Why It Is Important To Know The Story Of Your Instacart Shopper

I received a Thank You card with my Instacart online grocery delivery this week. It thanked me for letting him shop for me and for my tip, as COVID meant he had to switch careers. He explained he is rebuilding his career by day and at the weekend he is shopping online and delivering groceries via Instacart to help his family and support his daughter through college. I was able to contact him to hear more about his story. 

I often wonder how all the Uber drivers are doing. Along with the pilots, airline crews, airport teams, office building support, coffee shop staff, restaurant workers, match day sports teams staff, and hotel employees —have they found alternative work, holding down two or three jobs, or still in need of help. 

I’ve heard from many online shopping services that not everyone is patient, courteous, or grateful. 

As my mum always told me: Manners cost nothing. 

Hearing his story was a great reminder of how many people still need help. 

Who can you ask about their story today? perhaps you might be able to help.

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Why Hyperfocus Mode Will Help You Improve Your Productivity

Do you truly understand what distracts you and what helps you focus? ...especially now just as the hybrid work life is resetting all of our expectations in our work life and whole life?

Many people ask me how I write books while running my business, so after I wrote my first book I decided to share exactly how in my Inc Magazine column How to Write a Brilliant Book in Four Months.

A year ago, I discovered I had an ADHD brain, and one of the upsides of that neurodiversity is the ability to go into “hyperfocus” which means that you can become incredibly focused and deliver high output in rapid time. - to get into that zone (on things you actually want to focus on rather than on a random rabbit hole not of your own choosing....) requires setting the right conditions. These conditions are ones that anyone can take advantage of to increase your productivity.

Here are six ways that can really help anyone focus:

1. Ask when you need the house to yourself. This weekend I had the house to myself on Sunday for 7 sweet precious hours. My husband took our three daughters out for a Daddy day and I got to be in the house. ALONE!. Which allowed me to write, create, and just simply think. As we transition to our hybrid schooling, hybrid working, and hybrid socializing the juggle of new schedules is very real. This past year has changed the dynamic in so many houses and knowing what you need and asking for it can help you focus.

2. Turn off every distraction. How often do you technically detach? When I need to focus my phone goes into airplane mode, I turn my outlook to Offline so I can’t see incoming emails, I switch off my WiFi and put my phone in another room. Try it when you have a presentation to write, a board report to prepare, or you need time to think and create.

3. Put the world on mute. Noise cancelling headphones puts the world in quiet mode. I love listening to music when I am in hyperfocus mode but sometimes I just put my airpods in so it mutes the background noise around me and I get extreme silence. For my ADHD brain this is especially helpful.

4. Use visual timers Anyone who hears me speak at virtual and real life events knows the power of visual timers. Let me know if you want to discuss me running a productivity session for your leadership team and I’ll show you just how!

5. Know your output metrics. You know your fastest mile if you are a runner, or your personal record if you lift weights- but do you know your productivity per hour in your work? I know exactly how many words I can write in 55 minutes( if I am not distracted of course!) I set a visual timer and let my pen or keyboard flow. - the elapsed time vs the actual time spent doing a task can ruin your productivity if you don’t know and set clear output goals. — Try adding up how many actual minutes you spent on that one email that really only took 5minutes to write once you stopped trying to multi task or overthink it!

6. Move for five minutes of every hour - even in hyperfocused mode you need to move once every hour. Go and get some water, walk around your house or office, or do some stretching or squats the other side of your desk. You will find if you know you are going to move every hour it forces you to make the prior 55 minutes count!

What was I working on this weekend? I plan to share exactly that later this month.

Since sharing my discovery of ADHD brain many people ask me “how do you stay focused Val, —however to you do all of that!?” Now you know some of my tricks that anyone can apply to increase your own productivity.

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Three Great Reasons Work Will Never Be The Same Again

First of all there is no back to normal, your work as you know it will never be the same again and here is why that is good news:

1. Everyone is now enlightened. Sure, we are all like caged animals wanting to escape back to the wild, but we have all learned just how much we can achieve in the captivity of our own homes. Will everyone return to work in a physical office 365 days a year? I highly doubt it. - Of course, I hate the virtual connections and fatigue just as much as the next person unintentionally on mute, but there is a new beacon of light guideline what IS possible remotely and it will shatter the 40 hour 5 days in the office work week forever. With two ten year olds and a 12 year old at home for the last year of course there have been equally tough and delightful times - which causes many to pause and wonder “do I really need to take all the *stuff* that this job brings my way....or is it time to return that headhunter’s call...”
   

2. Technology teams have proven you can implement in days not weeks. - remote working rollout anyone? - I can’t wait for all of those strategy and planning discussions where the retort to long project implementation is “but we did it faster in 2020 so why not now...?” There has been a new bar for implementation set that can only help challenge old assumptions and think bigger. Same applies to many functions, thoughtful speed wins the day. Superfluous documents, meetings, and conversations have been thrown out and you have the power to prevent them ever returning.
   

3. Your customer's tastes and demands change and so can you. Rapidly. There is currently a US shortage of ketchup. Restaurants can’t keep up with the unexpected boom of takeout and delivery so it has caused a ketchup shortage with those tiny packets you get with your to go order. Everyone is scrambling to adjust - Just like toilet paper manufacturers couldn’t pivot quickly enough to the in home vs. in office demands for toilet paper 365 days ago, now it seems that ketchup is having the same problem too. Retailer francesca’s were a dress up and go outbrand and they had to rapidly transform into a cozy up and stay at home brand. They launched new product ranges including loungewear, a tween brand called Franki, extended sizes , and a new app within days at the start of the pandemic and are similarly monitoring customers fashion needs as everyone slowly adjusts to going out again. Real time customer feedback is needed on parallel to dashboards and metrics that matter.
   

What does this mean for you? It is time to immerse yourself in the mindset of your customers and your employees. How do you stay connected with who is your current customer?, how have they changed?, how are you adapting? Where have you found unexpected strength in your teams and how do you deconstruct that so you can recreate it?

Most importantly ask and listen to your employees. —- because if you don’t not only do you miss out on their insights —but the job market is HOT right now and in favor of those looking for a new job. I’ve never see companies hire faster, but more importantly rely on their network for referrals. So it is time to keep your top performing employees close. Because if you don’t...a head hunter or another company will!

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/