One of the top reasons people give for why they haven’t achieved their goals, started or completed a project, or spent time on a hobby they really enjoy – is that they don’t have enough time.
But consider this:
What are you NOT making time for?
You could easily fill all 24 hours in a day with everything that “needs” to be done between your store and family commitments, leaving zero time for the things you love.
But that wouldn’t be a rich life, would it?
If you want a successful business that is sustaining your ideal life, financially absolutely – but also providing you with freedom to learn, grow, laugh, and love – you can’t spend all your waking hours on “busy-work”.
You have to strategically spend your time so that your business is fully supporting YOU.
That includes spending time learning how to improve your business, and how to become a more effective business owner.
Listen, I’m writing this as much for myself as I’m writing it for you! I too struggle with prioritizing my tasks, with not going down long and enticing rat holes that suck up my precious time.
So when I find myself complaining that I’m feeling low on energy, or that I couldn’t get my action items checked off my list, or that I haven’t had time to do any of my favorite activities lately, I stop, drop and roll.
Not literally of course. I stop, but I don’t drop and roll. That would look funny. Ha.
But I do use the S-D-R acronym to get myself back on track:
When overwhelm creeps in it can lead to a downward spiral quickly. So learn to recognize those signs in yourself.
And when you do, stop what you are doing (and your monkey brain).
Take a deep breath.
Then pull out your plan to remind yourself of what you’ve envisioned for your life and business this year. To remind yourself of which tasks will help you accomplish your goals, and which tasks are just keeping you stuck where you are.
Reconnect with that big picture, and then build a habit of mapping out your time each and every week, starting with those big picture, strategic tasks and activities that fill your cup.
Ideally you should touch base with your plan every, single day. And then execute it.
This is how you create more time.