Stop Focusing on Getting More Done

Stop focusing on getting more done? You may be thinking, “That’s just craziness! How can I accomplish my goals and increase productivity if I don’t focus on getting more done?” Well, we often spend so much time packing more into our days that the truly important work doesn’t ever get done. So, instead of focusing on getting more done, a more effective strategy is to focus doing the things that lead to success.

Sounds simple doesn’t it? But, in order to focus on getting results that matter, we first have to decide what’s really important.

If you look closely at how you spend your time, you may be surprised to find that a lot of it is spent doing things that don’t really make you money. My experience has been that most people find they only spend about 30 percent of their time on activities that lead to success in business.

So, how do you determine what’s most important? I’m sure there are a variety of ways. One I’ve found that works well is to keep track of how you spend your time for 1 week. Make up a chart where you can break your day down into 15-minute increments and record what you’re doing in each of those 15-minute time slots. I guarantee it will be very enlightening. I just did this last week and learned some things that were very beneficial!

It is important to be as accurate as possible with this exercise. Set a timer to remind you to record your activities on a regular basis. It is too easy to forget the little things (like a personal phone call or time on Facebook) if we wait too long to write it down.

After you’ve completed your tracking for one week, make a list of all the activities that showed up for you. That means everything: surfing the internet, talking to the person down the hall, reading e-mail, meetings, getting coffee, etc.

Once your list is finished, go back and write how much time you spent on each activity during the week. Then go back and put a star next to the three activities that are most important to the success of your business.

Compare how much time you spent on these three starred activities with how much time you spent on everything else. Is it good news? If you’re like most people, there’s some room for improvement.

Ideally, we spend the bulk of our time on the activities that are most important to the success of our business. If we don’t, we either work way too much or we don’t make much money, or both. If you’re not spending the majority of time on the three activities you starred, you could benefit by making some adjustments in how you’re spending your time.

Setting up your week so the majority of your working hours are spent on your top three activities supports you in getting great results. This is just one of many ways to “make more money and have more fun” in business.

Are you ready?