I’m what I call a recovering rushaholic. For years I thought maybe able to to move super fast was one of my biggest strengths. I took great pride in my ability move faster than anyone else I knew. I really didn’t have any understanding to the lack of depth this provided me and how I was always skimming over things.
It took a long time before I understood that it’s working harder, smarter faster won’t solve it?
So what will?
I finally had to understand that a meaningful life is not a matter of speed
The most profound thing I learned was that I had to slow down to speed up.
And to do this I mean heavily into these five areas to increase my productivity.
1. Your First Hour REALLY Matters
Small business owners temptation is direction to dive into the day and try to cover as many things as we can at the same time.
Instead you should start with the work that requires the most attention or focus first thing in the morning. You’ll be giving this important work your most precious self. And then your main priority is completed and you can move on with the day.
That big thing is done ….and it’s not a distraction the rest of the day.
You don’t have it hanging over your head as things pop up…and you’re mentally juggling how will I get to that? (Which also drains your battery)
Studies also show that by doing this work the same time everyday it will expedite all your results.
You will notice the time wasted on trying to figure out where you were when you were last there will dramatically decrease. Just eliminating that excess time I’m getting back to where you last left off will be a real game-changer.
2. Don’t Use A To-Do List
The go-to planning tool for most small business owners is the to-do list.
And it’s been modernized over the last few years. You have your choices of apps and that make everything seem more efficient. But as high tech as they are… it doesn’t help like you think it does?
But when it comes to productivity. . .
The to-do stops you from scaling your business.
What you want to do is start creating systems and processes.
To- do lists:
-Are not measured in increments of time
-There are no indicators between urgent or unimportant
-Your work is not in any sequence of efficiency.
-they’re not in chronological order
-they are difficult to delegate
You simply can’t plan your work when you don’t have any idea of how long it will take.
This means that you can’t plan the next stage of any project.
It also means that you don’t have any real stats on how long a particular task takes you to complete.
The bottom line is you cannot improve what you cannot measure. To do list do not equip you with any information that you can duplicate or scale.
3. Use Your Calendar As Your Time Bank Account
So how do you know if you’re
-being as productive as you can be
-on schedule to meet expected deadlines
-or even charging enough for your work?
You need to use your calendar like your time bank account.
A great place to start is to block out what you have to do in one hour increments!
You will quickly see how much or little time you have available.
I tried out running the clock for years – it doesn’t work.
Use your calendar, it’s the blueprint to your success!!!
In fact, so any small business owners don’t even put work they do every day on their calendar.
The response is…’but I do that every day, I know I have to do that.”
What happens you may think that you have 8 hours in a day but you only have 5.
Think about it, that’s like saying …
my car payment comes out of the bank every month…
but I know that so I don’t count it? The money is gone!
4. Set The Timer: Do One Task At A Time
Similar to using a to-do list, multitasking sets you up to fail.
You do not have any clear idea of how to manage your time when you are doing several things at once.
Systems and processes free your brain power, and time so you can systemically and easily navigate through your small business ambitions.
Where as multitasking has many dangerous side effects.
-you are less likely to switch back to the original task.
-lose ends pile up, causing stress.
-you lose time re-orienting yourself to the original task.
-you can’t properly measure your work in time.
-you will have a distorted sense of how long each task took you.
-you can’t proficiently time block your work.
-you will make more mistakes.
-you make less effective decisions.
I thought for years multitasking and speed was going to help my business.
It doesn’t!
When I stopped multi tasking, and started using systems and processes to do one thing at a time…it was a game changer!
5. Systems And Processes
Systems and processes get you out of reaction mode and into traction mode!!
You can hire a virtual assistant outsourcing to help with this task. It’s one of the biggest benefits to hiring a virtual assistant is to help with these type of things.
Perhaps you have been hesitant about systems and processes…
maybe you started your small business so you would have creative freedom and not be boxed in with restrictions?
Change your entrepreneur mindset because systems and processes will FREE you!
Systems and process will help you
-eliminate administrative tasks
-save money by being able to hire outsourcing Filipino virtual assistant
-expedite time consuming chores like social media
Systems and process show you how to produce results effectively and efficiently.
With systems and processes you..
- Learn the best ways of doing things and avoid painful pitfalls.
- Avoid human error
- Don’t need to relearn things
- Can transfer responsibilities
- Produce consistent results
- Easily build on your strengths.
One of the many benefits of outsourcing virtual assistants is they can easily help you set up your small business systems and processes. This lets you use BPO companies for more than data entry.
With systems and processes you can lean into the benefits of outsourcing for small businesses, hiring VA’s and finally scale your business with outsourcing.
You don’t need to hire full time from an outsourcing company or outsourcing firm. Assistants in the Philippines can work on a few hours a week, and are extremely affordable.
If you want to learn more about this — check out our other resources.
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