More Than WE Know

Recently a client came to me wanting to know how she could be more efficient so that she could get all of the things done that she wanted to do.  

Like many women entrepreneurs, she was also a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend and a volunteer. She was looking for more balance in her life and wanted to include self-care such as exercise, proper sleep and good nutrition.  And that doesn’t even include basic items like housework, car maintenance, etc.

Like most women entrepreneurs she had started her own businesses because she wanted the flexible lifestyle that self-employment can make possible. Unfortunately, like many women entrepreneurs, she had then proceeded to load herself up with so many expectations and demands that she has even less flexibility than she had before.

She was surprised that before I would even begin to discuss ways to get more done in less time - I asked her to take a step back and explore her values and goals:

What was most important to her in her life?

When she looked ten years down the road, what would she most regret if she never did it?

What would she be most proud of achieving?

Her answer could be:

• building a million dollar business
• spending more time with her kids
• doing work that feeds her soul
• expressing her creativity
• creating a business to pass down to her children
• building a strong marriage with her husband and planning for their future

or many other things…..  

Your answer won’t be the same as any other woman.  And until you know what really matters to you in life - your own life, not what someone else says - you are not going to know where to invest your time and energy.

So right now, before you add one more thing to your to do list - take a few moments to determine what you really want your life to be about.

Write it down - and begin to compare all of the activities on your to do list with your goal, and determining how much of your precious time and energy each one deserves.  

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Whenever possible I try to do as many of my “to do” items online.  Not having to run an errand saves me both  money, time and personal energy.   All of which I can turn around and invest in my business.

Recently I learned about an online printing service that enables customers to design and order business cards, brochures, catalogues, calendars, posters, greeting cards, bumper stickers, event tickets and more. 

Psprint has over 150 design templates to choose from. You can use their designs or upload one of your own. 

Standard shipping is 5 days, but they can ship faster and even have a same day service!

But even better than that - instead of shipping the postcards, newsletters, etc. for you and then you having to turn around and mail them out to your customer list - PsPrint will process your mailing list, address your items, presort for the post office and then drop them off at the post office!  (note: they even remove any duplicates you might have in your mailing list)

So - now my to do list looks like this:

1.Design new workshop brochure.

2. Order brochures.

3. Pick up brochures.

4. Buy stamps.

5. Address brochures.

6. Mail.

What about you - how many items could you cross off your list?  

The number one concern I hear from entrepreneurs is a wish for more hours in the day.   No matter how much time they devote to their business, they never seem to get it all done.

And (especially if they are women entrepreneurs) they want to know how they can be more organized, more focused, more dedicated, and more clever about multi-tasking - so they can be more productive.

So, over the next few posts I’m going to share some of the methods I use to manage the various tasks in my life.  I’d appreciate it if you share some of your best tips as well - so we can all learn from each other.

My first tip is to create a written master list of everything you are trying to do.

While this may sound simple, I’m continually amazed at the number of entrepreneurs I meet who carry their “to do” lists around in their heads - they try to remember all of the outstanding tasks related to their business, their children, their personal lives, their spouse, their health, their friends, their pets, etc.

Without realizing it they’ve added an extra unnecessary task to their lives - memorizing their list!!

There’s no way to prioritize, organize, or make any progress on a list you can’t see. 

So - right now - before you do anything else - make a list of everything - absolutely everything that you need to do. 

Don’t even worry about prioritizing or categorizing - just do a brain dump of it all.  In every category of your life.  Be sure to include the things that wake you up in the middle of the night - like scheduling your long overdue dental appointment, updating your quickbook accounts,  and finding a missing library book.

Write it all down until you can’t come up with a single other thing.

And feel yourself relax.

Then, while you work the muscle cramp out in your hand -  stand back in amazement.

Did you know you were trying to do all of that??

By yourself??

In that amount of time??

Is it any wonder you feel frazzled and scatter-brained? Is it any wonder you forget things, do them late or do them only half as well as you could?

Stop feeling like you Should get more done and that someone else Could get more done and if you were more organized you Would get more done.

Just for today - give yourself a break. 

Shove the list aside. Have a cup of tea. Watch the sun set. Take a nap. Notice how good it feels not to be carrying that list around in your head. 

Now - at the top of the list write:

• Make a list of everything I have to do. 

Then cross it out.

• Make a list of everything I have to do.

Feels good,  doesn’t it??

Don’t worry - we’ll talk about how to manage all those items on the list but the first tip is really this:

• Set realistic expectations and treat yourself with respect.

In other words, if you wouldn’t ask an employee to carry this workload - don’t ask it of yourself. 

(and now tell me - how many items did you have on your Master To Do list???????)