So you are supposed to be living the dream as a business owner. It was supposed to give you the time and financial freedom you have always wanted, yet here you are working 15 hour days running your business, struggling to spend time with your family. You haven’t been to the gym in months, and you forgot what your best friend looks like. Do you want to fix it? Below are steps from the business coaching Dojo of Mojo on how you can get better organized!
First, get a calendar and put everything on it.
EVERYTHING! Kids games, work, meetings, church, workouts, dinner with your wife, your drive home, your shower time, fun time, I mean EVERYTHING! Block out how long each item is going to take. Then determine what you can actually accomplish on your schedule and put it on your to-do list each day. Make sure you are blocking out time to work on your business, if it is time for you to write content for your website each week or if it is time to launch ads on Indeed for more employees, make sure that time is blocked out. How much time do you waste, if you respond to everyone who just needs a minute; talking to clients who are mad about something, your dealing with pissed off employees who don’t show up for work? This person wants to talk to you, that person wants to talk to you, and you missed your dinner date with your wife. Print out your calendar, or keep it with you so you can keep track of where you need to be and when so you don’t miss those important things. (I recommend our business coaching F6 Journal or Google Calendar). Schedule a time to cover burning fires each day. Whether it is during a team meeting with your staff every day or your managers once a week it has to be scheduled or burning fires will run your business and you. If it isn’t on your schedule or to-do list learns to say no!
Second, you need to get is a to-do list.
No I’m not kidding, as a business owner you more than likely spend your day putting out burning fires (and a to-do list you will actually do, not a honey-do list your wife puts on the refrigerator and 6 months later you haven’t even looked at). Write EVERYTHING on your to-do list, you can organize your to-do list with A, B, and C to prioritize things, and take it with you everywhere, I don’t mean to get an app for your phone either! I mean get an actual piece of paper and carry it on a clipboard, I recommend printing your calendar to keep on this clipboard as well (this is something all of the business coaching team members do).
Third, TURN OFF YOUR PHONE NOTIFICATIONS!
Yep, you read that correctly, turn off your phone notifications. Who cares how many people liked your new profile picture. (People waste 11 hours each day interacting with social media and their phones, companies like Google and Apple have actually banned their employees from using phones at work, they were designed to be an addiction. Apps have only increased the addictiveness of your phone.) It is a distraction from the things that really matter to you. Also stop responding immediately to emails, text messages and missed calls. (Studies have shown it takes 23 minutes to reset from a distraction like a notification from your phone) With a to-do list you can write down things you need to respond to, and with a calendar, you set a time each day, that works for you to respond to these issues, where you can be undisturbed and answer to emails, text messages and return missed phone calls.
Finally and most importantly, you then need to sit down with your wife, partner, or significant other and ask is this ok? What do I need to change is this schedule to make it work with you? If they don’t agree then change it, you need to maintain your relationship above all else. A To-do list and calendar with a clear schedule will benefit every part of your life, so get one today!
