Productivity Tips for Entrepreneurs
Life as an entrepreneur or small business owner can be hectic. With days filled serving clients, creating relevant content, putting together products and services to sell, meetings to attend, social media interactions, and the like, you may be tempted to take time away from your work on a regular basis simply to get away from it all. My first year working as an online entrepreneur drove me to escape through television, movies, and other activities so that I could have some time to breathe and not have to think about business.
Soon I realized that this was the incorrect approach to what I wanted to achieve. Here I was, trying to build an online empire and all I could think of was how to get away from it. Instead, I shifted my thinking so that the last thing in the world I wanted to do was to escape the world I was creating. In my mind I compared it to Kobe Bryant wanting to go on vacation so he wouldn’t have to think about basketball or Bill Gates dreaming of visiting a deserted island where there would be no Internet. Ludicrous, right? After I thought about it in this way I began to look for opportunities to stay involved with my business every day by being consciously present, performing the tasks and activities that I enjoyed.
Within a week I noticed a significant increase in my productivity. I had begun delegating and outsourcing the tedious parts of my business, while focusing intently on the tasks and activities that I both enjoyed and was good at doing. At the end of week I realized that the only things I needed to be doing to build my business were writing, creating products and courses, teaching and presenting online and at live events, and working directly with my clients. This was about twenty percent of my business and I began doing these things one hundred percent of the time.
My income skyrocketed during the next thirty days and I have never looked back. I had discovered the keys to productivity and everything changed. I then applied this to my personal life and it improved as well. You can increase your productivity, your satisfaction with your personal life, and anything else you seek to improve. This is exactly what I am recommending as you begin this journey:
- Make a list of everything that needs to be done in your business, no matter how trivial and no matter who is doing it at the present time.
- Sort through these tasks and activities, choosing the ones that only you can do.
- Delegate or outsource everything else. There are people who can accomplish these tasks faster and better than you can.
- Apply the 80/20 Rule – spend at least eighty percent of your time each day working on the twenty percent of your business that you are an expert in.
You may also want to share these ideas and concepts with the other people in your business and personal life. When productivity expands and continues to grow relationships are able to flourish. Explain that if they spend time on a task they are not good at or do not enjoy they are depriving someone who can do it more efficiently and effectively the opportunity to do so. That just makes sense.
Instead of looking for distractions in your life, explore the activities that are related to your life and business you can expand upon. For everything you do, ask yourself if this is moving you closer to your goals or further away. The answer may surprise you, or at least will make you think.
Productivity can change everything in your life, from your interpersonal relationships to your bottom line. Take action now and let me know what results you experience. Leave a comment here and I will respond personally to answer your question or to provide more information.
