Daily Routines for Success

As someone who has received over 100 emails a day for over 20 years, I thought I would share some top tips on how to manage a very full inbox while also getting on with all your meetings and the day job. 📧🗂️ Tip 1: Not all emails are equal - compartmentalize based on who is sending it and what they are asking. 📥🔍 Tip 2: You don't need to read the full email - especially if you are in a chain of emails. 📨📑 Tip 3: Often, you don't need to respond. People just want to show you an activity is going on so you can monitor progress. 📊👀 Tip 4: Build a file library system for storing emails. I use one for marketing, internal, finance, ops, and clients, with subfolders in each category. 🗄️📁 Tip 5: Use the filing system as soon as the action is taken. Move it out of your inbox and use your main inbox for items that need your action. ✅📤 Tip 6: The best time to tackle email management and reduce your inbox is first thing in the morning or later at night. That's because your email won't get topped up. To prevent being antisocial, you can mark items in your outbox to be sent at a more reasonable time for the receiver. ⏰📬 Tip 7: Don't live in your inbox. Get your head into the important things, especially projects that need to be delivered, so turn your email off when doing this. 🚫📵 Managing your inbox effectively can transform your productivity. What tips do you have for managing email overload? 💡📈

If you tallied how many times a day you check your email, would you be okay or shocked? Do you immediately check your email when you wake up and right before bed? Do you check it at red lights on your way to work? How about during a virtual meeting? Guilty! Studies show that constantly checking email affects your cognition, depletes your mental energy, and decreases your productivity. Yet, some of us check our emails constantly! Instead, the recommendation is to pick several times a day when you process email - not just check it. For example, pick a time in the morning, then again around lunchtime, and before you leave work to check and process important emails. Resist the urge to check every 15 minutes! If you're constantly checking email, I challenge you to start setting boundaries. - No email in bed - No email first thing in the morning until you've ______ (for me, it's read) - No email in the car To help me "step away from my email", I write myself a reminder in my planner (picture below). Remember, email isn't your job. Leading your team, managing operations, and serving your patients IS. Email is just a communication tool.  #leadershipdevelopment #nurselife #healthcareleaders

I used to work for 14 hours for a reputed personal branding agency. Not joking, I was hustling from 9 AM to 11 PM. (Of course with small breaks) Pushing myself to work nonstop left me drained, unhappy, and unhealthy. However, my growth at the agency was exceptional. It was there that I acquired all my skills. The transformation in my work was profound, a complete 360-degree change. I truly cherished the progress I made there. But all of it came at a cost. But now my perspective has shifted. Now, I know that lasting success requires pacing yourself for the long haul. It means setting boundaries and prioritizing self-care, not sacrificing wellbeing to overwork. Include sustainable practices like: → Setting realistic goals → Taking regular breaks to recharge → Unplugging after hours/on weekends → Using vacation time wisely → Building in time for health and hobbies. The irony is you achieve greater productivity and job satisfaction when you make space for personal needs. How are you maintaining your work-life balance? #worklifebalance #personalbranding #linkedingrowth

How do you manage the tension from operating in spaces that weren’t designed for you? If you're from an underestimated group, you know what I'm talking about. There's a cost to our mental, physical an emotional energy, from trying to change entrenched systems. Moms still remain underrepresented in leadership. And for women of color, the stats are downright bleak. So, the normal friction that comes with growth, can feel more intense. Especially working in traditional industries. But there are ways to make disruptive leadership more sustainable and joyful. And I had the pleasure of speaking with sustainable food pioneer, Julia Collins about this. Here are the key points from our conversation: 1. Resist narratives that don't belong to you. Many of us, especially in communities of color, inherit generational trauma that links our worth to overwork. But we can tell ourselves a new story. Julia said, “So, the greater part of me understands that joy, beauty, and pleasure are what’s sustainable. And that stress, strain, and toiling, are absolutely not. You will literally burn yourself down like a candle. But nonetheless, there are moments when work gets hard or my travel schedule is punishing that I say to myself, ‘have you done enough?’ Recognizing that’s coming up for me and it’s something that doesn’t belong to me, has been really helpful." 2. Build restoration into your daily routines. Honor your intentions on the calendar. Julia doesn't take meetings after 4:00 pm so, she can wrap up her commitments and shift into "Mom mode" before her kids come home. Although it means she has to catch up on some work after they're asleep, she prioritizes time for play and connection each day. Carve space for your relationships and health routines with nonnegotiable calendar blocks. 3. And champion sustainable work practices in your organization and communities. By modeling firm boundaries, you free your colleagues and teams to better integrate their work/life needs. Julia said, “...For those of us that are doing a really good job on self-care, remember that others may not be. And we have this power to extend some of that joy, happiness and wellness to others. Like the people who support us in our homes, neighbors, immediate family, and our employees." #leadershipskills #workingmothers #workingparents #sustainablebusiness #diversityequityinclusion

The single most powerful habit for career growth: Networking and Mentorship. Over the past 5 years, I've focused on - building a strong network - surrounding myself with mentors and sponsors. Here are 5 key strategies that have been game-changers for me: 1. The Relationship Kickstart No one has time to meet everyone—so I focus on being intentional. I ask myself: - Who’s one person I’d like to connect with this month? - What’s one way I can add value to them? These small, consistent actions keep me focused on building authentic relationships. 2. Stay Close to Mentors Regularly check in by sharing: 👉🏾 What progress you’ve made. 👉🏾 What advice you need Keep the relationship strong and mutually beneficial 3. Break Through Bottlenecks Ask yourself: - What’s holding me back to reach my next step? - Who in my network can help me move forward? Often, the right conversation opens the next door. 4. Refine Your Network Evaluate quarterly: 👉🏾 Who inspires and supports me? 👉🏾 Who no longer aligns with my goals? Focus your energy on relationships that elevate you. ———— If it helps : I documented a step by step playbook. Technically it’s not a playbook but guiding principles. There’s no one size fit all Comment 👍🏾 - Happy to send it. But hopefully this will get you started 😊.

The hardest part of growth isn’t doing more—it’s learning to say no. In a coaching session recently, we explored the real struggles women in business face. Spoiler: it’s not cash flow, pricing strategy, systems or sales. It’s this: 🌟 Giving yourself permission to prioritise what actually matters to you. 🌟 Protecting those priorities with confidence, even when the noise of others’ demands creeps in. For so many women, the fear of upsetting people or being judged can be paralysing. But here’s the truth: Prioritising your health is not a luxury—it’s mission critical. Prioritising being present with your kids (if you have them) is your most important parenting job. Prioritising YOUR business goals? No one else will do that for you. The work? It’s not in the doing—it’s in granting yourself the permission to put yourself first. Here’s my cheat sheet to start the habit of fiercely honouring YOUR priorities: 1️⃣ Decide on your priorities, your big rocks. Be bold. Be selfish. 2️⃣ Map them into your calendar—these are non-negotiable commitments to yourself. 3️⃣ Weekly, review your calendar. Does it make you feel empowered or overwhelmed? Adjust as needed to get closer to empowered. Everything else moves around your priorities. Your priorities don’t move for everything else. Things do not just 'come up.' YOU let them steal your energy and time. The women I work with are high-achieving and ambitious, but often so close to burnout they can’t see it. This is why we start with the basics: setting boundaries and reclaiming their time. Growth begins when you stop saying yes to everything and start saying yes to yourself. What would make it into your list of big rocks? 💭 #WomenInBusiness #Leadership #Growth Image: Weekly date night is never missed. Not always fancy, but present, quality time 💜

Can success leave you feeling more disconnected than ever? If you've ever found that reaching the top only deepened your sense of isolation, you're not alone. Success without a strong support system or balance can feel hollow and exhausting, making well-being an essential, yet overlooked, part of sustainable leadership. Yesterday, we touched on the support system. Today, we take a look at how your personal well-being helps you connect with others. Prioritizing well-being isn’t just about physical health. It is about nurturing a sense of connection and fulfillment that combats the isolation you feel as a woman in leadership. Investing in your well-being means you are better able to connect with yourself and others, which is key to reducing loneliness. Some of the practices that you can adapt for your well-being include: 💡 Intentional self-care. This is necessary to help you feel less emotional exhaustion and more empathy for yourself and others. 💡 Journaling. Taking time for self-reflection through journaling will help you gain clarity about yourself, and the connections that you truly value and want to nurture. This will ultimately help in reducing isolation and boosting your personal well-being. 💡 Regular exercise/ Whether through walking, home exercise or joining a gym, physical exercise will enhance your moods, reduce your stress, contribute to better sleep, improve your mental clarity and your emotional stability. 💡 Personal growth. Activities that will allow you to continue learning such as webinars, conferences, book clubs, etc, help you stay resilient and emotionally open, making it easier to reach out to peers, seek mentors, and build genuine connections. In turn, these relationships will provide the encouragement and perspective you need to feel less isolated at the top. 💡 Join or build your own support network. Leaders who belong to supportive networks report higher well-being and less burn-out, and often feel empowered to take risks, share insights, and support one another’s success. 💡 Regularly reassess your priorities. Remember your true north. Ensuring that you are aligned to your values and priorities will help you feel fulfilled both professionally and personally. You will also be able to make changes that ensure your professional life aligns with their personal values in order to create more balanced and satisfying lives. While loneliness in leadership is real, well-being practices and intentional relationships can help break through the isolation. True success isn’t about sacrificing well-being or relationships but finding a balance that empowers them to lead authentically, connected both to their teams and to themselves. This foundation is necessary for a thriving leadership tenure. Which of the above do you need to take up? Share in the comments. #leaders #africa #professionalwomen #personaldevelopment #leadership

"You can't be what you can't see." But what if what you see doesn't fit who you are? As women leaders, we're often handed a definition of success that feels like someone else's shoes - they might look great, but they just don't fit. It's time to design our own success metrics. Here's how: 1️⃣ Ditch the corporate ladder mentality: Success isn't always vertical. Sometimes it's horizontal, diagonal, or even a zig-zag. Embrace your unique path. 2️⃣ Create your "Life Impact Score": Measure what truly matters. How many lives have you touched? How have you changed your industry? What's your legacy? 3️⃣ Implement "Radical Specificity": Forget vague goals. Be hyper-specific about what success looks like for YOU. "Lead a cross-functional project that increases revenue by 15%" beats "get promoted" any day. 4️⃣ Value soft skills as hard wins: Did you navigate a tough conversation? Build a high-performing team? That's success, full stop. 5️⃣ Celebrate the small victories: Success isn't just about the end goal. It's about the daily wins that get you there. Acknowledge your progress, no matter how small. Remember: You're not just climbing the ladder; you're building your own. Make sure it leads somewhere YOU want to go. P.S. What's one unconventional way you measure your success? Share below and let's redefine success together!

I managed to delegate 95% of my email inbox when running an 1,800 client accounting firm. Here are 11 tips to reinvent your team's approach to email: 1. Send less email You don't get responses to emails you never send. Email is for exception handling, not ongoing repetitive work. 2. Eliminate inbox propriety Email isn't your private space, it's the receiving bay of your business. Radical email transparency solves a host of email-related pains. Find an alternative home for internal sensitive messages. Btw if you want tips like this in your inbox each week, join 9,112 other accounting firm owners on the list here https://lnkd.in/gKY9X4M9 3. Delegate Email's no more immune to delegation than any other work. The fact 10% of messages require your touch isn't a reason to DIY 100% of it. 4. Batch the FYIs For everything that doesn't require your direct attention, have your team send you a once-daily FYI digest of everything you ought to know to keep you in the loop. 5. Delegate monitoring Don't leave email up just in case something spicy arrives. The fact a client may have an emergency they want you to bail them out of isn't a reason to let yourself to be perpetually distracted. Instead, make it somebody's job to check your inbox a few times per day for anything spicy. 6. Don't start the day with email That way your day gets away from you at 11am instead of 8am. 7. Eliminate inbox propriety Let's talk about this one a second time because it's so important: Imagine an employee saying "I'll keep an eye on my inbox while I'm away" despite employing 20 other people to do the same job. They'll follow your lead, so lead by example. Let other people help. 8. Don't work out of the inbox Getting to to inbox 0 is like running in quicksand. They keep coming in as fast as you can get them out. Instead, have an assistant move messages to a "today" folder once per day, and work out of that one. 9. Don't send immediate responses Nobody gets more than 1 email per 24 hours. This change alone will reduce email volume by 50%. 10. Designate a fast lane Occasionally a client will be in the thick of things and need quick access to you for a few days. Create a temporary fast lane, let the team know to ping you if anything from the client comes through. Make this level of availability the exception, not the rule. 11. Don't let people jump the line When you respond to that text or take that call, don't expect that person to ever get back in the email queue. Clients are like mice in a maze, they'll find the fastest way to get to your cheese until you stick to your comms strategy. Email sucks. It's ok to get help. It isn't an admission of defeat It's what'll let you focus on what matters, and better support your team.

Somewhere between “Reply All” and “For review,” hours can slip away. To make sure that doesn’t happen, I’ve long believed in the power of the zero email inbox – it eliminates clutter and helps me stay focused and in control of my day. Here are some habits I’ve picked up over the years: ✅Start strong: I begin each day with a quick scan of my inbox to check for any urgent messages. ✅Apply the 2-minute rule: If I can respond or act in under two minutes, I do it immediately. If the email needs more attention, I schedule time to revisit. ✅Don’t live in your inbox: It’s a tool, not a to-do list. Set aside time to check your email, otherwise you’ll almost certainly spend your entire day reading instead of leading! ✅Declutter regularly: I treat my inbox like my workspace. If I don’t need it – I delete it! And yes, you read the beginning of this post right: I have a zero inbox. I’ve been told (probably by some of you reading this) that that’s a little intense, but hey – it brings me joy! Ultimately, productivity isn’t about marking things off a checklist, it’s about making time and space for what matters most.  I’m always intrigued by others productivity hacks – please, share the wealth! What works for you?