Priorities

Don’t Slow Down Before the Finish Line!

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Something strange just happened. I got up early, ignored my email and got right to work on my very full to-do list. I had a good idea of which tasks I could accomplish before my 9am appointment. After an hour or so, I was well on my way to completing my whole list before the nice o’clock deadline. Then I glanced at my schedule and realized that my first appointment was at 10am, not 9am! I found an unexpected HOUR in my day – how often does that happen? But here’s where it gets weird.

I started to slow down. Understand that I had been working at a steady pace, getting things done, not feeling panicky or anything. But once I saw that I basically gained an hour, instead of moving forward at the same pace, I started to dawdle, check my email and look at a few web sites.

And I realized, this isn’t just about how I’m treating this extra hour today, this is a pattern in my life. When I see that a goal is “in the bag”, so to speak, I throttle back, instead of continuing at a consistent pace. It is the equivalent of being 20 yards ahead of everyone in a 100-yard dash, then five feet from the finish line making the decision to walk.

There’s nothing terribly wrong with this, but there’s something not quite right about it either. Something about not wanting to get too far ahead of everyone else? Fear of success?

Can anyone relate? Have any insights? Please share!

Drift Happens

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I have this insatiable need to feel like I’m making progress. If I can’t check things off my list, or see evidence that my business is moving forward in some way, I start to feel antsy.

The other day I was working, and nothing seemed to be going my way. I kept pushing and pushing, craving that outward proof of progress. In the back of my mind, I KNEW I needed to step back do some strategizing, but instead I kept busy.

Then it occurred to me that if I didn’t step back and evaluate – momentarily give up my obsession with “progress” – I might be drifting away from my goals.

Whoa… so it’s possible to be working your pants off, and be progressing toward… nothing? Keeping blindly busy might actually make my job harder in the long run? Yikes. If that isn’t an idea that will get you to write some goals occasionally, I don’t know what will!

Drift happens, it’s inevitable. It just needs to be managed. It’s pretty simple to get back on track if you drift off course for a few days, or even a few weeks. Being off course for a few months can result in a business having to close its doors.

I can give you a real-life example of drift from an initial appointment with a new coaching client. She asked me, “From what you’ve learned about me, how often do you think we should meet?”

In response, I asked, “How likely is it that you’ll drift off course while establishing the new habits we wrote down today?”

She snorted, and mumbled something about how all she does is drift. I assured her that this is very common, and we set up a regular schedule to touch base so that she never drifts far off track.

Understand that, like most entrepreneurs, my client is a very motivated person. She works hard and takes great care of her clients. The problem is that while she’s got her head down working, months can go by before she looks up to take stock of where she is.

In business, we consistently have to look up from our laptops and ask ourselves questions like “Is this working?” “Is there a better way to do this?” “Am I moving towards my goals or am I just busy?”

To manage drift, the most important thing to do is to build periodic reviews into your schedule. On a consistent basis, work with an accountability partner, work with a business expert–  just be sure to work with someone to help you stay on track. Do this, stay on track, and believe it or not, you’ll reach your goals faster

What a concept – slow down  and make more progress? Sounds good to me!

Do Less Meaningless Work

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Date of original publication: July 8, 2010

“Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is NOT laziness. This is hard for most people to accept, because our culture tends to reward personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity.”

–  Timothy Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Workweek

I’ll admit it, I’m brainwashed. Even though I’m an entrepreneur, I have this clinging notion that I need to be at a desk for 8 hours a day. My husband (a real estate agent) and I both struggle with creating the discipline to stop working 8 hours a day when we don’t have 8 hours of work – meaningful work – to do.

Recently, The World Cup helped our learning curve.

Adam is a soccer fan. With the games being held in South Africa, the only games he could watch were first thing in the morning and around noon. His routine was to get up, get ready for work, watch a game, and then zip to the office. There, he spent his morning focused and efficient, knowing he needed to have certain things done so he could knock off for a 2-3 hour lunch break. What was left to do after the game was often minimal, and he occasionally came home early.

I thought, “Like Adam, I always get things done in the least amount of time possible when I have something I am REALLY looking forward to.”

The sad state of things is that I haven’t created much in my life that I look forward to enough to motivate me to wrap up my workday.

And to me that IS sad. I’m supposedly creating a life of entrepreneurial freedom, but most days I poke around in front of the computer, dithering away time, often hours beyond my productive work time.

This was a powerful lesson for me, and I made a commitment to make a change. Right away I put yoga, gym time and recreational classes into my calendar.

My commitment was immediately tested. Right on the heels of learning this lesson, a whirlwind of work swept through my office. My days are now packed with 8+ hours per day of productive work. Fitting in the fun stuff feels strangely difficult, but I have to keep in mind that creating new habits – fun or not – is always uncomfortable.

Even as I’m writing this article, my heart is pounding, because in 28 minutes, I have someone coming over to teach me a little about cooking – and it will take all afternoon. The dishes aren’t done. The chicken isn’t defrosted. My desk is a mess.

But I can’t afford NOT to do things differently. I can’t put it off until next year, or even next week. You see, I know several smart, driven business people whose health is suffering in extreme ways, in part because of their constant focus on work. I have to seriously ask myself, “Is that the quality of life I want? I can either have it or avoid it, the choice is mine, but I must choose now.”

So…I’m off to cook.

I NEVER Want to Exercise

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I was frantic. I wanted to go to the gym in the afternoon. You must understand – I NEVER want to exercise, so I seriously needed to take advantage of this sudden burst of motivation.

The problem was, I was mired in important but tedious tasks that I did not want to do. Simple things, things that I could give to a 6th grader to complete. All day I avoided doing them, but kept up a steady stream of mental chatter, “What’s wrong with you? Just do it. It’s no big deal. Get off your duff and just do it. What’s wrong with you?”…ad nauseum.

Not only was I avoiding those piddly tasks, but I also didn’t feel comfortable moving on to the more important tasks pertaining to business development and marketing.

So here’s the rundown:

  • I was spinning in circles
  • I was talking to myself in a not very nice way
  • I wasn’t getting the tedious done
  • I wasn’t getting the important things done
  • I wasn’t going to get to the gym

Then…MAGIC happened. I picked up the phone and asked my Virtual Assistant for help.

I realized that I had to delegate the really tiny tasks. The ones that I tell myself will only take 5 minutes, so what’s the big deal?

The big deal is that those tiny tasks drain us if we do them, make us feel guilt-ridden if we don’t, and either way prevent us from working on the critical tasks of business building and development.

I strongly recommend that everyone who thinks they can’t afford administrative support, think again. If you want to grow, you have to get assistance. And it doesn’t need to be a huge investment!

Many business owners find they get all of the administrative support they need for around $300 per month. In a fraction of the time, Virtual Assistants complete the tedious tasks that drag the life out of you. Trust me, it’s worth it!

Glinda, the GOOD Control Freak

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One of the top reasons people give me for not delegating to a Virtual Assistant is that they are Control Freaks. I’ve worked with several clients to curb this issue, and have had some success. But then I got to thinking… is being a control freak such a bad thing? Is it possible to become a really GOOD control freak? Like Glinda the good witch…

So I turned it around with the notion that most people would like a little more control and consistency in their businesses. No one likes the feeling of being battered by external forces that can’t be controlled.

To start the process of becoming a good Control Freak (remember – think Glinda!), I came up with this list of things that are 100% controllable.

1.      Attitude and Mindset
2.      Goal Setting
3.      Time Management
4.      Follow-up
5.      “One Thing”*

Strangely, I’m starting to believe that in order to delegate effectively, you have to become a proficient Control Freak first. I’m starting a certification course, in fact!

If you’d like to argue with me, go ahead, but I’m convinced that if you make a decision to be 100% responsible for these 5 things, your life will completely change. You’ll be managing the things you have authority over, rather than struggling to change the things over which you don’t.

And these aren’t airy fairy concepts (no offense to Glinda). These are get-up-in-the-morning and put-them-to-work strategies. All you have to do is decide to own them, and then systemize the process.

I’ll keep you posted on the Control Freak certification program!

 

* Wondering about #5? Remember Curly’s “One Thing”  from City Slickers? Just like in life, I believe in business there is one critical activity that all progress radiates out from. It’s one of the key strategies I work on with my clients.

I Didn’t Want to Write This

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On Tuesday I scheduled myself to write an article for my ezine, and found myself struggling. Now it’s Thursday morning, and it just hit me that my struggle to write provided me with perfect topics for this week’s article.

As I mentioned, on Tuesday I was scheduled to write this article. It was the first item on my list, but all I could do was sit there and stare at my computer. Nothing was coming to me. I started fiddling around with email, looking at old articles, going on Facebook… and before I knew it, the day was almost gone. I hadn’t written an article, and because I was stuck on the idea that it MUST be done first, little else on my list was accomplished either. Added to the mix were my feelings of failure and frustration, and I had a recipe for an all-around bummer of a day.

The lesson? Keep your priorities in order, but if something isn’t working, move on, rather than losing your momentum.

The process of article writing has been a great teacher. As you know, I am forever getting writing ideas from the day-to-day happenings in my life (see current article). One thing I’ve learned the hard way is that when the mood to write strikes, I MUST drop everything and write. This habit developed out of sheer frustration from being too strict of a time manager. Here’s what I mean. I’d be working on a task and suddenly come up with a great idea for an article. In the past, I’d stick to my guns and keep working on the task at hand, trusting that I’d remember the idea and write the article later. But that never happened. Many “aha” moments of inspiration were lost forever.

The lesson? If you’re in the middle of something, and suddenly find yourself motivated to do a task that you generally find challenging – take advantage of the moment and do it!

Now it’s 7:15am on Thursday and I’m finally in the process of writing this week’s article. The ezine goes out at 10:30am, and I was just thinking, “Well, I’m not inspired to write, so maybe I’ll work on something else for a little while.” That’s valid, right? Because I’m not INSPIRED. But the fact is that this ezine is an integral part of my business plan, and is due to go out shortly. So I’m muscling my way through it, hoping I’m coming up with a few useful tidbits for you.

The lesson? You can’t be inspired all the time, so sometimes it’s time to push through and do what MUST be done.

Do you find some of these lessons contradictory? Yep – welcome to life! This is the challenge: knowing when to use each lesson. Am I inspired to write or avoiding my accounting? Am I appropriately muscling through an article or am I pushing too hard and coming up with garbage? Am I moving on to keep my momentum or dodging a necessary task?

I’d love to hear how you deal with these kind of conflicts, either in this blog or in a short session with me. I’m happy to give you 15 minutes of my time to sort out the contradictions. Just contact me!