Getting It Right

Feeling overwhelmed? Here are 3 questions to help you invest your time wisely.

How do you know you’re working on the right things?

It’s a question that came up during a conversation with a business owner. They were diligently setting aside time for working ON (not just IN) their business but weren’t sure what to do during that time. Should they:

• Think through a promising idea for a new service?
• Take a great client out for a meal?
• Meet with the key people on their team to better understand their challenges?
• Book time with their accountant to look at tax planning strategies?
• Or something else?

None of these ideas would be a waste of time – in fact, each one could have a tremendous upside for their business. But equally, none of them guarantees an immediate, decisive win.

In a perfect world, they might do all of the above. But with limited hours available, they had to make a smart choice.

Advanced Decision-Making

Here are three questions you can ask to decide how to invest your time. Because one thing is certain - taking the time to list out your best ‘working ON the business’ ideas and running them through a decision-making filter like the one below, will dramatically increase your odds of getting a great return.

1.?What am I trying to accomplish by doing this? And would that result move me closer to my most important goals?

Every decision gets easier when you’ve done the heavy lifting in advance. If you’ve set your top 3 or 4 priorities at the start of each quarter and thought about where you want to be in 90 days time, you’ve done 80% of the work already. The more you know about where you want to go, the clearer the path to it becomes.

In fact, if you’re near Mississauga, come to the next GrowthCLUB and do it alongside a bunch of other smart entrepreneurs.

2.?If I prioritize this activity, what’s most likely to go wrong?

Throw away the rose-coloured glasses. Spell out, as objectively as possible, where the idea is likely to flop. If you’ve ever gotten excited about an idea, spent time on it, and then admitted (with the benefit of hindsight) that maybe you got carried away, you know it’s important to face reality head-on. It keeps us from chasing shiny objects that turn out to be duds.?

3.?What are the most likely consequences of not taking action?

Let’s be realistic about the early warning signs of trouble. For almost every crisis, there was an opportunity to get ahead of it by course correcting early. What’s irritating today, like a pebble in your shoe, that has the potential to build into an avalanche tomorrow? What have you been avoiding taking action on? There’s a good chance you’ll want to give those areas a higher priority now – and save yourself a headache later. ?

This Week’s Takeaway

If you’re an entrepreneur, chances are you have a lot of great ideas – probably more than you can act on. Are you always stopping and starting, giving your team whiplash and rarely seeing anything through?? Maybe it’s time to put a decision-making system in place.

Reach out if you want help.

All It Takes Is a Goal: by Jon Acuff

Find out how to plan goals that you're guaranteed to reach by focusing on your best moments, navigating zones of performance, and finding ways to fuel your passions, all while actually enjoying the ride.

Check it out!

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