A small business owner’s biggest enemy is distraction.
I know you’ve felt it. I’ve felt it.
You’ve got this list of very important things that need to get done, but everything’s pulling your attention in a hundred different directions.
It takes just as much energy to fight those distractions than it does to just get the task at hand done.
This isn’t something that you can overcome, but you can certainly build strategies into your days that will help you stay on track and keep making progress to grow your business every single day.
Have A Plan
It’s amazing how many small business owners start their day on a whim. They’ve got no sense of direction — which way to start, what to be working on, and what is the best use of their time. Instead, they go with what they know, what feels good, and what they want to be doing. Meanwhile, the actual tasks that will grow their business are getting left behind.
Our team of mentors at PDBM work with our clients to build a plan from both a macro and micro scale. From knowing what the goal is for the next 1-3 years, to breaking that plan down into 90 day chunks, 30 day chunks, and finally into 1-3 tasks they are to work on daily to help move their business forward. This makes it so much easier for a small business owner to know exactly what to do each day to grow their business.
Growth Items vs To-Do Items
Understanding the difference between what will actually grow your business versus what is a to-do list item is crucial. To-do list items are distractions because they will always be there – the to-do list is hard to kill.
The biggest difference between tasks that will actually grow your business and the to-do list items is that growth items are generally repeatable (ex: call five leads, write an email to your leads, touchpoints with 5 current clients). To-do list items are things that just need to get done, and often aren’t repeatable (ex: go pick up the mail, pay the bills, etc.).
If you’re spending all of your time just crossing things off your to-do list, you’re probably not making as much or as fast progress that you could be.
When And What?
Once you have your plan broken down, and you can tell the difference between what tasks will grow your business and what won’t, the final step is to block them together in a way that will prioritize the important stuff.
When you sit down each day to work on your daily tasks, get your growth items out of the way first. Don’t start anything else until the 1-3 main things you need to take care of are looked after. Send your email, call your leads, follow-up with your five clients ALL before you touch your inbox that’s waiting for you, check your social media, or start paying bills.
Once you’ve done the most important things that will move your business forward for the day, then and only then should you touch your to-do list.
This Won’t Come Easy
Learning to focus your efforts and prioritize your time and tasks is a learned skill. For most, this is a real challenge because distractions are around us, everywhere. If it’s not our to-do list looming on our desk, it’s the kids running around outside our office door, the packed schedule that needs to be tended to, or the staff knocking at our door.
There will always be distractions. This is a battle that will never be won. Instead, your mission is to identify what critical tasks are important to growing your business every single day, focusing on those first before you do anything else, and understanding that the to-do list will be waiting for you no matter how hard you try to clean it off.
Work with our team of PDBM Mentors to build a plan that can narrow those tasks down for you into daily bite-size items. Click here, and let’s brainstorm how we can help you move your business forward.