Stop Setting Goals and New Year’s Resolutions. Small Business Advice for 2018.
Want to know a secret? I stopped setting goals and New Year’s resolutions a long time ago. Have you ever set a goal for yourself and not accomplished it? I have. Have you ever justified and rationalized why it was okay that you did not meet your goal? I have. Why does this happen, and more importantly, who do you really let down when this happens?
The truth is, as humans we are okay letting ourselves down but we will not let others down. We make excuses that personal failure is okay, but we will not fail others. We justify that achieving 80% of our goal is better than 70%, even though it was not 100%. What about when somebody is counting on you, is this still okay?
Instead of setting goals for yourself, create and make promises, commitments and outcomes for others. Instead of losing 20 lbs for yourself, commit to your spouse and children that losing 20lbs keeps you healthier for them. Instead of setting a goal to double your income for yourself, commit to your family that twice as much money creates a better financial family tree and legacy for them.
Start off 2018 by making a commitment to your spouse, children, team members, the families that you and your company support, the young person you mentor, your grandparents, or parents; who ever this is for you, tell them what you are doing in 2018 and then go do it. You will not let them down.
What do you commit to and who will you commit to in 2018?
- Published in Blog, Tips & Advice
Time Management for Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs constantly focus on being as efficient and effective with their time as possible. Time management is a topic covered by many keynote speakers and small business coaches. Unfortunately, time management is a myth. Time can not be managed. It ticks away second by second, hour by hour. It is never controlled and you never get it back.
What you can control and manage are your tasks. Life is busy. Business is busy. Entrepreneurs are notoriously famous for taking on too much and then beating themselves up when it all does not get completed. When, where and how you complete tasks as well as understanding why this is important will turn you into a entrepreneurial task management rockstar. Here are a few things I have implemented into my life and business to improve my task management.
- What’s important now? This is a question I frequently ask myself and others. In a meeting, a phone call, a sales call, a morning leadership session, I ask, what constitutes success for right now? I was guilty for a long time of entering an engagement such as a company meeting and trying to cover what was important three months from now while ignoring what was important for that meeting that ended in 30 minutes. Are you trying to cover too much?
- Why is it important now? Assuming you determine what is important now, ask why? What is the drive behind completing and addressing what constitutes success? Being clear on why you are doing what you are doing and when it is important allows you to filter tasks and boil them down to an order of importance.
- Instead of a task list, schedule your tasks. I recently got into the habit of scheduling my tasks just like they were appointments. A growing list of tasks always overwhelms me as well as many other entrepreneurs that I coach and speak with. Once I started scheduling my tasks, I felt a strong sense of control of my time, and was no longer overwhelmed in business.
What is important now in your business? Not next week, not tomorrow, but right now? Why is it important? Will it generate revenue and profit? Will it build culture? When are you completing these tasks? Are you scheduling or being overwhelmed by a task list?
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- Published in Blog
