Project Girl 2 Woman

Get Stuff Done in 2022 – A Simple Productivity System

Does a Productivity System Really Work?

Sweat is pooling in my armpits.

Hands barely able to hold the pen.

How come I missed preparing this presentation? The clock is ticking in the background. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Ok, focus you got this.

*Ring, ring, ring* my boss calls.

I can reassure you in the end I did finish the presentation on time. But it would have been a lot easier if I were more organized and had a Working Productivity System.

Are you always busy and your long-term goals — albeit important — are often not urgent enough? We have to face it, if we don’t do anything about it, our life goals will draw the short straw.

Last year, I started scheduling and planning. A necessity when you work at home with all the distractions.

And guess what? The productivity system worked. I moved and actually registered my own business. And the year has just started.

I’d like to share with you my scheduling system and planning tools for 2022. Also the new productivity methods I would like to set up for the coming year to create my own productivity system.

The Master To-Do List - As Core Part of the Productivity System

Instead of a daily to-do list, I use what I call a Master To-Do List.

When you start the new Master To-Do List take a piece of paper and write down all the open tasks that come to mind.

This might take a few minutes. Here are some questions that might help:

What things need to be done at home?
Which appointments do you have to make?
Do you have skills you want to learn?
What work-related tasks are open?
Are goal-related tasks open?
Are there little things you’ve been procrastinating on?

Additional points are added to the Master To-Do List along the way.

Wherever I go I bring my little notebook and when a task comes up, I write it down.

For example:

I work on the blog and suddenly I realize I am running out of shampoo; I jot it down.

While listening to an audiobook on the train I realize I need to make my yearly dental appointment, I jot it down.

I have a new idea for a blog freebie. I jot it down.

I have to prepare something for work. I jot it down.

Throughout the day and the week, I write down everything that comes up. No more forgetting tasks.

No more distractions, while working.

When the page is full, I start a new page. When something gets done or is no longer relevant, I cross the points out with highlighters. The list is usually color-coded.

green = completed

blue = need to do something else first

pink = no longer relevant

The goal of the Master To-Do List isn’t to work it off daily. The goal is to be aware of all my open tasks and when they need to be scheduled. This way I don’t forget anything. It is a task collection tool. With this list, I do my weekly time blocking.Are

Time Blocking & Task Batching

Time Blocking is a Time Management Tool that helps you organize your day. For time blocking you divide your day into time blocks. Each block is for a specific task or a task batch.

If you do task batching you group together similar tasks and do them within a time block. I do the planning once at the end of each week.

With time blocking you’ll complete tasks in one go without distractions leading to massive productivity and focus.

Usually what happens is that you work on an important task, get interrupted, start again, and get interrupted again. Get lost in the details. People plan meetings throughout your day disturbing your workflow.

Is Task Batching the Right Tool for You?

You might say your day is too reactive for task batching. For example, you have to do a task immediately when your boss or client calls.

In that case, you can plan time blocks in the mornings or evenings when your boss or client is not working. As someone with a partially reactive job, I can say time blocking always makes sense even when you have a reactive job. Just give it a try.

[Read: Simple Productivity Ideas – Discover the 5 Best Productivity Tips]

If you want deeper insights check out Todoist.

Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix as a part of the productivity system helps you prioritize your tasks.

According to James Clear the Eisenhower Matrix, or Eisenhower box is “a simple decision-making tool that you can use right now. “

The tool helps you organize which tasks to do immediately, which to schedule, and which to delegate or remove from your list when scheduling your blocks.

With the Eisenhower Matrix you :

Do urgent and important tasks immediately.
Delegate urgent and non-important tasks where possible.
You Schedule Important but non-urgent tasks.
And non-urgent and non-important tasks get removed from your to-do list.

As a note to self and for all the procrastinators out there Tim Ferris said:

“Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.”

[Read: How to prioritize with the 80/20 rule]

The 72 Hour Rule

Did you know that if you don’t start a task within the first 72 hours you are very unlikely to do it at all? Therefore, we should follow the 72-hour rule. Regardless of how difficult, time-intensive, or complex a task is we need to get started within 72 hours.

This doesn’t mean to finish within 72 hours just that we start. Keep that in mind when scheduling and planning.

Also, according to Cal Newport: Productivity is

“minimizing the shallow and amplifying the meaningful”.

Therefore, focus on the important tasks with a major impact when you use the 72-hour rule.

Those have been the tools I’ve been using so far. For 2021 I am planning to include the following.

Read: How our Motivation is based on our needs – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid ]

Yearly goals in the 8 areas of my life

For 2021 I’ll set 3 to 5 major goals. The goals are complementary to the major areas of my life and complementary to each other.

For example, my personal growth goal is to learn about investing, therefore my finances should also get impacted, and my career might also profit from that.

As for recreation, I can learn sewing with my sister this way I also spend more time with my family.

Or I can learn to do the splits with my friends.

Which complementary goals can you set for 2021?

Don’t set unrealistic expectations and don’s set too many goals.

I can tell you that that’s a sure way to fail. In the beginning it’s all about small victories or you will get discouraged.

I often set very high goals for myself in the past, overloading myself with tasks. In the past, I got overwhelmed and stressed. And even when I achieved my goals for a few months I put so much pressure on myself that I started to hate the process.

Goal 1	Goal 2	Goal 3
Learn 3 new skills with sb. else	Learn a new way to invest 1000€	Learn the Splits to be more flexible

Monthly Milestone

The next step in the productivity system is to break down the yearly goals into smaller monthly milestones. Which tasks do you have to do to achieve the monthly milestone? Write them down on your Master To-Do List and schedule them in your calendar.

At the end of each month, I want to do a monthly reflection answering questions such as:

What went well?
What didn’t go well?
Can I learn from that?
Which strategies worked and which didn’t? Why?
Am I still on track?
Am I achieving my goals with these milestones?
Are there any obstacles? How can I overcome them?
What issues might come up later on? How can I handle them?

Weekly Checkpoints

In order to get the checkpoints, the Monthly Milestones need to get broken down into even smaller weekly checkpoints and weekly/ daily tasks for the Master To-Do List.

Again, I want to track the progress at the end of each week.

If I don’t hit the weekly checkpoints it is unlikely that I will hit the monthly checkpoints.

For repetitive tasks (especially daily ones) you can use a habit tracker app or an excel sheet.

When tracking your habits never skip a habit twice in a row. The more often you skip the harder it gets to start again.

Habit Tracker:

Midweek Reviews

Michelle from TheBalancedCeo wrote a great article on productivity. One point that really inspired me was Midweek Reviews. She recommends booking a time slot on Wednesday and to review your accomplishments so far to hold yourself accountable.

You can ask yourself the following questions:

Am I on track?
Will I be able to achieve my weekly goals? If not what can I do about it?
What have I done well? What didn’t work according to plan?

Routines

Getting up, putting on clothes, and brushing your teeth is a routine. You do it with almost no conscious effort. It costs very little energy.

What do you think is easier: To integrate your repetitive tasks into routines or to each day remind yourself at different points of time that a task still needs to get done?

The easiest way for you to finish repetitive tasks is to integrate them into an already well-established routine. That’s why morning routines and evening routines are so important.

Let’s say each day you have 4 habits or repetitive tasks that have to be completed at the end of each day:

Work out 30 Minutes
Write 1000 words
Drink at least 2 liters
Meal prep

Here are some ideas for possible routines:

You wake up, prepare a thermos bottle of tea, while the water is boiling you can brush your teeth and put on some workout clothes, you work out for 30 minutes drink your tea, dress, …
After turning on your laptop in the morning, before checking the E-mails you write 1000 words. You have a high amount of energy and focus in the morning so you should do more difficult tasks in the morning.
Usually you watch TV after work, while watching TV you cook the food for the next day. Before you start cooking you drink a cup of water.

To sum the productivity system up:

Use a Master To-Do List where you write down everything that needs to get done
Schedule your tasks through time blocking and task batching
To prioritize tasks you can use the Eisenhower Matrix
Keep in mind the 72-hour rule, which says that tasks that don’t get started within 72 hours are unlikely to get done at all.
Make yearly goals, monthly milestones and weekly checkpoints to stay on track
Do yearly, monthly and weekly progress reflections
To stick to repetitive tasks use habit trackers and integrate your habits into your routines

What else can you do to get ready for 2023?

READ: 7 Ways to be Less Toxic in 2023
Check out our 365 Journal Prompts for each day of the year
Join our Newsletter for more useful tools, tips, and resources
Declutter your home with The Ultimate Declutter Guide – A Free Checklist on How to Declutter your Home
READ: Setting Goals Like Smart Women + Free Goal Setting Template and Techniques

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Love from Germany,

Julia and Carina

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10 Painful + valuable Life Lessons (the Johnny Depp & Amber Heard Trial Showed Us)

Project Girl 2 Woman

And we probably already know those valuable life lessons:

Life happens to the best of us.
Personal Growth and “Fake Positivity” won’t save us from a toxic relationship.
When you are in a ditch, it might be so dark you might not even realize you are in a ditch.
Good friends stick to you no matter what. Bad friends step on you when it gets bad.
Relationships can go really nasty.
Bad people in your life infect the rest of your life.
Showing you can be wrong and showing you can be vulnerable makes you human.
People lie. Some people lie better than others.
Once your reputation is ruined it’s ruined. On the bright side in Germany we say:
“Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert lebt es sich ganz ungeniert.” This can be translated to: Once you’ve lost your reputation, you have nothing to lose, you can live how you want, without shame.
Let’s appreciate the good people in our lives more.

BONUS:

Our grandkids probably won’t even know who Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are.

What’s your takeaway from the trials? Let us know below!

The Most Underrated Skill – Teamwork Skills in Daily life – (+ Definition, Team Roles according to Belbin)

Project Girl 2 Woman

Teamwork Skills are among the top requested social skills when it comes to job applications.

Are you good at Teamwork?

Well, if you work well together with others as part of a team, it doesn’t only boost your career chances.

Being good at Teamwork will also:

Help you get new job opportunities
and help when it comes to your personal life.

Just imagine you are moving to a new city. Getting the furniture from one place to another is a struggle. Are you good at working in a team when friends or family help? Or do you prefer to carry the workload alone?

In this post you’ll learn:

How to describe Teamwork Skills & The Definition of Teamwork
The Importance of Teamwork
How to get Better at Teamwork
Belbin’s Roles in Teams

Let’s jump right in:

What Does Teamwork Mean? - Defining Teamwork

According to Lexico, teamwork describes “The combined action of a group, especially when effective and efficient.”.

Therefore all team members have a shared goal. Each teammate might have different functions, but ultimately they work towards a common goal.

Effective means that all participants work together not separately, discussing decisions and actions openly to come to a shared approach.

Efficiently, on the other hand, signals that each team member picks tasks that fit well to their skills and experiences. Someone who studied finance will most likely choose the financial part of the project.

If we use simple words to describe teamwork skills it would be to have the abilities to work well and effectively together in a team setting.

So, why is teamwork important?

In your personal life, you will often find yourself in a team situation. For example, when you move, do household or garden chores, raise children with your partner, and so on.

Good Teamwork Skills thereby play a central role when communicating with others and can help avoid confrontations and misunderstandings. Overall, improving your teamwork skill will improve your communication process with others (and it is a great soft skill to add to your cv.)

Also Read :6 proven listening exercises to never get in trouble with your boss again – genius ways to boost your active listening skill as a young professional

Let’s take a look at the importance of teamwork skills:

You’ll come up with a lot more ideas and solutions to a problem in a team.
The workload will be shared, you don’t have to do everything alone.
You’ll get better at solving conflicts.
Good Teamwork tightens relationships.
It’s more fun, duh.
You can learn from each other.

You know all that, but have no idea how to actually be a good team player ? Let’s take a look at, how to improve teamwork skills?

Teamsituations can be frustrating. When people keep discussing, but don’t come to a conclusions. Or certain teammembers come completely unprepared. And what to do if you are shy? They keep talking, but you can’t share your opinions. You might think it would have been much easier and faster if you’d just done it alone.

Listen. This is like the most important team skill.
Set the goals at the start of the team situation. (See to it that everyone is on the same page) Clearly communicate what you want to achieve.
Set boundaries and rules. You know there are people in the team, who are super enthusiastic? Or you are the super enthusiastic one? Give shy people a chance to talk and agree on rules and boundaries beforehand:

- - Agree to raise your hand, when you want to state an opinion.
  - Don’t interrupt, while people are speaking.
  - Look at the speaker.
  - Don’t mumble when something upsets you. Clearly speak your opinion.
  - Take responsibility when you fail.

We’ll do a full post on how to improve your teamwork skills later on. Those are our quick tips 😉

How is collaboration different from teamwork?

According to civilservicecollege, collaboration does not have a leader, instead, all members are treated equally and therefore ideas, as well as decisions, are made together. Teamwork, on the other hand, has an appointed leader and distributes tasks to each member.

Belbin’s Different Roles in Teams and their Skills (+ Examples):

According to Belbin, there are nine roles in a team:

Plant
Resource Investigator
Co-ordinator
Shaper
Teamworker
Monitor Evaluator
Implementer
Completer
Specialist

Let’s go through each role. See how they are different and how you can figure out which of your friends has which role.

We also added the likely skills of each role, as well as their weaknesses. So tell us, what is/are your role (s) based on Belbin’s teamwork model? 🙂

The Plant

is a creative and innovative team member who creates and shares ideas with his team members. It could be an employee who comes up with new product ideas, improvements to the production process, or alternatively even a child who comes up with ideas for the family evening.

Think about you and your family, friends, your relationship, classmates or work buddies – who is always coming up with new ideas? Is it you? Your cousin? Your best friend? Who is the creative mind?

Soft Skills: Creative Thinking, Innovation, Open-minded

Weaknesses: Too optimistic, doesn’t necessarily consider if the ideas are feasible with the given resources and time frame.

The Resource Investigator

checks opportunities, and scans beforehand what resources and contacts are available to realise the new ideas. According to Indeed, Resource Investigators are usually extroverts who easily build contacts and networks. The website also states that the team role is people-oriented.

When I think about Resource Investigators I always imagine my best friend. Somehow she always has the right people, items or whatever we need to carry out our plans. Do you have someone similar in your life? Or are you the Resource Investigator?

Soft Skills: Active Listening, Good Communication, Networking

Weaknesses: Might also be over-optimistic and can get in touch with the wrong people and social circles (who are not as efficient for the project but more entertaining)

The Implementer

Implementers are less people oriented and more task oriented (accelerate UK). They want to get the tasks done and realise the ideas mentioned by the Plant.

Do you like to create plans and to-do lists? Or do you already have lists for your lists? (yes, some people have them 😀 *speaking from experience*) Maybe you are the Implementer in the team then! 😉 By the way, they are also known to be very disciplined and highly dedicated.

Soft Skills: Disciplined, organised, productive

Weaknesses: Wasting too much time on the planning phase and might be easily triggered when something doesn’t go as planned.

The Co-ordinator

will use leadership skills to assign the tasks to the team members.

Just imagine your mom pointing you to clean the bathroom while your brothers have to do the dishes. She knows exactly which tasks need to get done and who should do what.

Soft Skills: decision-making, team leadership, people management

Weaknesses: Might assign the tasks unfairly to the team members based on their own perception and likings.

The Sharper

Another great role is the Sharper who pushes the team forward. The Sharper is a great motivator and inspires the whole team to finish their tasks and goals successfully.

Yet, the role is not people-oriented, unlike expected it is actually action-oriented (accelerate UK). Do you know someone who is always encouraging you, pushing you through the hard times? Who always says the right things to boost your mood even during gloomy days?

Soft Skills: motivational, inspirational, emotional intelligence, communication and active listening

Weaknesses: Impatient when the progress of the team isn’t as fast as the Sharper expected or an obstacle prolongs the achievement of the goal.

The Teamworker

The Teamworker provides support like the Sharper but mainly focuses on how she can help the other team members fulfill their tasks.

If you are completely lost with a software, but have to hand in your taxes by the next week. Who is the one who rushes to your side and explains the program to you even though she barely uses it herself? It is the Teamworker who wants to save your butt. By the way, Teamworkers also tend to improve communication in a team and want to establish the best workflow and -atmosphere.

Soft Skills: Communication, Problem-solving, Conflict-Solving, emotional intelligence

Weaknesses: Avoids confrontations and can be indecisive (Belbin)

The Specialist

Another highly skilled person who might rush to your aid is most likely the Specialist. The Specialist role brings in the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve the goal.

It could be coding when you try to create a game, Marketing knowledge when you want to launch a website or even a language skill when you want to help your kids with the next English exam. Usually only this one role has skills that the other members don’t have (or alternatively each member is a specialist and brings in her own unique skill to the project) Do you have a special skill that you can bring in? What is it?

Soft Skills: Self-starter, logical thinking (based on her expertise)

Weaknesses: Might lack in social skills like communication and active listening or simply focuses on his tasks individually.

The Completer

The Completer is a role that really wants to get things done. Do you think about the end when you just started?

No but really, everyone needs a Completer in their team. How often have you started something but never finished it? The Completer definitely won’t let you procrastinate or even stop in the middle. She is very observant and especially bound to hitting deadlines. Also when it comes to the quality of work she is very detail-oriented and organised, no wonder they are known to be perfectionists (accelerate UK).

Soft Skills: Detail-oriented, Time management, working under pressure

Weaknesses: Might get anxious when the deadlines are near, triggered when others put less importance on reaching deadlines or details

Struggle with procrastination? Here is your solution!

Last but not least is the Monitor Evaluator

Monitor Evaluators are a very realistic role. They estimated all sides and effects of the project and tasks and aren’t afraid to judge the process or outcome. With their open mindfulness they can highlight mistakes and point out if an approach has more negative effects than positive ones(accelerate UK). So now back to you – do you have a strategist on your team? Someone who is more based on logic than on perception?

Soft Skills: Analytical and Logical Thinking, Troubleshooting

Weaknesses: can be too critical, might lack social skills and/or seem distant to the other team members.

What is (are) your Team Role(s)?

All roles - based on the example of moving apartments:

Okay, so let’s end this with an example. You are moving from one place to another and inviting your whole family to help. Just when everyone enters your home you hear your mom talk about the different ways one can bring the bulky furniture down the tight stairway.

Your dad in the meanwhile scans through the whole room and wonders how to get everything into the van. While your sisters scribbles down what needs to get done. From removing furniture to cleaning and handing over the keys. You already know beforehand that your parents will help you with carrying the items and transporting them, while your sister will stay longer to help you clean.

After a while you all notice that the van gets fuller and fuller and still a lot of items are resting in your old apartment. You try your best to de-escalate your bickering parents, while your optimistic sister keeps bringing down more and more furniture.

“We store what we can and then we will see if it all fits in”. Having to pay for the van per hour you try your best to finish early. While you walk back up to gather your bag your mom takes a last glance at the safely stored items, estimating if everything is indeed unable to topple over. Your dad in the meanwhile removes your lamps from the electricity panel.

Which person has which roles?

Don’t know your Skills? Then find them today

Summary: 19 Skills in highly effective teams:

Creativity
Communication Skill
Active Listening
Self Discipline
Organisation
Productivity
Motivation Skill
Decision Making
Leadership
People Management
Emotional Intelligence
Problem Solving
Conflict Solving
Self Starter
Logical Thinking
Analytical Thinking
Detail Oriented
Time Management Skill
Stress resilience

The Most Underrated Skill – Teamwork Skills in Daily life – (+ Definition, Team Roles according to Belbin) Read More »