The fact is, if your health, career or finances are not what you would like or expect to see in your life right now, it simply means that what you are presently doing is NOT WORKING.
–Gary Ryan Blair
In life, with relationships, with our health, at work, and — of course — in business, we have a tendency to hold on to stuff WAY too long… strategies that we should have abandoned, a website we needed to retire or resuscitate, or a boyfriend we should have kicked to the curb a long time ago! =)
As we ease into 2014, I want to give you “permission” and even a kick in the pants — if that’s what it takes — to throw away what’s NOT or NO LONGER WORKING. Here are three steps to deciding what stays and what is kicked to the curb:
1) First, KNOW — clearly — what “it” is supposed to do.
In other words, what is X supposed to accomplish for you? Be sure — in business — that every group you attend, every strategy you employ, every blog post you write has a measurable purpose attached to it. You have to know what you EXPECT in order to know if its working.
In order to know what you can STOP doing, you have to know the goal behind your actions. So, make a list of EVERYTHING you’re doing to grow your business. Every coffee date, every website, every strategy, every social media outlet, every networking group should be written down.
Beside every item or action listed, write a measurable goal. So, something like, “generate 10 sales conversations every month” or “attract 100 new newsletter subscribers each week” or “produce 12 qualified referrals each year.” Whatever. Just make sure your goal for each “business building” action item is measurable in terms of results and time frame.
2) Now that you know what you want from each action, tool, commercial, ad, strategy or group, take a step back and evaluate it against your stated goal. Is it working?
Not, SHOULD it be working? Or do you think it has the POTENTIAL to work? But, is it currently doing its stated job? If so, great… we want to make sure we make time to do MORE of that or somehow increase that effort to increase the desired result. If not, go to step 3.
3) Now that every business building effort, action, tool or program has a stated goal, decide HOW LONG you will give non- or under-performing activities to get up to par — before you trash them.
Some should be trashed immediately. Others should be given a set period of time — armed with a specific goal — to prove itself worthy of your continued focus and investment. Others need you to tweak or alter your own approach so that it can be given a FAIR shot at performing for you.
Finally, revisit your list regularly. Because we simply don’t have time to do what’s not working… our economy is rebounding, but it is still unforgiving and intolerant of waste. And that, is…. exactly as it should be.
