Last week I was catching up with some former colleagues. After initially asking how they are, the first response was consistent across the board. They all said, “Busy!” And since they were all sounding so exasperated and occupied, I asked…”Doing what?” And their responses were kind of shocking. It clearly painted the picture of the corner we are backing ourselves into.
Next time you hop on a call and tell a friend or colleague that you have been “busy”, check yourself!
What have you been busy with?
Really…write it down.
Most of us are filling our days with annoying tasks, interruptions, and responding to our smartphones at the drop of a hat.
So, what are you busy with?
So many entrepreneurs are over working and not making the money they want and deserve because they are hanging out in “busy” land. That’s what got us paid back in corporate…showing the higher ups how busy we were. Busy = valuable employee.
But that equation operating as a biz owner doesn’t quite fly.
So let’s start to change the conversation (and the dollars in your pocket).
What if we could swap out “busy” and insert “productive and profitable”? Yeah baby, I think I like the sound of that.
How do you do it?
Here are some helpful hot tips to get you there:
1. Schedule It!: Create a daily schedule for yourself. If you do things haphazardly, you won’t get anything done. Remember all of those other things vying for you constant attention? You can put non-productive things at bay, and schedule your day in a way to be productive…and get sh*t done!
2. Organize It!: All tasks are not created equal. Get a green highlighter and a pink one…let’s attack this to-do list. Highlight in green all of those tasks that could result in money coming through the door. For example: your follow-up phone calls with prospects. Green = money. Now, highlight in pink all of the administrative tasks. Example: filing. Be sure to do all of your “green” tasks first.
3. Wrangle It!: Emails. If you want to wear the busy badge, just put your emails on blast. This is the biggest time suck of all. Picture a little thief reaching into your pocket stealing your time and money. That’s email. It takes 5 times as much energy to respond to emails as they arrive, vs bundling emails for responses at one point in time. Pick 2 to 3 times of the day for response email times. And, take off those buzzers, dings, and rings every time an email comes in. You’re not Pavlov’s dog looking for a treat.
Work these 3 hot tips and literally get back 2-3 hours in your day (yes, that is what you are wasting being “busy!”).
So, the next time a friend or colleague asks you how you are, you can now say, ”productive and profitable”.
Cheers to that!