Business Blog

Did you know 97% of New Years Resolutions are never accomplished? It all seems a bit depressing, especially in this cold weather and the dark nights drawing in.

So what’s the best way of getting them done? (If only so you can be exceedingly smug to all of us who fell off the diet wagon on Jan 3rd!).

• Write them down. In 1979 Harvard’s MBA Program asked new graduates about their goals and found that 3% had clear, written goals and plans. In 1989, they revisited the graduates of that class. The 3% who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, 10 x more than the other 97% put together. There’s some debate as to the provenance of this story, but other studies have showed writing down goals = better outcomes.
• Delegate. If you don’t have time or skills to accomplish your goal, delegate it to someone who does. Admittedly this doesn’t work with going to the gym, but for all those resolutions about marketing more efficiently, following up more effectively, writing a business newsletter or organising your emails, it does! In fact, even if the task itself isn’t something you can delegate, could you delegate a lesser task to free up more of your time? I have a high-earning client who sheepishly admitted she’d spent 2.5 hours tweaking a Powerpoint chart recently before sending it to me. I sorted it in 15 minutes, and this is a lady who earns 3 times what I earn an hour! Cost “saving” by trying to DIY: MINUS £180!!!
• Switch off the incoming noise. That means focus on one thing, and switch off all other distractions. No email, no phone, no mobile, no visitors, no interruptions. Make sure you are comfortable and have everything you need to hand. You should have no excuse to get up from your desk until the task is done!
• Learn to distinguish “Important” from “Urgent”. They are not one and the same. Doing your tax return is important, but not urgent if you are organised. Stephen Covey, author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” shows four categories of activity:

1. Urgent and Important We don’t want to be here at all! Things like your overdue tax return, an irate client chasing late work etc.)
2. Not Urgent and Important – AKA The Zone – here is where we want to focus most of our time so things get done properly in an unrushed way
3. Urgent and Not Important – a ringing phone, someone asking a daft question, clearing emails as they ping into your inbox. These are the things you should be trying to ignore responding to immediately and batch into their own “Not urgent but important” task.
4. Not Urgent and Not Important – Why are you doing it? I’m putting Facebook in here I’m afraid!!

I must admit, I battle with all of these myself – I think every small business owner does! I did however find a couple of really useful books to read. Of course, if you are a Queen of Procrastination like me, they will lie on your bedside table for a few weeks, but I guarantee when you delve into their pages you’ll start reclaiming some of your precious time, so it’s well worth the read!

Getting Things Done: How To Achieve Stress Free Productivity
Lots of really down-to-earth but relevant tools in this book to improve your productivity – it does what it says on the tin!

Get Clients Now
For anyone wanting to kick start their marketing, this is a great place to start. Designed specifically for service-based businesses, this 28 day programme guides you through creating good daily, weekly and monthly habits.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Audio CD
This one is rather lengthy and in the interests of saving you time, I’ve recommended the audio CD. I am sure this is one of the recommended reading books on my college course, although I can’t actually recall very much about it. I refreshed my memory recently with the audio CD in the car travelling down to London. An excellent use of 7 hours in the car – multitasking, don’t you know?

The Four Hour Work Week
Tim Ferriss is my hero! This guy has made time management an art form – not in a boring “I measured how much time I spent waiting for the kettle to boil” but in an exciting “I found time to learn Japanese, travel the world and spend time with my family” type way. So not everyone wants to get their working week to only four hours, but the tips in here certainly will reduce your workload to where you can take Friday afternoons off. His email management is possibly the most effective example of this – highly recommended!