The calendar is chock full — with back-to-back meetings, reports, paperwork and a family dinner — but according to executive life coach Jason Womack, all of those commitments just aren’t going to happen as planned.
“The myth of productivity is that you will ever get it all done,” the SBCC graduate told about 150 people gathered at his alma mater Friday afternoon for the free talk. “I would say there is a deeper myth, that you want to get it all done. By default, the reason you’re here is you want more to do.”
Womack went straight to SBCC out of high school, studied U.S. history and Spanish literature at several University of California campuses, and earned two master’s degrees in education and psychology. After teaching for four years in Ojai and Ventura, Womack said he had to go back to school.
“I knew how to teach, but I wanted to find out why people didn’t learn,” he said.
For the past 16 years, Womack has used his background to help entrepreneurs become more productive. He recently finished his second book, Your Best Just Got Better: Working Smarter, Thinking Bigger, Making More, which Womack said is a means to give businesspeople the pause they need to think.
He travels around the world speaking with leaders of small businesses to Fortune 100 companies.
“His insight as how we can better our lives and business lives is so relevant in today’s fast-paced world,” said Melissa Moreno, director of SBCC’s Scheinfeld Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
Womack said the most common issue he comes across is focus, adding that a good practice is to create a dashboard, or somewhere a person can find the most important things they want to accomplish.
“There’s a lack of focus and lack of integrity,” Womack said. “They aren’t focusing on what they need to be doing and take anything that comes their way and doing that. They overextend themselves.”
The latest and the loudest news captures people’s attention. Womack said they will become more productive by acting on the issue that matters now and by forgetting what can be done later.
“How I use my time and what I try to focus on is extremely relative to the environment I spent my time in,” he said.
Womack organizes his day into 96 15-minute blocks. In terms of the workplace, he advises only addressing someone if there are three things to discuss.
“If I think of something to tell you, I should hold on to that until I think of three or more,” Womack said.
When it comes to entrepreneurship, it may not be simple but it’s easy — identify a problem, figure out a solution people will pay for and make that solution as available as possible, he said.
But in a day of smartphones and technology, he said, simplicity is key. A pen and paper is the best technology Womack said he has ever used.
“If you think it, ink it,” Womack said.
— Noozhawk business writer Alex Kacik can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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