Have you ever noticed yourself feeling as though you have no time to spend time with your family, exercise or do a hobby that lights you up?
Do you know that you should be working more “on” your business and less “in” it so that you will get better results, but you just can’t find the time?
Are you always reacting to your customer’s needs but feel as though there is not enough time in the day to take care of everything and everyone?
I know that I have had all of these feelings and I totally understand how easy it is to get swept away with the endless responsibilities that come with being a business owner.
However, we have far more control over our time than we think. It just takes stepping back and taking a good hard look at the lies that we tell ourselves about time.
Here are a few things to think about:
Lie # 1-Being busy is the same as being productive- It is so easy to fill our days with a lot of minutia that makes us feel as though we are being productive but is often “busywork” that is not as important as projects that move our business forward and produce results.
It is important to check in throughout the day and ask yourself these questions:
“Am I being productive or busy?”
“How can I be more proactive and less reactive in my business today?”
“What results are my #1 priority today and how can I get them done?”
Lie #2- Giving yourself more time to work on a project will help you leverage your time efficiently-This is a trap that is easy to fall into because we don’t want to half ass a project because we have not allotted the proper amount of time to effectively do something to its best potential.
However, according to Parkinson’s Law, a task will swell in perceived importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted.
So if you give yourself a month to complete a task that could be finished in a week, the task will psychologically increase in complexity so that it will fill up the month instead of the week. The stress and tension around completing it may also swell.
On the contrary, if we allot the proper amount of time, the task will actually reduce in complexity and we will leverage our time better.
I know that this is true for me. If I have a real deadline, I will meet it “come hell or high water”. However, if I give myself a longer, self imposed deadline, there is not the same amount of urgency.
So ask yourself: “How can I create more urgency for myself?”
Perhaps that marketing material that you have been putting off would get done faster if you promised your coach that you would get it done by a certain date. Or you would get your video finished if you told your FB followers that you were launching it on a specific date.
Create your own urgency and/or accountability!
Lie#3- I have to multi task to get everything done- Sure there are times when multi tasking is going to happen. However it is important to be mindful that you are waaaay more likely to finish an important task if you completely focus on it within solid blocks of time.
If every time that you start to focus, you are interrupted by a phone call or a peer, etc., it will take you much longer to finish the task at hand because your energy is constantly shifting.
Block out uninterrupted periods of time to work on important tasks that will move your business forward and guard that time with your life!
We have all played victim to the time lies. Paying attention to them and being intentional about how we spend our precious time will help us use our time more wisely.
Cheers to YOU and your one fabulous life,
