Find More Time in Your Day

Today’s post is from ideas I’ve compiled from one of my favorite books – “Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy:

Every small business owner I know, including myself of course, struggles constantly with finding the time to get the never ending to-do list done. I’m constantly having to move today’s list to tomorrow, and sometimes I just can’t do it all.

So what to do when your list is much bigger than your day? Well, remember the 80/20 rule? Most of your results (80%) will come from 20% of your efforts. So if you have 10 things on your list that you “just have to” get done today, really only 2 of those are probably going to be “big impact” items.

So if 1 or 2 of your to-do’s will have the most value on your life/business/whatever it is – don’t you think you should try to finish that one first? But of course, most people procrastinate on those tasks, because usually they involve more work, more time, or more problem-solving than the other 8 or 9 things on that list.

So, the best way to start your day, is to take your plan for the day (you do plan out your day, don’t you? If not, please check out this post for some ideas.)  and start first on those 1 or 2 tasks that are actually going to make the biggest difference in your business.

Make it a habit that you don’t even start on those smaller, easier tasks – no matter how tempting it is to just be able to check some things off. I know it feels good to be able to cross something off your list, but wouldn’t it feel so much better to know you’re actually working on something important than just working to feel busy?

As Brian says in his book, “Time management… is taking control of the sequence of events… having control over what you do next.”  So take control, and work on the most important, most meaningful tasks first every single day.

If you need help coming up with a plan for your business, so you know what your plan is for each day, each week, each month, enter my “Plan Your Success” contest today!