This time of year is too hectic, I’ll put more focus on that after the holidays.
I want to grow my business, but I don’t have time because I’m busy with the day-to-day tasks.
My schedule is packed, next week I’ll have more time.
It’s easy to make excuses as to why you don’t have enough time to achieve your goals, but the reality is that YOU are the only one who controls your time and how you spend it. So when we suggest we don’t have enough time to complete something, what we are really saying is this thing is not a priority.
Believe it or not, there are ways to manage your time and priorities in order to achieve all of your goals. Here’s how:
Visualize priorities and schedule them.
Keep a schedule–because if you don’t place what you prioritize on your schedule, you will not get everything done that needs to be done. I keep an extremely detailed plan to ensure I can get everything done in a timely fashion, even things I may otherwise place on the back burner. But my schedule is never so rigid that there can’t be fluidity. It’s important to build your schedule to reflect the life you want, so you can start living it.
Use a color coding system to quickly and easily identify priorities and where you have space in your schedule. Here’s mine for example:
Red = Do immediately
Blue = Important and will become red if unaddressed
Black = Not urgent
When you have a free block, color coding will allow you to see how you can fill your time with the tasks that will significantly impact your business. Meeting canceled last minute? Move on to the next red item on your calendar. You should see less red and more black as the week goes on.
Understand what you value.
We tend to prioritize the things we value and make time for them. It is important to look at the values we are placing emphasis on and reflect on what value we may need to prioritize. This can be a difficult exercise. It’s hard to be realistic about why we are neglecting things in our lives that we should value. Step back and ask yourself if the actions you aren’t taking should be a priority, and if the answer is yes, you need to find time in your schedule and devote it to this.
An example almost everyone can relate to is prioritizing and making time to exercise. We all know it’s important, but unless we actually do the work to make it a priority by scheduling a block of time on the calendar, it usually doesn’t happen. Ask yourself why. Are you avoiding the gym because you’re self-conscious? Then work out in the privacy of your own home. The key here is determining if you actually don’t have time, or you just don’t want to.
Avoid using the term busy.
Everyone is busy, and everyone can appear busy, but there is a difference between activity and productivity. It’s easy to bullshit yourself into thinking you are busy when you are filling your time with actions that aren’t working toward any of your goals. You’re not busy; you’ve been on Instagram for an hour and a half. You’re not busy; you just spent two hours watching reruns of a television show you’ve seen four times. You need to be more than active with your time; you need to be productive.
Define and identify what success means to you.
If you haven’t yet defined what success means and looks like to you, do it now. Plot out what your day would have to look like in order to reach the vision of success you have for yourself. If you have been neglecting a task that is vital to your success, prioritize it. Put it on your schedule and stop making excuses that are ultimately holding you back from realizing your dreams.
Find an expert to hold you accountable.
If you’ve been making a concerted effort to prioritize what’s important to you and still can’t seem to find the time to get to those tasks, you may need to turn to someone who can hold you accountable. This might look like hiring an expert to ensure that you are creating a plan that is feasible and then sticking to it. It’s easy to let yourself get away with deviating from a schedule. There’s always tomorrow, or next week, or next month to complete something. But next month can turn into next year, and you’ll be 365 days behind on reaching the success you defined for yourself. It’s much harder to make excuses when someone else is holding you accountable.
We’re just the team to keep you on track and motivate you to define your success, create a plan to reach it, and hold yourself accountable to your priorities. It’s time for you to stop making excuses–you have the time to do it all! If you’re ready to take action, register for Successology™ Virtual Boot Camp today!