A lesson in productivity from Hannah, aged 5

When I started my business I thought my superpower was that I was hard working. I was one of those foolish people that work through their lunch breaks and used to pride myself on my ability to work until all hours, writes Katie Maynes, host of Business Between Bells podcast.

What I soon found was that this was not to my advantage and was actually having a detrimental effect on the quality of my work. However, some habits are hard to break, and I continued to work harder not smarter. I’ve now been working from home for nearly four years, since my daughter Hannah was a year old.

Today Hannah is in her first year of school and when we received the email from the school outlining her remote learning classes I took to it with the same gusto I take to work. I even believed at the start, that we would work right through our morning break to lunch and try to get everything done in the morning. I can only laugh at this now!

Two hours in she was yelling at me that I was, ‘the worst teacher ever!’ By day three my school loving prep had declared she ‘hated home school’ and was ready to hang up her sparkly pink sneakers.

At the risk of getting nothing done, I had to switch up my strategy and what happened you ask? My daughter became much more productive, she was focused and even seemed to be enjoying the classes. This has made me reflect on my own ways of working.

What has my five year old taught me about my own work habits?

1. Micro breaks (I’m talking every 10 minutes) help you focus.

I don’t think I would need to break this frequently but it is amazing how much a quick break has bought clarity. The other revelation is that you still get through all the work and often much faster.  It has made me think about using techniques like the ‘Pomodoro Technique’ where you work in 25 minute increments and then give yourself a five minute break.

2. The incentive of saving the best tasks to last really works

We have found starting with the classes that my daughter finds the most challenging or that she doesn’t love works much better than leaving them to the end of the day. This is because she automatically has more energy to give. I can see how doing those tasks that I’ve put off or will find challenging would be better to tackle at the start of the day.

3. Screen times even small amounts are super distracting and can drastically affect your mood

As soon as my daughter gets her hands on the iPad or my phone you may as well write-off the next half hour of work. It honestly takes that long for her to concentrate again and get back in flow. This has made me reflect on my own screen time, I know it is a distraction but I’ve never thought exactly how much of a time waster and distraction it is.

4. Eating at set mealtimes, having snacks at set times and hydrating throughout the day helps you concentrate.

Who would have thought eating nutrition meals at set times would help your brain to function? Well watching how this plays out with my daughter has been a good reminder for me how eating well at set times helps your performance. I’ve watched how she gets tired and can’t concentrate when hungry and how a sugar filled treat can stop productivity in its tracks.

5. Time outside and movement lifts your energy.

Our days get off to a much better start with a dance off in the living room and I’ve found a play outside is crucial to keep moods stable. On the two days it has rained it has made a big difference. This is made me think about how I’m often chained to my desk hours on end and how that leaves me feeling lethargic by the end of the day.

6. Making things fun and providing a reward will help you concentrate for much longer.

When we started out with remote learning there wasn’t much time for fun. I got straight into the lessons and the result was one very unengaged and bored student. Now we mix it up, play music in between classes and if my daughter really enjoys an activity we’ll play it for a bit longer. Rewards also work a treat. Yes this might be bribery but I think we can be excused for this at the moment. This has made me think about simply adding more fun into my day, even if this means working more from cafes or pursuing a creative project I’ve wanted to do in business for a while.

7. Sleep is crucial and when we are tired we lose focus.

We have been trying to stick to a good routine and so poor sleep hasn’t been too much of a problem for my daughter. However there was one night she slept badly, woke a few times throughout the night and the next day she just couldn’t concentrate and was irritable.. I’ve really noticed how working at nights to free up time for home-schooling has impacted my own sleep and taken a toll on my concentration and work.

These simple strategies to improve focus and productivity are nothing new, but now I’ve seen the way they have transformed my daughter’s learning I can’t afford to ignore them . When it’s finally back to ‘business between bells’ I’ll continue to practice these strategies on myself and hope they’ll have the same effects on me that they’ve had on my star student, making me work smarter not harder.

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