By Michele PW
I’m writing to you from sunny San Diego (which is FINALLY sunny). First I was at Nancy Marmolejo’s I Heart My Biz event, then I walked the San Diego half marathon yesterday, recovering today and tomorrow then off to Lisa Sasevich’s Invisible Close Speak-to-Sell Bootcamp. (If any of you want to join me “virtually” I’ve arranged for you to get a backstage pass to Lisa’s event here: http://tinyurl.com/mejmxs )
Whew.
So while I don’t have time to give you a full article this week, I still wanted to share some tips I learned from Sandra Martini, Business Optimization Specialist, www.SandraMartini.com, about getting things done. (Seemed timely with everything I know I have going on and my guess is you have the same challenges.)
Sandy spoke at Nancy’s event, and she was the perfect Saturday morning speaker because it was about taking all the great ideas we got during the event and turning them into reality.
Below is a quick summary of what she spoke about so you too can start implementing her suggestions and getting more things done.
What Sandy recommends is to create a daily “action” list with no more than 7 items on it. (Yes, I know. Only 7. I’m having trouble with that one too.)
Create a new list every day and do the tasks in the order you write them down in. Lastly, accept the fact you may not get everything done. It’s okay. You’re an entrepreneur. You’re NEVER going to be done unless you’re dead or your business is dead.
This is why it’s crucial to prioritize what you need to be doing every day and only do what’s MOST important of all the important tasks on your list.
But what about the rest? Well, this is where delegating comes in. Start building a team, even if you can only afford a bookkeeper or one virtual assistant right now. You need to start outsourcing all those tasks that need to be done but you don’t need to be the one doing them.
You also need to learn how to say “no” to things that don’t fit YOUR goals. Be brutal. The more you can get things off your plate the faster your business is going to grow.
Once you have your list, get your calendar out and start scheduling for the week. Make sure you schedule EVERYTHING you REALLY want to get done. Put those “big” rocks in first (i.e. meetings, phone calls, blocks of time for working on a big project, etc.) then fill in the rest. And don’t forget about scheduling self-care time or you’ll end up falling apart, which isn’t going to help anyone (much less your business).
The next step? Actually doing it. I challenge all of you to take the next 5 or 10 minutes and plan out your day and your week RIGHT NOW. I know that’s what I’m going to do.