Do Less, Get More Done

Have you got too much on your ‘To Do’ list?

In fact, does your ‘To Do’ list have more on it at the end of the day than it had at the start?

Well, that can happen of course.?But when it happens consistently it can be debilitating.?And more important – it is a clear indicator that the business is struggling to grow.?

And if the business is struggling to grow, then so are you and your team.

Now if you aren’t bothered about growing you, your team, or your business, you might just ignore this problem.?But ignoring it won’t fix it.?And eventually, your business will suffer, your health will probably suffer and your team and customers will suffer.?

Do you know the saying –

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”?

Max Planck

This was said by Max Planck, the Founder of Quantum Physics, who proved that when an individual looks at an object, that object changes at a quantum level.

What has Quantum Physics got to do with getting more done?

Well, let’s take another look at that “To Do” list.?Instead of seeing it as a thorn in your side, that just gets longer and longer, try to see it as a brilliant opportunity.

There’s a little exercise that you can do right now with your To Do list, if you like.?

Go through everything on your list one by one, and put a D, C, TW or F next to each one.?

F = Flow.?

These are tasks that are easy for you.?They are the things you excel at AND enjoy.?For one person this could be being creative, for another, it might be designing systems, having meetings with clients or staff, speaking in public, or bashing out the accounts and forecasts.?

Whatever it is for YOU, that makes time seem to stand still, that lights you up – THOSE are the tasks that SHOULD be on your To Do list (though they won’t be there for long, because you will zip through them!).

TW = Time Wasting.?

These are things that you can do – probably quite well – but they could equally well be done by someone else.?The reason they are not being done by someone else is that little voice in your head.?You know – the one that says…

“By the time I have taught Adam to do this, I could have done it myself”.

You

Now of course that is true…..today.?Today, it might take you 30 minutes to teach Adam how to do this, and you could have it completed in 15.?So, you tell yourself you haven’t got time to teach him.?But if you look at it a different way, you haven’t got time NOT to teach him.?

Because if you have to do it again tomorrow and the day after, and the day after that, then in a very short time you have cancelled out the time “saved” and now you are wasting time.?Lots of it.?YOUR time.?How much have you got left??Have you got the time to waste doing stuff that someone else could do?

C = Chore

These are the real killers.?These are tasks that you kind of know how to do.?You don’t really retain all the information on how to complete these things, because you don’t like doing them, or they only need doing sometimes but not daily.?And because you are not really interested – you forget.?And so it ends up taking you 5 or 6 times longer than it would take someone who loved doing this task.?

Why do you still hang on to these??Well, it could be that you don’t have the skills to do it yourself and so you don’t want to ‘teach’ someone else how to do it as you might teach them the wrong thing.?Or – you might be found out!?Your team might find out that you can’t do it.?Oh no!?What would they think of you then?

D = Drudgery

Oh boy, these are the things you really, really don’t like doing.?You might be really bad at these things.?Or you might be adequate at them but just hate doing them.?Either way, these are the tasks that drain your energy.?Things you dread doing, or just keep putting off until it causes a problem.?Perhaps you don’t delegate these things because you don’t understand them well enough to know who to delegate them to.?But for whatever reason, they stay on your list when they really should not.

What’s the Solution?

You know what I am going to say now, don’t you??Everything that is a D, C, or TW needs to go off your list and onto someone else’s.

Believe it or not, there is someone on your team who would be better at these things than you.?And more than that – they would LOVE to do them.

When you delegate to your team, they will grow.?And I do mean delegate, not abdicate.?There is a difference between dumping a task on someone who may not have the skills, experience or gumption to do it – and actually delegating.?

The art of delegation is a subject for another day, but if your ambition is to have a Team on Fire, a team who is growing, so that your business can grow – and you can also grow – then it needs to be done.?

If you are working longer and longer hours to get your To Do list done – and not even getting close to achieving it, where is the time for YOU to grow??When do you have time to look at your own development?

So – let’s tackle that To Do list today!?

If you would like my Simple Delegators Check List – to help you categorise your tasks in order to delegate, send me a private message and I will get it over to you, and once you have this cracked – you can start to delegate more effectively and productively – which means you can do less and get more done!

P.S.?Whenever you are ready...here are 4 ways I can help you increase your impact as a leader:?

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1. Join The "Quiet Leaders With Impact? Facebook Group and connect with other leaders who want to grow?

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It's our new Facebook community where those that are The Quiet Leaders can learn and share how to increase their impact, influence and outcomes --?Click here?

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2. Grab a free copy of my leadership impact report: The Team Performance Engine??

It’s the Road Map to your journey to increasing your impact as a leader -Click here?

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3. Join our Quiet Leaders Launchpad? Mastermind Group Programme?

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This Mastermind is a selected group of like-minded leaders, in an online community, focused on growing your results. With training, group coaching calls, guest speakers and more, supporting and challenging you to design and implement real team performance in your business.?

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Email me?with “IMPLEMENT” in the subject line and we can discuss how you can join us?

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4. Work with me and my team privately?

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If you or your team just need a little more one to one attention to make change happen in your business... just reply to this message and put “PRIVATE” in the subject line... tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!?