The video below with Carol Roth is a little gem and everything you might need to hear right now.
I think most small business owners are busy, but being too busy isn’t good over the long term, and you may find that while you’re busy, you’re actually not that productive.
As with most things, being self-aware is critical. Do you know what projects or tasks are getting the bulk of your time? Are they the most important ones, or the ones that will lead to success for your business in the future?
You can get a lot of personal satisfaction from staying busy. The ego likes that a lot. But as I always say, “The badge of busyness is BS.”
In order to stay focused on your most important tasks, you will need to calendar them and prioritize them.
And you will need to say no to other things.
Learning to say no is so important. You don’t have to make a big deal about it and you don’t have to apologize or explain. Just be polite but firm. No is no.
I also think it is important to make sure you have white space to imagine and dream. If you want to solve problems or think creatively, you will need uninterrupted time to do that. I add blocks of time for this in my calendar.
Yes, I block out time to ponder and putter. You might want to try it.
Why? Because you will likely come back to your other tasks inspired and fresh, which means you may actually feel like you have more time when you do this, not less.
Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
