I heard some commercial that used the term “profit-killing chaos” in their advertisement. I rarely watch commercials, so I really don’t know what they were referring to, but the term caught my attention and got me to thinking about how a lot of startups and entrepreneurs kill their profit inside of the chaos they often create for themselves.
Being in business requires a lot of moving parts. Most people are not the best at multi-tasking, they aren’t great with prioritizing. So these moving parts are often a hectic and chaotic mess for them and they can’t figure out why generating profit is so difficult. Part of this is because so few people maximize the 80/20 rule. They spend 80 percent of their time doing everything that doesn’t generate profit. This behavior usually beings with poor planning and prioritizing.
So, what’s my big tip? Plan your work and then work your plan. Try these on for size:
- On Sunday, look over your schedule for the entire week. What can you eliminate? What can you drop off your plate so that you can focus most on what brings your business profit and new clients?
- What can you afford to outsource so you can free up your time to do what you got in business to do?
- When you have a lot of small menial tasks; reserve one solid block of time to get them done.
- Plan out your errands so that you can find the best route and time without doubling back or being late on your appointments.
- Utilize the task list, calendar and reminder features on your smart phone. The phone is smarter than you, take advantage of it!
Sometimes chaos can be a part of life. There are even times when one can thrive in it. But the truth is that the average person is stressed by chaos and far less productive than they should be. Our greatest potential is often not reached because we lack the discipline it takes to get us there. We look to take care of the easiest tasks instead of taking care of the most important ones. We take on too many projects that are off the scope of what we set out to do. We obligate ourselves and our time to the wrong things. These behaviors kill our potential and eventually lead us to burn out. Take the first step now; look over your schedule and begin making smarter, more efficient moves today. Why wait?
“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of.”
~Charles Richards