How to stop wasting your precious time on the wrong tasks

If you’re anything like me there will be times when you feel absolutely overwhelmed by the task you have set yourself running a business.

You know you want to achieve great things, you are passionate about getting it done. But inside your head you have thoughts like this swimming around:

– do I really know what I’m doing here? (urm- no!)
– why I am wasting so. much. time!
– I can’t seem to get clear on what I need to do next

If that sounds like you then don’t worry. It is totally, absolutely normal. I’ve had that many many times over the years with my business.

What I learnt is that this feeling will never go away for you unless you empower yourself with:

1. knowledge
2. a plan
3. the skills to execute your plan

This might sound obvious but with a little bit of thought and strategy towards these things you can go much further much faster in your biz. 

So I'm sharing some tips with you today in the hope that it helps you press forward and achieve your biz dreams!:

1. Seeking the right Knowledge

You will know as a business owner yourself that this life is a huge learning curve. There is so much more to business than you first thought. It seems like the more you learn, the more there is to learn. That in itself can be overwhelming.

But I have a tip for you. There is only one thing you should really be focussing on learning. It’s not how to become a social media specialist. It’s not how to build a bigger audience. It’s how to become a better entrepreneur.

You would never try and build a house without learning how to build. You would never try to operate on a person without studying medicine. You would never try and fly a plane without learning how to fly. 

So why is it that so often people jump into business ownership without learning how to become an entrepreneur?

When I started KiwiOz so many years ago, it was a steep learning curve and we did everything ourselves. Formed our own business processes. Built our own software system. Our own website. Wrote our own terms and conditions. Absolutely everything. I spent SO MUCH time learning how to do all of this just so we could get our business off the ground.

From doing those things I have picked up some amazing skills that have benefited our business over the years. However, what I wish someone had told me was to do more reading and more learning about how to be a better entrepreneur.

If I’d have known more about what makes a good entrepreneur tick, then I truly believe we would’ve acheived our business goals faster. 

So today I’m going to share with you some of my favourite resources that I lean on now to help me build my entrepreneurial knowledge:

1. Unfiltered
If you haven’t heard of Unfiltered then you are missing out! Unfiltered is a fairly basic concept but as a business owner it is a truly great resource. At Unfiltered they record inspirational videos of successful entrepreneurs talking about their journeys. What worked, what didn’t, obstacles they faced and how they overcame them. There is no better way to learn than from those who have tread the path before you. Listen in, it’s gold.

2. Mixergy
Similar to Unfiltered, Mixergy goes in depth with entrepreneurs talking about their experiences and how they have found success. By the way- both Unfiltered and Mixergy have paid for memberships but they have lots of free content you can access as well if you don’t want to sign up.

3. Books
Good old old school books are amazing teachers. What I like about books over internet knowledge consumtion is that they often go into topics in far more depth. The internet is great for exposing you to concepts and ideas that you never even knew about. But I find to truly retain that knowledge and build understand, books are simply the best.
Some of my favourite business books that I recommend you read are:

– The E- Myth and the E Myth Revised by Michael Gerber
– Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
– I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam
– Thrive by Arianna Huffington
– Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
– Lean In by Sheryl Sandburg

4. Your Existing Network
I’m going to talk about this more shortly but I have learnt to become totally ok with saying “I’m crap at this, I need help.” In todays modern world with the internet on hand there is ALWAYS someone who is more skilled than you just a few clicks away.

You need to lean on these people. You cannot do it alone- and more importantly, your journey will be more enriching and more FUN if you do with help by your side. And when you do reach out for help, listen carefully. Watch how that person does it. Take note of why it works so well. Be curious. Learn everything you can from them in the time that you have.

5. Your Greater Network
This week I went along to the Unfiltered event and also to The Leap Entrepreneurial Festival. At both of these events I heard from or spoke to at least two people that I learnt from. NZ has a thriving entrepreneurial spirit. There are people out there who are willing to help you, and who you can learn from. Start thinking bigger about how you are connecting with those people and start reaching out. You might be surprised about how much this teaches you and how much it empowers you to become better at business.
—–
To recap the above what I am saying to you is this. You are never going to start working on the right business tasks, if you don’t understand exactly what those tasks should be. So start empowering yourself with knowledge. 

 It is a journey. It’s not going to happen overnight.

But if you’re really committed to becoming a better entrepreneur, this is where you should start to build a strong foundation.

2. Making a Plan 

As your knowledge of business increases you’ll understand more and more how important a plan is.

I know you’ve heard that so many times before and if you’re like me it sadly goes in the ‘too hard right now basket.’

I know that this is often the hardest part.

You might feel like:

– You don’t even know where to start writing a plan that will work for you
– You’ve tried to do it before and then never used what you wrote so what’s the point?
– You just haven’t got time at the moment to learn how to do it, get it done and then actually impliment it

All of these reasons are massive roadblocks but I will tell you one thing.

That is not an excuse!

Part of being a woman in business or entrepreneur is that you must have a love of the journey. You need to understand that you are going to hit roadblocks, and that in order to become a better entrepreneur, you must find a way around them.

And when you start doing that- fronting up with yourself about what your weaknesses are, understanding why they are holding you back- and thendoing something about it, then you will start seeing results and you will learn to love the power of education.

So let’s put away our violins ladies and let’s start getting serious about how you can approach this!

There is no one fits all solution to making a business plan that works.

What you need to do is discover a way of making a plan that works for YOU.

Some people can download a resource off the internet, hide themselves away for a few hours or a day and come out with a review of the year past and a plan of action for the year ahead that really sets them on fire.

Some people are naturally organised and love using a diary or annual planner that sits beside them every day, guiding their workflow.

Some of you will struggle to do either of these things.

If this sounds like you then this is officially the time I say you need to lean on those around you for support! Find someone in our network who will sit by your side and guide you through your planning approach.

If it’s in your budget to hire someone for a day or even a few hours to sit beside you and help you create your plan, then this is what you should be spending your money on. Sign up to a course, find a coach, reach out to a mentor.

This is about more than simply writing a plan for the year ahead. This is about equipping yourself with better business skills for the future. So investing money to help you with planning is money well spent.

If you don’t have a budget then consider what value you could add to someone in return for some help. Post in the support community to see if there is anyone local to you who might be willing to lend a hand.

And of course, listen in to Business Bootcamps- we’ll be covering success mindset in December and planning in January. Find out more about our bootcamps here.

You can get your head around this! And when you do your life is going to be so much better and this is why:

– you won’t feel overwhelmed anymore by too many tasks
– you will have a clear focus every month, every week, every day
– you will find yourself reaching your business goals faster

And more importantly, you will find you have more time to spend with your loved ones. You will feel more confident in yourself as an entrepreneur and as a person. You will feel proud that you have reached that roadblock and found a way around it in order to create a better life for you and for your children.

Yes I’m totally playing on your emotions here but if that’s what we need to kick start this journey then that is what I am going to do!

So if you’re procrastinating, hesitating, mucking around with this, then tell us in the group! We will give you the warm encouraging but kick butt support you need to get your a into g. !!!

3. Taking ACTION

For me I think this is the easiest step because once  you actually have a plan, if it is the right plan, then execution is the fun part.

However you might find yourself saying things like:

‘I know what I need to be doing, but I keep doing this instead’

or

‘I have a plan but I’m just getting further and further behind and it no longer seems achieveable’

or

‘There is too much on my plan! I don’t know what to work on!’

All of these things lead us to work on ‘busyness’ instead of ‘business.’ Flitting from job to job, from goal to goal, without achieving the end goal or watching as the end goal slowly fades into the future somewhere, out of reach.

So, how do we combat this?

1. Well firstly, when you have your plan you will find this problem much easier to overcome. A good plan will establish just ONE priority at at time and flowing from that will be supporting initiatives and a clear success path for each.

For example a basic plan might look like this:

GOAL- LAUNCH THE WE NETWORK

Supporting Initiatives + Success Steps:

Initiative 1. Develop the concept
Success steps: Research existing support networks. Pricing models. Develop a strategic plan and marketing plan. Idea validation.

Initiative 2. Build the platform
Success steps: Research software required. Learn how to use wordpress.Build the membership platform. 

Initiative 3: Prepare for launch
Success steps: Develop the brand. Learn how to develop a sales funnel. Set up a sales funnel. Write the content. Impliment marketing plan.

etc etc. On top of this each of those success steps also has it’s own success path.

For example today I am writing content. Next to me, I have my success path for the day written down, so I can get that one task done. My content success path looks like this:

Content writing success path:

– review my topic (must relate to helping my audience acheive their desired results)
– structure my post into clear ‘how to’ steps
– consider how I will weave my own journey into the post for interest to the reader
– make sure my post takes the reader on a transformative journey (eg at the end of reading the post they feel they are better equipped to succeed than before they read it)
– ensure that the post includes a clear call to action

Now  this is not a professional success path to content generation! But it helps to keep me on track for today, and tomorrow I will go on to the next task.

An added benefit of writing down your success steps for each task is that you can organise those steps into a document. One day that document will become the operations manual that you will hand over to your first VA or employee.

So by doing this one small task for yourself you are not only helping yourself achieve your goals but you’re also planning for growth in the future.

2. Secondly we should never underestimate the power of mindset, positivity and gratitude in business.  

So what if you have a terrible day. We all have those. Learn how to hit the reset button and hit it fast!

Your thoughts determine your mood which determine your actions. The power of your thoughts is HUGE. So get some mindset training. Practise gratitude. Stop telling yourself that you’re unorganised, unstructured and can’t achieve your goals.

You can. So get out of your own way.

3. Fix your habits. Finally you might feel familiar with this if you’re a habitual procrastinator or Facebook group browser! It is easy to get sucked into time wasting tasks ‘for a break’ or simply because a distraction pops up.

You can also train yourself to become better at maintaining focus. There is lots of great info out there on this but I love James Clear for simple, practical advice that I find works for me.

Above all I truly believe the secret to business success for women in business today is to keep things simple and TAKE ACTION.

The information overwhelm is so huge, sometimes we need to remember that we are just one person, and just one person can do just one job at a time.

With clarity on what that job is, you will slowly, slowly but carefully make progress towards your end goal. 

So, what action are you going to take this year? Comment below and tell me where you want to be in biz in 12 months time!

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​You can do this!