You don't become more productive by wishing it so. You must commit to it in much the same way that you would a healthy lifestyle. It involves both conscious actions and controlling your autopilot reactions, the ones we do without thinking.

One of the largest challenges to productivity for most chamber pros is being a “natural helper.” We want to be there for everyone in our community; that's why we took on the selfless role of chamber staffer. But as helpers (or people pleasers in the extreme), we often say yes to things that aren't in line with our goals.

For every moment you’re doing something that is not in line with your goals, you are stealing that time from the activities that would make you more productive and on a more efficient path to your aims.

Here are 12 ways to ensure you stay on track and remain your most productive self this year.

The "One Thing" Rule
Identify the single most important task each day that moves the needle on your biggest goal (membership growth, event success, increasing revenue, community impact, etc.). Tackle that task first thing in the morning.

Make sure your one thing is achievable and measurable. For example, don't write workforce development as your one thing for the day. Unless you are an incredibly gifted wizard, you are not going to solve workforce development in an hour before your first meeting.
Instead, focus on one activity or strategy within your workforce development goal that you can check off such as “Use the identified manufacturing employee skills list to brainstorm curriculum ideas with the college president.”

The Eisenhower Matrix (Urgent vs. Important)
This classic tool helps visualize tasks and prioritize effectively. Sometimes it's difficult to differentiate between urgent and important because urgent can be the louder siren of the two. When a stakeholder is in our face demanding something urgent it's easy for us to cave and just get it done for them. However, you're doing so at the detriment of what's important to the chamber and its goals. Don’t get bogged down in urgent but unimportant tasks.

If the task is urgent and important and you simply can't get it done yourself, you can always delegate it.

Be careful when taking on last minute urgent projects. They tend to fall apart quickly as you can see from this fictional example below.

Have you ever had this type of urgent request?

It's Wednesday afternoon, and Mark, the marketing manager at the bustling Anytown Chamber of Commerce, is wrapping up his day. He's just finalized the details for the "State of the City" address happening two months from now – a significant event with the mayor as the keynote speaker. He plans on sending the big announcement email the following morning, giving him time to craft the perfect message and ensure it gets maximum attention.

Just as he's about to shut down his computer, he gets a call from the mayor's office. They're excited about the event and want to share the news immediately. They've even drafted a short blurb about the address and the mayor's key talking points.

Mark, eager to please such an important partner, feels a sudden urge to send out the announcement right now. He convinces himself that striking while the iron is hot is crucial, even though it's late in the day and most people are already checked out.

He scrambles to create an email, hastily inserts the blurb from the mayor's office, and quickly adds a link to the event registration page. He doesn't have time to finesse the design, double-check the details, or even run it by his executive director for approval.

He hits send with a sense of accomplishment, but the consequences are less than ideal.

Mark's desire to act immediately, while well-intentioned, led to a less effective outcome. By taking a breath and delaying the announcement until the next morning, he could have achieved better results. Yes, it was the City requesting it but as the Chamber Pro, Mark was able to explain that the Chamber gets higher open rates during business hours and that the email would evoke much more buzz (and responses to the call to action), if sent the next day.

You don’t have to say “no” to every urgent request but you will be well served to explain why if the timing is not ideal and what they can gain by waiting.

​Time Blocking

Scheduled blocks of time dedicated to specific tasks or types of work can help create focus and avoid constant context switching. Switching tasks requires a lot of mental agility, and because of that, is more time consuming.

Batching Similar Tasks

Grouping similar tasks together (e.g., answering emails all at once, making phone calls in a dedicated block) improves efficiency and reduces mental clutter.

Think of batching tasks in the same way as planning a road trip. If you're able to do straight highway driving to reach your destination you will get there much faster than taking the back roads. Batching tasks is highway driving. Switching back and forth between different types of tasks is like driving on the back roads. Yes, you'll still get there but it takes a lot longer.

Embrace Automation

Tools for social media scheduling, email marketing, event registration, and member management can free up significant time. Auditioning them does take time. But once you find ones you like, they will improve efficiency and may even help you delegate things you couldn't in the past.

Discover the Ease of Templates

Creating templates for common communications (welcome letters, event follow-ups, sponsorship proposals) saves time and ensures consistency. Your CRM probably comes with some that you already use but now many e-mail platforms—including Gmail—offer them as well. You can even have AI write them for you.

Delegate

Analyze your tasks and identify those that could be delegated to volunteers, interns, AI, or even outsourced to affordable virtual assistants.

Master the Art of Saying "No"

Don’t give in to the pressure to take on everything. While many people will tell you “no” is a complete sentence and you don't owe anyone anything further than that, the awkward silence after a “no” can be uncomfortable. In those situations, just keep reminding yourself that the reason you said no was because the request does not fit the chambers strategic plan or goals at that time. Your no is for the better of the chamber and your ability to serve it.

Know Done is Better Than Perfect

Perfectionism is a productivity killer. Strive for excellence, but don’t be paralyzed by perfectionism.

Leverage Member Expertise

Tap into the skills and resources of chamber members for tasks like website design, marketing materials, event planning, or industry expertise. It will save you hours and make your member feel valued.

Go Micro

If you are overwhelmed by a mounting To Do List and there's no way to shorten it, you could be well served by blowing it up. No, not literally. “Blowing it up” (in this case) means making it longer but more satisfying by breaking larger to-dos into micro tasks. For instance, if one of your To Do List items is “plan the lunch and learn for June,” break that into the individual tasks that are involved in planning the lunch and learn such as line up a speaker, request three quotes from local caterers, and/or create a flyer for the event.

When you break larger to-dos into micro tasks, you achieve things faster and build momentum by marking tasks off the list. Now instead of waiting a full morning before you can check off an accomplishment, you'll be able to do that in minutes. This can be incredibly uplifting and inspiring as you're slogging through your To Do List.

Follow the Two-minute Rule

If a task takes less than two minutes, do it now. Don’t put it off or delegate it. That will take more time than getting it done and checking it off.

This article presented 12 tactics to help you become more productive, but for them to be effective you need to embrace them and practice them consistently so they become habitual.

To form a habit, you need to commit at least 21 days to it. It's no coincidence we chose 12 productivity tips. That way you can incorporate a new one every month.
Let us know which one turns out to be your favorite.