Excerpt from Chapter two of my new book, Fortune is in the Follow Up: 5 POWER Strategies to Grow Your Business
Someone once said that one can not have it all, and while that may or may not be so, what is true is that we can not do it all—certainly not all at once!What is a business owner to do? Delegate—early and often. C.J. Hayden wrote in her book, Get Clients Now (2ndedition), “Asking for help is not cheating. It’s how anything important gets done.”
Realistic versus unrealistic time constraints
All too frequently business owners spend many waking hours trying to figure out how to get everything done. They act as if they do not believe that there is a limit to what can be done and a limit to how much they can do in one 24 hour period. They mistakenly believe that if they were just more efficient or more productive they would be able to accomplish more. And while I have noticed that many business owners waste a significant amount of time and energy (and to some extent money), the bigger issue is the unrealistic expectations that they place on themselves.
Too many business owners believe that it is possible to cram more tasks, more projects, more items on their to-do list and that once that happens all will fall into place. This is not only unrealistic, but it is also impossible to do. There really are only 24 hours in a day and we all need some of those hours for sleep. Biologically we need some down time, some time that we are not working.
Sanyika Calloway Boyce of Sanyika Worldwide, an expert media consultant told me, “I think delegating is probably one of the most challenging and frustrating things that entrepreneurs do, especially if you are your brand. If you are the kind of ‘boot-strapped-it, chief cook and the bottle washer’ entrepreneur, it’s very difficult to relinquish control.”
There are enough hours in the day to get done what you need to get done and there are enough hours in the day to be productive IF you pick the right things to focus on. I love to tell people that everyone really does have enough time to do everything that is important to them, the hard part is figuring out what is important!
Priorities on Your Time
This means making priorities. This means taking the time to think about what your business needs to grow and what it needs from YOU specifically.
Finding think time is critical for business owners. Most just launch into the most immediate problem or task that appears before them, but this means that they are not strategically positioning themselves to make the most of the time that they have.
Do you find yourself feeling like a pin ball in a pin ball machine, constantly getting batted around by someone else at the controls? And then as a way to be able to cross something off your to-do list at the end of the day, do you focus on those small, seemingly easy and short tasks just so that you can say to yourself that you accomplished something for the day?
In other words, when all of the big tasks get overwhelming, many people find themselves drawn to accomplishing what they think are short little tasks, even though the work is not important and not urgent.
Well it doesn’t have to be like that. The more time you carve out for planning, the more you will actually get done. It is funny that the more limits you set on yourself, the more you can actually accomplish.
Picking a short task because it seems easy is not the best use of your time. Using this method of planning is not strategic, not efficient and not effective. It reflects short term thinking and a distraction mentality.
Ann Evanston of Warrior-Preneur told me, “Anybody who tells me they don’t have time, just hasn’t decided they value it enough. I have people who ask me, “How do you have time for everything you do?” Well, I value it so I make the time. I make time for my business. I make time for my clients. I make time for my relationship. I make time for my home. I make time for my wine. I make time to go to the gym. I value it so I find the time and it’s there.”
So what is a business owner to do? How do you get done all that needs to get done in a day? How do you grow a business, take care of your clients and spend enough time marketing your business?
One word: Delegate!
Want to learn more?
Join me on Wednesday, June 22ndfrom 9:30 to 10:30 am on my free teleseminar to hear how to make my 3 Secrets of Successful Delegation work for you in your business.
Secret 1) No one can do it all, and more importantly why would you want to?
Secret 2) You can’t afford not to Delegate
Secret 3) Keep Marketing and Delegate All the Rest
Call # is: (605) 477-2100 Access Code is: 810625#
No comments