to do list

 

Create your to do list!

How long is it?

Is it a blend of business, home, family, and friend tasks?

As you write one item down, do 3 more you ‘forgot about’ pop into your mind?

Now your brain is spinning on items forgotten and on how you dropped the ball by not getting ‘this item’ done yet!  Or it’s spinning on how long this list is and when will you run out of things to add to this list?  Or you are thinking making this list is taking up time and I should just be doing some of these NOW!

Having items to do is a good thing!

Let’s put a stop to the self-abuse of not getting enough done right now.

Let’s put a stop to the overwhelming feeling of you will never get caught up and are buried.

If you are a business owner – if you have nothing to do, you are in fact out of business!   Read that again!   We, as business owners, should always have a list of things to do, to grow, to expand, to learn, to implement, to improve.  So having items to do is a good thing!

The day I calendared some of my ‘to do’ list my life changed!

Truth!  This was a huge wake up call for me!  Why?  Two reasons!

#1 – I had to prioritize what I wanted to do and get done first.  I had to think about what the most important item on this list is and what needs my attention NOW!  I had to come to grips with I won’t get it all done so I had to pick and choose.

#2 – I had to come to the reality of – there are only so many hours in a day and literally think realistically about what I could get done in an hour or two hours or 30 minutes.   I had to start thinking realistically about how long certain tasks would take and be honest in that time estimate.  How often have you approached something thinking oh this will take me an hour and four hours later you are still working to finish it off?  #guilty

Let it go!  Collaborate and outsource.

Collaboration is powerful.

Let it go!  You are not the only person juggling all the tasks of running a business.  You are not the poster child for being able to do it all single handedly.  Frankly, you are not meant to do it alone – in time you will limit your business growth with this logic and that is a whole other blog post. 

A fellow business owner is posting on social media!   Tag team with them and take every second day to post for one another.

A fellow business owner is going to a networking event!   Give them some of your cards and vice versa and represent one another and capture the data to share so outreach can still happen.

A fellow business owner is doing a newsletter!  Have them spotlight you so you show up and next month you return the favor.

Outsourcing is powerful.

Hire.  I know, I know you are thinking that is so expensive.  Is it?  Have you researched prices and options?  Have you had a conversation based on your needs and expectations?  Have you approached it maybe from a trade perspective? 

More importantly – have you calculated the time you will save and can invest better in sales and working your business? Have you calculated how much your hour is worth?  If your hour is worth $65.00 to outsource at $40.00 is a great option!  DO the math!  What is your time worth, what reach can occur if you do outsource, what can you better use your time for? 

Write the To DO list and smile!  You are in business and there are ways to handle and manage it all! 

Written by Cheryl Clark – Clark Strategies | A Strategic Partner of Amazingly Virtual