…But is that really true?
Here’s an exercise I read about many years ago that has
really helped me focus on how I use my time.
It might seem simple, but like many things that are “simple,” the
results can be incredibly complex – but they can give you valuable insight into
how you spend your days and your time.
It’s incredibly easy to set up – you only need a clean sheet
or three of paper and your phone. Set
the timer on your phone to go off every 15-20 minutes, then document what you
were doing when the timer goes off.
NO CHEATING!
If you were on Facebook, write it down. If you were getting another cup of coffee,
write it down. On a phone call with your
significant other? You guessed it –
write it down!
Do this for at least a few days, and then, document the
tasks. If, for example, you were doing a
sales call, then that would be a tactical job.
Writing employee schedules would be a managerial task.
Working on your business growth plan for 2022 would be a
task that an entrepreneur would be expected to be doing.
…And those are the only three categories! Tactical, Managerial, or
Entrepreneurial.
I’ll bet you’ll find that the tactical tasks of your
day-to-day take up nearly 70 percent of your time, while managerial accounts
for another 20%. I’d be shocked if you
spend more than 10% of your time doing things that support your entrepreneurial
growth.
At the same time, you’ll also find you’re doing a LOT of
other things besides those – going to Starbucks, playing on Facebook, watching
videos of kittens. Those? Well, those need to go away. You wouldn’t allow an employee to waste time
like that, why would you tolerate it from yourself?
Here’s the really critical thing this exercise will
reveal: why you’re so “busy.”
You’re probably wasting time! Imagine if you actually put in the time to
grow your company!
I’m not going to beat you up, but when I’ve suggested this
exercise to people and they’ve actually done it and been honest with
themselves, ultimately, they’ve come to realize why they can get so little
accomplished in their days or weeks.
So the next step is to create some rules…
· Use the
phone ONLY for interacting with clients or prospects
· No
social media unless it is for posting an advertisement (and this really should
be handled by a VA, anyway…)
· Check
emails twice a day – real emergencies are communicated by phone
· Get to
work (and leave work) at the same time every day
· Quit
“working” on weekends – they end up bringing bad habits into the office on
weekdays
· Set
specific times each week for each category of work (entrepreneurial,
managerial, and tactical)
· Don’t
make exceptions unless there’s money to be made by changing your schedule
Now, these all seem easy, and maybe even simple, but the
sheer numbers of business owners whom I see not doing them is amazing … yet,
when you add up all the time you might have mismanaged during the week, you
find whole DAYS of time that wasn’t accounted for – it was simply wasted.
Go ahead, reclaim efficiency and do this little
exercise. Then, when you’re done, use
the things you’ve learned to change how you work and to make the most of the
time you have in the office.
I’ll bet it’s going to end up not only saving you time, it’s
going to make you money – and that’s one great reason to do it!
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