How to stay focused with a million things to do…

There is never a shortage of things to do or things roaming our minds. So, how do you stay focused on the ‘right’ things to MAKE AN IMPACT in your business every week?

When you are a sole business owner there is A LOT to do. It’s reality. You are the visionary, creator, accountant, administrator, and project manager. So, how do you stay on top of everything and ensure you are working on the things that will truly make a difference. The things that will continually progress your business with the least amount of stress.

I’ve experienced this both in a corporate job and in my business and I can tell you it takes time to master. And, ‘mastering’ is an elaboration. It’s tough to keep consistent especially when you are someone like me who needs variety, bored by redundancy, and always has ideas flowing. So, how do I get close to mastering my focus? Here is what has worked for me and now my clients:

1)     CLARITY – get clear on what are the MOST IMPACTFUL things to your business. Make a list of all the things that contribute to the success of your business. The things that keep your business afloat and progressing. Rate them 1-10 from least important to most important.

2)     PRIORITIZE the MOST IMPACTFUL things to your business for example:
-revenue generation, how are you generating steady income?
- connection with prospects & partners
If you aren’t doing this consistently you may be adding additional stress to yourself & to the business without knowing it.

3)     PROACTIVE CLIENT SERVICE - how are you adding value to your clients with each interaction? Or continuing to keep their interest. Example a newsletter, social media, special offers.

4)     PROJECT MANAGEMENT - a clear plan and timeline will help you achieve goals & projects with less stress. By breaking your goal or project down to micro-steps and setting the timeline for each you are reducing the amount of stress and space these tasks take up in your mind. Parking the tasks somewhere where you don’t constantly have to remind yourself what to work on next helps alleviate the stress and increases your minds bandwidth.

5)     CONSISTENCY and COMMITMENT are required to do these things well. Give yourself time at the end of each week to review what you want to achieve the following week. What is most impactful, how can you schedule it to prioritize it and how do you remain consistent with things. Can you automate something to help relieve the stress of added work? Automation is a great way to create consistency.

Don’t let work and external factors control your week. Be PROACTIVE and stay on top of and organized with the most impactful items and you will naturally remain in control. A few things to keep top of mind in the process:

-        You must first decide what will make a difference and be most important to achieving the success you desire.

-        Success comes in stages. Don’t start with the success you want in 5 years but rather what do you deem successful this week? This month? The next 6 months. This year? By breaking success down in stages allows you to laser in on things that will naturally progress your business. Not set yourself up for possible disappointment or resentment.

-        “You can do it all just not all at once.” Give yourself grace and do the things that feel right to you not because it’s the trend or because someone else is doing it. Follow your intuition. Trust me it will guide you and will let you know what is right for you right now. When you feel that tug, or that thought that never seems to go away go with it. It is likely the right direction for what you need to become aware of. What you may be ready for now and what needs to happen now. If you don’t feel ready, then park it in a favourite notebook or a voice note. Then you can clear your mind to move onto other things.

Something that saved me and many clients from wasting time was to remember that not everything needs to be perfect. Let go! Progress over perfection is the key. Stop tweaking things and trying to make things perfect and start focusing on what will make the greatest IMPACT!

 All the BEST on your journey!