Staying FOCUSED is one of the BIGGEST obstacles that you can have in business (and I should know as I struggle with this too). How do you decide what to focus on first? How do you organize your day? How do you say “no” to people who need you but aren’t your ideal clients or who you secretly feel you’ve outgrown? Which business strategies are most important to master? How do you keep distractions to a minimum yet still feed your need for community and sharing?
Wow, there is a lot to juggle and when we are not sure what to do procrastination creeps in. As a business owner, especially those of us working from home, somehow all the house chores or social media seem more important than making that sales call (which secretly you probably dread). The only problem with this is that your business won’t flourish without clients and in fact you won’t have a business but rather an expensive hobby. And trust me that’s an expensive place to be, I’ve been there.
For a long time I thought I was working really hard. Well I was working hard but I was working on all the wrong things, activities that didn’t help me grow my business. You see all successful business owners understand the importance and value of using your time effectively. They focus on just high impact producing activities in their business. Activities that bring in cash and clients. They don’t waste their time on activities that don’t grow their business.
So what’s the solution. It is having a structure and system for all your activities in your business and this includes having a structure to your day. You see the secret is really quite simple: Systems Liberate You. I used to fight this idea. Structure and systems are what had ruled my life in the corporate world they had kept me on that hamster wheel of getting up at 6:00am, on the train at 7:10am; at my desk by 8:30am, meetings all day, starting work at 5:30pm, leaving the office at 8:30pm; home at 10:00pm. So when I set up my own business I rebelled and avoided having any structure in my business. I loved the freedom and flexibility but it meant that I had no FOCUS, I let the pendulum swing too far the other way and so had an expensive hobby and not a business. The result was that I was working really hard and not getting anywhere.
Then I had that light bulb moment – the epiphany that changed everything. I realised that some structure was good and in fact secretly, if I was honest, I missed it a bit. I started creating templates and processes for everything in my business, including a structure for my day. Freedom, focus and business growth were the results. And without all of the chaos and drama. I was finally back in control of my business and I was running my business rather than my business running me.
Take this short quiz to determine if you have entrepreneurial ADD:
- You have post it notes all over the place
- Your desk is a mess
- You have an overflowing email box
- You have a backlog of filing
- You have more than 3 incomplete projects
- Everyday you wonder where the time went
- You use social media as a distraction
- You let the priorities of others influence what you do
If you answered YES to more than four of these questions, then it’s a sure sign you have entrepreneurial ADD and need help focusing in your business. If this is you send me an email at connect@businesshorsepower.com with I’VE GOT ENTREPRENEURIAL ADD in the subject line and I’ll schedule a time for us to chat about how I can help you.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
