There was a lot of talk on the East Coast this weekend about DayLight’s Savings Time — and the resulting ONE HOUR we lost between Saturday and Sunday by “Springing Ahead.”
(Having adopted a new puppy this weekend — one who CLEARLY has his days and nights mixed up — my Mister and I lost far more that that!)
Getting back to the point, I saw a lot of facebooking and tweeting about this lost hour. But, what if we were honest? How many MORE hours do we lose per day or week? Lost to doing work that an assistant or support staff should be doing? Lost to unproductive (i.e. you can’t directly trace profit to it) activities like networking, coffee dates without agenda, and incessant email checking? Lost to social media action without a clear strategy?
How many YEARS have been lost to operating a business without a clear plan for profit? (P.S. Profitable businesses don’t “just happen”, folks.)
How many hours have been lost because we haven’t been BOLD enough to narrowly define what equals “LOST” time for us? Because we don’t plan ahead? Because we aren’t SURE exactly what produces the MOST income in our business? Because we don’t hold ourselves and our time accountable for producing a specific, desired result? Because we aren’t willing to RUTHLESSLY and unapologetically protect each and every hour in our business?
The inconvenient truth is that wherever there is a LACK OF PROFIT, there are (almost exclusively without exception — only 2 come to mind) a LOT of lost hours. And a lost hour (even one) is — frankly — unacceptable. So, let’s do our due diligence this week and pay special attention to how we are investing our time.
Wondering where to start?
1) Be SURE that when you’re “working”, each 1/2 hour block is assigned a specific TASK. This is WHAT you will be doing.
2) Each TASK should have a correlating “desired result.” This is the WHY behind the task. What do you HOPE or THINK will be the result of you meeting with this person, attending that meeting, taking that phone call, or sending that email?
3) At the end of EACH DAY, evaluate. Look at your tasks. HOw many were completed? How many produced the “desired result?”
4) Next week, do MORE of what “works” (i.e. produces a desired result) and less of what doesn’t.
How you invest, protect and hold your time accountable is DIRECTLY related to how successful you are in business.
