track of your list in excel or notion or whatever you prefer to use to see if you are making progress each month and what other changes you can implement.

28

22 Comments

I love this simple framework to re-assess and prioritize what matters most and aligns with your strategic goals.

4

2 Comments