There is a pre-conceived notion that a productive person is someone who embraces organization and who runs his or her calendar military style. Is your closet organized by colors and pantry organized alphabetically? Do you follow a rigid calendar and never derail from it? Certainly, if you are someone who is organized and understands the importance of following a system, the idea of productivity can come easier to you but certainly, it's not the only way to productivity. If your closet and pantry are not rock stars and your calendar is collecting dust, can you still be a productive entrepreneur?

Productivity is the action of performing at your best, to produce in abundance. The environment around you should be an indicator of your performance. A clutter free workspace will facilitate the action of performing at your best. Even if you are accustomed to chaos, clutter, and you claim you work best in that scenario because that's all you know, your performance will reflect the clutter and chaos around you. In order to execute at a higher performance level, your space should be conducive to that environment. If you are not ready to tackle your piles yet or are simply not interested in making that change - add an inspirational piece to your work area. An object that reminds you of why you should perform at your best (you may have to move a pile out of the way to fit it in) I have a picture of my son and me at the beach. I have to perform in abundance during my working hours because I want to return to the beach with him every weekend knowing my work for the week is completed.

Small business owners have the difficult task of investing their time wisely. There is no blue print to follow or higher ups to report to. A small business owner must utilize the same 24 hours in a day than anyone else and allocate those hours the best way possible. You can train your brain to disconnect from activities that are distracting to accomplish what you have set out to do. Managing your time effectively begins with knowing how you are currently investing your time.

For the rest of the day today, write down everything you do and how long it took you to do it, especially all non-work related activities (if you are reading this in the evening, do it first thing tomorrow) Once you accumulate in writing your activities for the day, go back and analyze the way you have spent your day. Identify three things that were distracting and ineffective and replace those three activities with a productive one.

Just like any other journey in life, the journey to productivity begins with small simple steps. If you are not someone who is organized, or believes in following a daily calendar, you can still perform at your best. Focus your attention in two small areas at the beginning. Have an inspirational piece in your work area that reminds you why you should perform at your best and replace three daily ineffective activities with one productive one. By making these small changes, you too can be productive. Who knows, you may be inspired to organize your closet and pantry too!