Industry consultant David Blaise offered new and mid-career distributors quick-hit ways to be more productive in less time in his session “25 Productivity Hacks to Get Things Done,” held during ASI Orlando yesterday. “Sometimes, it’s great to have a list of things that take just minutes and will help you increase your productivity throughout the year,” he told attendees. Here are three ideas he shared in his seminar.

1. Prioritize your top three activities for the day. “It comes down to deciding what the single-most important task you need to get done today is,” Blaise said. “That way, even if it’s the only thing you do, your day won't be a waste business-wise.” He said that distributors often fall into the trap of picking the easiest or quickest thing on their to-do list, and that item often doesn’t contribute to moving their business forward.

2. Track your activities for one business day to determine what can be delegated or eliminated. Blaise said this is easy – you can keep track of your work activities for a day on a smartphone app. “Then, look at where your hours went,” he said. “What’s the best use of your time? Are there things that need to be done, but don’t need to be done by you? If you’re a staff of one, delegate those tasks to the lower-paid version of yourself, meaning that you can do them in the less-productive off hours when you’re not selling or doing tasks that move the needle forward.” Blaise also pointed out that if you’re just starting, you can hire people through sites like Fiverr.com to do tasks like delete spam from your inbox for minimal fees. “Sales should be $100-an-hour work; you're not going to grow your business if you’re doing minimum-wage tasks,” he said.

3. Set your next desired benchmark. “What’s your current sales volume?” Blaise asked. “There’s always a next desired level. Even if you’re at your sales nirvana, you need to maintain that level and even hire other people to do that.” Doing this helps you focus your activities on getting your sales to that level.