As a life insurance agent, enhancing your productivity is a key element to long-term success. Whether you’re calling more prospects, writing more policies or recruiting more agents, growing your productivity is necessary for a successful business.
To that end, taking action on tips that help you improve your organizational skills, self-discipline and time management can improve your ability to sell, spread your brand and generate more income. Sometimes, starting small is the best place to start and developing regular micro habits is a fantastic way to improve your overall productivity.
We put together a list of seven micro habits that can boost your productivity, success in the field and overall success as a life insurance agent.
#1: Save your social media time
Has the curse of the scrolling screen left you distracted during work hours? Putting a plan in place for social media time is a great micro habit that can keep you focused during work hours. Paid apps like Freedom or Flipd let you make schedules during which all your social media apps will be blocked from use on your smartphone or computer.
Before trying one of those, you might want to test your willpower first by creating strict schedules yourself on when you can access these platforms. For instance, start by giving yourself a social media greenlight time of 3 pm. If that feels too early, adjust as needed.
#2: Write tomorrow’s to-do’s today
Scrambling to put together your to-do list every morning can be an anxiety-inducing chore. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you’ve carved out for yourself. With that in mind, dedicating the nightly habit of putting that list together can take away a lot of unnecessary morning stress.
By listing out what tomorrow’s tasks will be (try listing them by priority), you can start thinking of them the night before and wake up with an added sense of accomplishment. Listing your big to-do’s the night before can also help you stay more organized.
After making this micro habit a nightly routine, you’ll adapt to acknowledging what’s needed for tomorrow and what priority your tasks will take.
#3 Two-list method
Speaking of making lists, the next micro habit on our list is a simple, yet effective, productivity technique that involves maintaining two lists every day. The “ two-list method” requires you to make two lists: a master list and a daily list.
Your master list should be a comprehensive record of all your tasks, goals and projects you need to complete. Anything that comes to mind and falls into one of those three categories should be added to your master list. It should be an ongoing list that evolves as you progress, and plans that are still weeks or months away should be included.
Next, you’ll want to prioritize that master list by importance. Once they’re in order, you can decide where more time should be spent on completing things.
Your second list should be written out daily. Focus on the tasks that need to be finished that day and avoid the temptation of adding goals that are outside of that scope (that’s what your master list is for). If you want, you can add notes to any tasks that contribute to an important step in something on your master list.
The most important (and gratifying) part of this technique comes from your daily reviews. Start with your daily responsibilities and tick off anything you complete. If anything was left unfinished you can push it to your next daily task or add it to your master. Ultimately, your master list should inform what your daily tasks are, and leveraging both will keep your productivity up and on schedule.
#4: Pomodoro Timer
The Pomodoro Timer is an online tool that life insurance agents could benefit from. The timer allows users to segment their work more efficiently. Specifically, you can block off your time into 25-minute intervals, known as “pomodoros,” that are followed by 5–10-minute breaks.
Ideally, you would first look at your schedule to find chunks of time that can be split up into a 25-minute chunk. As soon as you start one of these tasks, like calling a list of prospective clients, you can start the 25-minute timer. Once the timer goes off, take a five or 10-minute break.
After you’ve finished four “pomodoros,” users are encouraged to take a longer break — between 15 to 30 minutes.
Breaking up your day into bite-sized sections makes it easy to stay on task while making your workday more manageable.
#5: The five-second technique
This next tip makes us want to make a procrastination joke… but we’ll just do it later. If that resonates with you, the five-second technique is a great micro-habit to add to your wheelhouse. Pioneered by American author, Mel Robbins, the technique is simple: the instant you feel the motivation to act on a goal or commitment you have to move (physically) within five seconds.
According to Robbins, this habit allows you to break the habit loop of overthinking and helps one avoid the “cycle of inaction.” This habit is great for generating immediate action and can help you see more productivity in everything from getting out of bed in the morning to pushing through an email you’ve been waiting to type.
#6: 60-second stretches, daily
Stretching is a habit that is good for your physical and mental health. As you lengthen and release tension in your muscles, you’re reducing stiffness, improving your range of motion and avoiding injury. What’s more, stretching is known to improve blood flow which can leave you feeling more relaxed and less stressed.
One minute of stretching a day, a micro habit by all measurements, will be an important addition to your work routine. It can boost your daily productivity while enhancing your physical and mental wellness. Find the sixty seconds you need to breathe deep and get flexible.
#7: Read a paragraph of work-related literature every morning
No matter your industry things will change. New processes will be developed, and technology will be made to fill in the gaps. As a life insurance agent, having a pulse on the industry can be all the difference in making your life insurance agency a successful one.
Our next micro habit is to give yourself time every day to brush up on the latest in the field of insurance. Try and read at least one paragraph of related literature every morning. By doing this in the morning, you can set your brain to recognize how your current processes can be modified (or made obsolete) by whatever you read earlier in the day.
If you’re looking for some inspiration, check out our profile on Medium. You can find all our latest blogs there as well as any other publications you want to follow.
Boost your productivity with Symmetry
Finding small ways to enhance your productivity can be the difference between a successful business and one that flounders. By looking for small ways to refocus your intention and flex those micro habit muscles, you can boost your productivity while creating healthy processes throughout your day.
Hopefully, one of these suggestions will help you elevate your business and help more families protect what matters most.
