Productivity coaching via phone?
October 22, 2014 2:42 AM Subscribe
I've hit a slump. I am in a very high performing profession in an executive role, but my productivity has plummeted. I'm looking to find a phone coaching resource to keep me on my game.
I'll not get into the extended reasons why my productivity has gone down - I don't need analysis. But the symptoms are long internet surfing sessions, general malaise, extreme procrastination. I actually like my work when I am doing it but have fallen into some bad habits and am coasting.
So I'm looking for someone to help me jumpstart productivity. Something as simple as a daily 10 minute call asking me "what have you accomplished today?" and then logging that for me would be great.
I know myself well enough that I will NOT use any productivity apps or online services. I just can't be bothered to fill them out.
So wondering if you know of any services out there that I can sign up for, or even coaching finders where I can get someone? I do not want analysis - just hard core, almost boss like accountability management to make sure I am getting stuff done. (I don't really have boss.)
Sorry for anonymous post - just don't want to be visible to whole internet given my profile.
I'll not get into the extended reasons why my productivity has gone down - I don't need analysis. But the symptoms are long internet surfing sessions, general malaise, extreme procrastination. I actually like my work when I am doing it but have fallen into some bad habits and am coasting.
So I'm looking for someone to help me jumpstart productivity. Something as simple as a daily 10 minute call asking me "what have you accomplished today?" and then logging that for me would be great.
I know myself well enough that I will NOT use any productivity apps or online services. I just can't be bothered to fill them out.
So wondering if you know of any services out there that I can sign up for, or even coaching finders where I can get someone? I do not want analysis - just hard core, almost boss like accountability management to make sure I am getting stuff done. (I don't really have boss.)
Sorry for anonymous post - just don't want to be visible to whole internet given my profile.
Suggest you search out executive life coaches, who work by phone or in person. They will help hold you accountable to the goals that you set.
posted by walkinginsunshine at 3:33 AM on October 22, 2014
posted by walkinginsunshine at 3:33 AM on October 22, 2014
Beeminder has a coaching system where you can set trackable goals and you're on the hook for payments. You can get personal coaching where someone will call/email you to do that. My husband has tried it and it doesn't click at all for him, while I have 34 goals now going and it is has been huge in productivity for me. I haven't tried the higher levels yet, only the most basic. I saw results within a week on the free account.
posted by viggorlijah at 6:21 AM on October 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by viggorlijah at 6:21 AM on October 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
I think there is something else wrong here. I'm curious what your age is because it sounds like the ~40 year "what am I doing and why?" That seriously takes a while for motivated, hard-working people to figure out.
To answer your explicit question, TaskRabbit would be great and cheap for this and it doesn't matter if they aren't local for you.
I think there is another question here, though. I say that from excruciatingly painful experience and while sincerely wishing that's not the case. Might be worth exploring, though.
posted by Punctual at 7:06 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
To answer your explicit question, TaskRabbit would be great and cheap for this and it doesn't matter if they aren't local for you.
I think there is another question here, though. I say that from excruciatingly painful experience and while sincerely wishing that's not the case. Might be worth exploring, though.
posted by Punctual at 7:06 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
Until you have a moment of clarity or hit bottom, flailing solutions like this will be of limited use.
Moments of clarity can be evoked by many classic gambits - getting into nature, foreign travel, a new relationship....anything to drastically take you out of your element for a while until perspective is restored.
Bottom-hitting is one of the few reliable graces of human existence, but alas, it's not something one can wield pragmatically. So long as you're trying to have power over the situation, you're not at bottom. Bottom is when you cry out - in a voice you're unaccustomed to hearing - "Oh, I give up"...and mean it, all the way. At those moments, many accounts will tell you (and I can confirm), there's a reboot.
You can get a taste of that surrender/reboot experience, however, via meditation. It also eases stress and provides clarity. I'd recommend this, the simplest, most stripped-down, non-religious, non-dogmatic, non-joiner-ish and efficacious meditation practice I've ever come across. 20 mins twice per day is an enormous commitment, but I can assure you that the resultant clarity and stress abatement pay for the time lost and then some.
posted by Quisp Lover at 8:33 AM on October 22, 2014 [3 favorites]
Moments of clarity can be evoked by many classic gambits - getting into nature, foreign travel, a new relationship....anything to drastically take you out of your element for a while until perspective is restored.
Bottom-hitting is one of the few reliable graces of human existence, but alas, it's not something one can wield pragmatically. So long as you're trying to have power over the situation, you're not at bottom. Bottom is when you cry out - in a voice you're unaccustomed to hearing - "Oh, I give up"...and mean it, all the way. At those moments, many accounts will tell you (and I can confirm), there's a reboot.
You can get a taste of that surrender/reboot experience, however, via meditation. It also eases stress and provides clarity. I'd recommend this, the simplest, most stripped-down, non-religious, non-dogmatic, non-joiner-ish and efficacious meditation practice I've ever come across. 20 mins twice per day is an enormous commitment, but I can assure you that the resultant clarity and stress abatement pay for the time lost and then some.
posted by Quisp Lover at 8:33 AM on October 22, 2014 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Failing that, maybe a virtual PA you can check in with once a day?
posted by Leon at 3:14 AM on October 22, 2014