Design an action plan

1. Empathy. Give trusted co-workers the benefit of the doubt by assuming the good in them. It goes a long way toward instilling loyalty and trust in you from your team.
2. Awareness. Care deeply about the welfare of the team members. Don't view them only as cogs in a machine.
3. Building community. Build community where both employees and customers can thrive.
4. Persuasion. Rely on persuasion rather than coercion to create internal motivation required to complete the task effectively.
5. Conceptualization. Servant-leading entrepreneurs focus on the big picture and don't get overly distracted by daily operations and short-term goals.
6. Growth. Care passionately about the personal and professional growth of each member of the team.

Some tasks are neither urgent nor important, but as these time-wasting tasks are in front of us, we end up consuming our time with them. These include:

• Browsing social media
• Reading junk articles and posts
• Playing distracting games.

Urgent tasks are the ones that are not adding any value but come up to be done at that moment. The right approach is to avoid the urgent and focus on the important.

Example: Answering a phone call can seem urgent, due to its ringing, but it may not be that important.

Having an active social life is crucial to your health. People who isolate themselves from others could increase their risk of death by about 50 percent. 

If you have a busy life, schedule recurring social activities with your closest friends, monthly.  Plan your work schedule around your social calendar instead of the other way around.

The key to finding the balance between work and health is learning how to cope with stress.

Get in the habit of stepping away from the stressful situation for a few moments to calm down and collect your thoughts: step away from the computer or spend a few minutes walking outside.

• Ask about passion projects. Learners tend to pursue something else outside work (training for a marathon, playing with a band, etc.)
• Focus on curiosity as much as hard skills. Bring up problems currently facing the team and see how the candidate responds.
• One of the most important things to a learning mindset is the ability to admit you don't know something. So be aware of how they approach the things they don't understand.

This means explicitly defining ongoing learning as a core company value.

Empowering employees can mean providing the time or money to enable learning - in other words, offering learning opportunities as a job benefit like health insurance. 

Typically, we do mindless work first and build-up to the toughest tasks. That drains your energy and lowers your focus.

In order to focus effectively, reverse the order. Check off the tasks that require creativity or concentration first thing in the morning, and then move on to easier work.

We are truly focused for an average of only six hours per week. You want to be really diligent with what you put into those hours.

90 percent of people do their best thinking outside the office. Notice where and when you focus best, then allocate your toughest tasks for those moments.

• Tell everyone what you plan to do and talk about your goals. Tell friends, employees, and employers your intentions and you won’t want to let them down. 
• Start documenting and sharing your journey. A blog or vlog where you share the projects you’re working on and your progress will encourage you to get things done. 

If you’re a chronic procrastinator and simply can’t resist the temptations of things like Facebook and Youtube, it might be time to cut out temptations.

There are tools such as Rescue Time, SelfControl and Focus that will temporarily block access to distracting websites like Facebook. Less aggressive tools such as Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator and Distraction Free Youtube will allow you to have access to Facebook and Youtube but block the distracting parts of these websites (such as the newsfeed).

If you feel overwhelmed by how little you have progressed, switch to working on mindless tasks that require little attention and allow the mind to wander. Wash the dishes, organize your bookshelf, or do laundry. 

By accomplishing small wins, you develop momentum and confidence to overcome your mental block.

• Having a neat, organized desk will improve your productivity and focus. 
• A messy space can enhance creativity and help you gain fresh insights. 

Play around with your home or office environment and discover what works best for you.

• Do. If the email is actionable and takes under two minutes, then do the task ASAP.
• Delegate. Forward the right tasks to the right people.
• Defer. Reply to the message at a better time.
• Delete emails that are not important or that you can delegate. 
• File. Add messages that contain information you will need to your archives.

To avoid filling the email box of staff members, only CC the relevant parties. Ask your team to respond to you individually instead of using the reply-to-all button.

Plan ahead for the week, month or year when you are energized and feeling motivated, for better results for getting stuff done.

If you can’t hold yourself accountable, it’s a good idea to bring in an outside influence.

An accountability partner forces you to acknowledge the ways you’re sabotaging yourself, take personal responsibility and complete that to-do list.