Interview: How Melinda Smith Lives a Productive Life

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast we’re talking to Melinda Smith, Delivery Manager at Blue Wolf and host of the Two WIT Podcast. For February and March, we’re setting our sights on productivity with a series of topics to help you focus on being a productive Admin and how you can deliver productivity to your users.

Join us as we talk about the importance of boundaries, tips for effective time management, and the importance of giving yourself some buffer times to shift gears.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Melinda Smith.

Habits, time management, and boundaries.

Melinda Smith is a co-host of the excellent Two WIT Podcast, and when we heard her episode about how she manages her day in the consulting world (where there are a zillion different priorities) we figured we needed to make her a part of our productivity series.

“I’ve been talking with people a lot about productivity, time management, and boundaries,” Melinda says, “the consulting world is all about time management, and it’s on me to make it work. If you don’t have your routine and know what’s a priority for you your work will gobble you up and overly stress you.” For Melinda, that meant having to reckon with getting up super early to get her workout in before her day started, “It sucks, I don’t want to get up early,” she says, “but for me, that is critical to my mental health and my productivity at work.”

The importance of off time.

“Making sure that I have boundaries of when to shut the computer off makes me more productive because I know I have that window and I have to get things done in that window,” Melinda says. You need to establish boundaries so you can actually be effective, if only because you know you have a limited amount of time to get things done.

“A lot of people feel like it’s being selfish or not being a good employee, but I think it makes you a better employee to make those healthy boundaries for yourself and not let people access you at all hours of the day or night,” Melinda says. As we’ve talked about previously on the podcast, it’s about making your Yeses count. You might not be available 24/7, but when you’re working you are all in.

How to prioritize like a pro.

So once you get into those times you’ve blocked out for work, how do you actually prioritize and make sure that you’re getting things done efficiently and effectively? Melinda describes it as an “ever-changing model.” She spends a lot of time with her calendar to make sure that she’s ready for any meetings, and focused on what needs to happen each week.

Another important thing to consider is the different modes of work that you’ll be doing. For Melinda, she needed to establish some buffer time between doing configuration work and something like taking a one-on-one call. Sometimes you need to make a mental transition and be honest with yourself that it’s not always easy to shift gears. The trick is to intentionally schedule in some buffer time to help yourself make that change.

Resources

• Two WIT Podcast: twowit.com

Twitter

• Melinda Smith: @girlygeeksocial
• Gillian Bruce: @gilliankbruce
• Salesforce Admins: @salesforceadmns

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