Why you should care about productivity
Productivity is a less-discussed element of running an ecommerce business. Yet it’s one of the key differences between success and failure.
As you move through the journey of an online seller, you’ll constantly be forced to learn new skills, take on new challenges, and find new ways to grow. However, the core responsibilities of running the business rarely change.
That means your to-do list is always growing and your available time is always shrinking.
Success and productivity go hand in hand: the more successful you get, the more productive you need to be to maintain that success; the more productive you are, the quicker you can achieve success.
By attacking the productivity puzzle early on in your ecommerce career, you’ll have the best shot at achieving your goals in the shortest possible timeframe.
How to improve ecommerce productivity
There are countless books, articles, and videos out there full of helpful (and some not-so-helpful) advice for being productive. Lucky for you, I’ve spent much of the last decade studying this topic.
So here are the top lessons that I’ve found effective for increasing productivity.
1. Focus on one big thing and one small thing
By far the most practical method I’ve found for being successful at anything is to narrow your focus. Pick a singular big goal that represents your ultimate success – and make it specific.
Some examples of big, specific goals:
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I want to own the highest-grossing pet food business in Europe
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I want to earn $100,000 per year of personal income after tax from my business
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I want Nelly Furtado to wear my jewellery in a commercial
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Once you’ve worked this out, set yourself a timeframe. What’s the shortest time you could reasonably achieve this in?
Now work backwards to find your one small thing. That means working out what you would need to achieve in the next five years, the next two years, the next six months… until you get to this – yes, THIS – exact moment.
Once you’re here, ask yourself: What’s the one thing I can do right now that will make everything else easier or completely unnecessary?
Apply this process to everything in your life and suddenly you’ll find yourself always doing the most important thing.
Instead of attempting 5% of all your big ideas and getting nowhere, your focus will only be on doing the one thing that matters right now – the thing that’s most likely to lead to results.
2. Adapt your environment to your goals
As human beings, we’re wired to take the easiest path. So you can forgive yourself when you order takeout because you’re too lazy to cook, or when you decide to watch a movie on the couch instead of going for a run.
What most people don’t understand is that laziness is natural. Having discipline is not the opposite of being lazy – it’s about outsmarting the desire to be lazy that’s buried deep within our DNA.
To outsmart your laziness, create an environment that makes it easier to do the right thing.
Remove distractions from your work area. Lock your phone in another room – or put it in your letterbox if that’s not far enough to not tempt you. Keep a jug of water by your desk so you don’t have to go into the kitchen (and get distracted) to fill up your glass.
The goal is to make it easy to get work done and difficult to get distracted.
Make a list of all the things that distract you in your work environment. Then work out how you can remove them. That could mean turning email notifications off, finding a private area away from chatty coworkers, or unplugging the TV from the wall.
Once it becomes more difficult to do the wrong thing than it is to do the thing you should be doing, discipline suddenly becomes a lot easier – it becomes the lazy option.
3. Be accountable and stay consistent
It’s easy for entrepreneurs to fall back into bad habits no matter how determined they are to be productive. Often, there is nobody around to hold us accountable for doing the wrong thing. So when we do, it doesn’t seem so bad.
And it’s totally fine to slip up every now and then. Nobody’s perfect.
What matters is that you don’t let slipping up become the norm. On my fridge, I have written a quote that I stole from James Clear (author of Atomic Habits). It reads: Never miss twice.
This simple quote reminds me every day that if I failed to do the right thing yesterday, I can forgive myself so long as I don’t miss my target today. It’s okay to slip up once. But do it twice in a row and it can become a habit.
Another essential step in sticking with your productivity goals is to find someone – or something – who will hold you accountable. A partner, close friend, or family member works best. Have them check in with you daily or weekly about your goals. The fact you’ll have to face their judgment if you fail can often be enough motivation not to.
If you don’t have someone you’re comfortable asking to hold you accountable, invent a punishment for yourself. You can set an ‘If I don’t do X, then I can’t have Y’ rule that encourages productive behaviour.
Some examples:
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If I don’t write my daily newsletter every morning this week, I can’t go to the concert on Saturday night.
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If I don’t respond to all customer emails by 10 am, I can’t buy myself lunch from my favourite restaurant.
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If I don’t update 15 product descriptions every day, I must donate $50 to a charity.
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Keep winning, losing, and trying again
The tips above have helped me and thousands of others just like you improve productivity and achieve great success. You don’t have to be the world’s most disciplined entrepreneur to smash your goals and live a great life – you just have to keep showing up, even when you’ve failed.
