Many years ago when I owned a dog, I was often amused at watching my golden retriever “play” on her own in our livingroom, running around in circles and trying to bite her tail. There are times when we can relate to that feeling when we are stressed and overwhelmed with ALL we need to get done in a short amount of time.
If you are transitioning from regular employment or full-time studies to starting your own small business, it goes without saying it will be a busy time in your life – that neverending ‘to do’ list of essential steps and tasks to accomplish can bring even the most organized of people to their knees crying, “No more! I don’t have enough time in my day to do all I have to!” After all, you’re juggling your job and all your ongoing life obligations AND working at preparing and launching your small business at the same time.
The important first decision is not to panic or give up.
Stephen Covey, in his bestseller, Put First Things First offers us many pearls of wisdom that are very practical to apply in our over-extended lives. We don’t have to fall victim to people or circumstances (or our own moments of distraction and procrastination) that interrupt us, preventing us from achieving what we really want or need to do.
Mr. Covey makes a distinction between what is urgent and what is important, and setting priorities for how we manage our time by assessing each thing and placing them in the right category.
I agree with him that many of us confuse the two. We can’t afford to waste our time on trying to snuff out those all-too-frequent fires that crop up suddenly while we continue to play the willing victim to the tyranny of the urgent.
Write down a schedule of how you are going to spend your time in a day; put your entrepreneurial goals in pen in a set block of time and be realistic by structuring those tasks in one or two-hour segments. Many people decide they’ve had enough and are falling behind, saying ‘I’ll take this day and catch up’, only to fall prey to that tyranny of the urgent…and another day goes by without progress toward achieving your business goals.
Here are some tips to help you be strong and decisive:-
- Brainstorm all the perceived and necessary tasks you need to do/want to achieve and then prioritize them in categories “Needs” and “Wants”. Prioritize those numerically in order of importance to you.
- Make a schedule of your week, your day, breaking it up in two-hour segments. Block out the absolute commitments that cannot be changed. Be disciplined with your time, be organized with ALL of your time – even schedule your personal life and activities (you’d be surprised how many hours are ‘wasted’ without focus because we perceive to be ‘only’ spending 6 hours per week watching t.v…when in reality we’ve used up 10!)
Keep your goals and ideals and priorities always at the forefront of your mind when all those new demands on your time crop up. Make sure you take a step back before giving the commitment to spend your precious time and energy on a task or activity that may not be necessary.
Remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare. What a relief and great sense of accomplishment you will have if you stay on track with your business goals and achieve mighty things, all progressive steps at a time, without losing your sanity in the process.
