Top Tips for Busy Entrepreneurs – How-to stay on top of your work
Last year I was operating under the old ratio of: busy tasks vs. priority tasks. The equation looked like this: 600 + 4 = a day in the life of an entrepreneur.
The 600 represents everything other than what you should actually be doing - reading possibly important stuff, looking for stuff, responding to stuff, email & texting stuff, thinking about stuff, worrying about stuff, filing stuff, shopping for stuff, going to stuff .. (etc.) We can see how having 600 things to do can quickly spin out of control.
The 4 represents the specific accomplishments that should be completed today that will have direct impact on your revenue line. Ommmmmmmmm. (granted these 4 things have several steps each)
These 4 things could mean – complete planning on workshop, finalize all of the details and get the marketing into the field. Write about the topic and plan to release the information to key people, publications and websites – have a healthy meal.
By adding a healthy meal you boost priority things to 5. Now the equation reads: 5 + (600) = the busy entrepreneur with sprouts who did the job. Ommmmmmm
So here are my tips on staying on top of your work and moving it forward.
1. Get on to yourself! The Big Hairy 600 is the enemy! (put the enemy into time slots or it will drink your blood)
2. Put 4 real, measurable, move ahead goals on your today list (and every day!) In the trade we call this working ON your business.
3. Put all the rest of the Big Hairy 600 OUT of Your Sight line so it isn’t staring you in the face. Does that mean you don’t even open your email function? YES. WHY? Because it’s the DEVIL. (when I’m done with this blog and work on my other 3 things and have a phone meeting THEN I’ll open my email.
4. Will this new method hurt for a while because it will feel like withdrawal? YES. Will I be missing all the wonderful people and opportunities that light up my brain and my day? YES. But will they still be there in an hour or two hours when I’ve scheduled them in? YES. Do I need to put this on an auto-generated function announcing to the world that I, Lennie Rose, am on the Email diet that does not allow me to respond to you immediately? NO!!! Why? Because why would I go out of my way to explain to you why I’m not answering your email? When — if I stick to my schedule and email you in a few hours or end of day..you will be happy instead of insulted.
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A wise person, speaking at an Executive Network Group meeting, once said “Treat your calendar with respect.” By that, he meant that your calendar both states your goals and measures your progress. If you’re going to do it, put it on your calendar. And, if you didn’t do it, take it off the calendar.
Can you put 600 events on a calendar? Of course not. Put on the calendar what needs doing, manage the 600 on a prioritized to-do list. Move things from the to-do (and expression of desire and intent) to the calendar (a promise and record of time) when they’re going to get done.
I’m trying to do this and it’s hard. It’s hard to give up “multi-tasking” (which often is a description of ADHD-like behavior). And now, gotta run because my calendar is beeping at me.
One more thing… keep track of your time! I use toggl.com. Basically, it’s a start/stop button where you indicate what you’re doing. Use the report tools there to answer the question: Is the time you ‘spend’ aligned with your strategic goals?