- Are you in your business or on your business?
- Is what you’re doing right now going to lead to a sale or a new client?
- How much of your time on any given day is chargeable time?
Intentions – Our aim and purpose might be to allocate a certain amount of time on our business but, what happens? The ‘day’ job takes over and we end up being pushed into operational tasks rather than focusing on the strategic elements of our business.
Present and Future – We know that the past has gone, that we need to focus on the present, but to make the best of each day we need to think about how we see our future and plan what we are doing. This means starting with the long-term goals i.e. where do we see our business in years to come, and are we heading in the right direction or have things changed and do we need to revise our plan. Planning helps us work more effectively each day.
Making your Day – If we looked at each task, job or meeting that takes place each day, we would be able to see if this was time well spent or not. Was the task part of our strategic plan or have we diverted from it. We need to make our day work for us, so we maximise each hour to be beneficial for our business.
Reflecting and Reviewing – To ensure we our still achieving our purpose, planning our days and making the most of each day, we need to reflect regularly to check we are still on track and review if necessary. Taking time out to do this at frequent intervals and making those changes will help you keep your business heading in the right direction and realise your goals.
Some steps to help you focus more on taking your business in the right direction:
- Ensure you have a plan that is SMART, accessible and front of mind – find ways to keep this visible – e.g. whiteboard, reminders on phone
- Regularly check-in with yourself on how productive your day or week was, i.e. was that meeting or work task part of my schedule – is it leading to a client or sale or new piece of work, if not make those changes for next day or week
- Find a way to keep focused on the long, medium and short goals that work for you, everyone is different, this may mean diarising a CEO or strategy meeting with yourself and prioritising, so your actions and tasks that are leading to your goals are actioned and don’t slip through the net
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