First of all, I really have no idea where the time went. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? I enjoy a good dose of “busy” as much as anyone, and yet we all know there is quite a bit of difference between “busy” and “productive.” And even worse, what if you’re not busy OR productive? What if you’re overwhelmed and overloaded to the point where you are getting absolutely nothing accomplished? I actually know when I’m “practicing work avoidance” as I call it. I find myself puttering along in the busyness of it all, maybe getting a lot done – just not the most important things that I should be working on. Are you guilty as well?
This year has been…, well, let’s just go with “very interesting”, shall we? No sleep, overactive brain and just getting bogged down and tired. But I’ve got big plans, big doin’s on the horizon so it was (well past) time to shake off the malaise and make some changes. What should you do? Get back to basics. Revert to best practices and put yourself on a schedule. And that’s exactly what I did. Maybe that’s what you need to do as well, so here’s the scoop.
Review and prioritize your schedule. While you may actually know what needs to be done, it is very possible that if you let yourself get distracted you may not be keeping up all with your priorities. With all the outside influences and interruptions, it can be very difficult to make forward movement. So, write it down; write down everything you need to take care of, business and personal, and find a place for everything on your calendar.
Break up your projects into manageable chunks of time. I read a great book not too long ago called “Hustle” by Neil Patel, Patrick Vlaskovits, and Jonas Koffler. The authors posited that “projects are how you sustain your hustle, building money, meaning, and momentum.” This matched my mindset in how I approach my business endeavors; to me, everything is really a project so assign your various projects to different days of the week (or parts of the day) if that makes sense to you. This way you will see forward movement in all your “some days.”
Be efficient with your time. One of my most frustrating time wasters is having to spend time searching for documents or replacement parts for one of my properties. Recently a property manager resigned with three days’ notice; clearly, she was overwhelmed and unhappy. During the recruitment process,
I found myself covering her property. Although I cannot claim that I’m enjoying myself, this has been a very telling and useful exercise. I am certainly more empathetic to my other managers and more understanding of some of the issues they face – such as the frustration of “not being able to find anything”. Whether it’s “your job” or not, find ways to facilitate or improve systems so that things run smoothly for everyone.
Get help. I determined that this year I am (finally) going to pay for marketing help. Sure, finding someone within my teeny budget will be a challenge, but of necessity, I will make it a priority because marketing is essential to business growth. I have also found a groundskeeper for my personal residence. I decided I only like planting and looking at pretty flowers - weeds and bugs, not so much. And when my lawnmower quit on me, I took it as a sign to quit telling myself “one day” and make it so. You should give this a try, too. Unless you have a golf course for a backyard, hiring a gardener is an affordable option – you have much better things to do than pull weeds. One more thing on my timesaving list is ordering my groceries online and having them delivered. This will be better for my waistline too because every time I go to the store, I give into buying “inappropriate food items.”
There you have it, a few reminders on how to get the most out of your day and enjoy the success journey.