30 Days "Take Action" Program - Day 6

Time Management - Business vs Busyness

Increasing your effectiveness in building your business means you need to understand how you work. It also means you need to work smarter not harder. Most people frankly are busy during the day, but not necessarily productive. Time Management skills are an essential component to being successful as a business owner. That means you will need to focus.

According to the Pareto Principle, or the 80:20 Rule, typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20 % of the effort. Imagine what would happen if you were to change your ability to focus.

Procrastination is the Enemy! Making time for success is the answer.

If you are the kind of person that puts off important tasks or waits till tomorrow then you practice procrastination. In fact, many people procrastinate to some degree. The key to ultimately combating this habit is to recognize when you are doing it. Once you have identified the habit you can then take active steps to managing your time.

To to do this you need to understand why you might be procrastinating. For most people it's a matter of pain vs. pleasure scenario. Most people prefer to focus on activities they find more enjoyable or things that are more comfortable to do.

Goals are one of the best tools to fight off procrastination. Goals give a focus, and the sense of accomplishment when we achieve goals gives us pleasure thus tackling the pain vs. pleasure component of procrastination.

Goals also allow us to achieve more with focus, that is why top level executives, athletes and professionals use them. It's because they work!

Other causes of procrastination are Waiting for the right mood and Waiting for the right time.

Then look at the way you organize your work. You may notice other reasons for procrastination like:

• Lack of clear goals.
• Underestimating the difficulty of the tasks.
• Underestimating the time required to complete the tasks.
• Unclear standards for the task outcomes.
• Feeling as the tasks are imposed on you from outside.
• Too ambiguous tasks.
• Fear of failure.
• Fear of success.
• Perfectionism.

Getting Focused

Goals are the number one way to combat procrastination and a lack of focus. Simply having goals or a picture of the future will not bring you success if you do not get focused and take action in achieving the goals. What you do consistently will ultimately determine the course of your business success.

Getting focused does not mean that you need to have tunnel vision, nor does it mean that you can't be aware of other components of your day. Focused attention is a skill that can be developed that allows you to filter out and avoid what is distracting while accomplishing a task.

Every person struggles to maintain focus at one point or another. It is a matter of understanding you patterns and learning to adjust your habits to get the focus you need. Your focus of you attention is determines your life experiences. Where you put your attention, you put your energy. Attention really is a matter of choice.

Your attention steers your path and directs your thoughts. Sometimes it appears that you do not have a choice about where you place your attention, but that is because of habit of familiarity. Sometimes you need a reminder, and this is where your goals list comes into play.

Do a focus test...
Identify a specific event or condition that has challenged you in the past wee. With that situation in mind, as yourself, "Where is/was my focus?" Was the the place or thing or idea worthy of your focus, did it bring you closer to achieving a goal?

Other questions...
Is your attention on inner thoughts or the task at hand? On the real aspects of life or on dreams and fantasies? On the positive or the negative? On what is right or what is wrong? On the frustration or the opportunity? On worry or joy? On satisfaction or lack of satisfaction? On what you desire or the lack of it? You have a choice. What do you want your focused attention to be on?

Be fair and honest with yourself as you answer these questions. If you do not like your answer, laugh at yourself with new appreciation and realization and make a new choice.