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Do you ever feel like you have so much to do that you just sit there and do nothing instead? You get up in the morning, sit down at your computer and your mind just blanks?
Overwhelm. It’s a feeling that isn’t just frustrating or confusing, but also guilt inducing. Here you are with all the opportunity in the world and you’re JUST SITTING THERE?! As the clock ticks away you can practically hear the money you could have earned running in the opposite direction.
So you feel guilty, and plenty mad at yourself… and you VOW to get this under control once and for all! So let’s do that right now.
Fortunately there are a few strategies you can use to address this. I like to think of things across 3 categories:
#1 Clarify
#3 Build Momentum
In my last WIL blog post we took a look at “Simplify” where I broke down how to simplify your to-do list and guard against overwhelm and the paralysis of feeling like you have a million things to do:
Focus on what you REALLY do;
Prioritize revenue generating activities;
Break your projects down into tasks you can complete in ½ a day [read more]
Now let’s take a closer look at Build Momentum. How do you avoid paralysis and get productive instead?
Get it out of your head
You have a million ideas swirling around in your head: write them down! Before you lose those brilliant plans, get them down so you can start working with them.
#1: Set aside at least one hour (this will just be a start!) to document your plans and even your whispers of ideas;
#2: Get a great big piece of paper and some sticky notes or a good ‘ol spreadsheet;
#3: Start writing.
Go from a Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats perspective (that’s looking at your business from an internal perspective (Strengths/Weaknesses) and an external perspective (Opportunities/Threats).
Break things down over the main areas of your business: Sales/Marketing, Operations, Finance.
Ideals from one section will start to spark additional ideas in another section.
Keep this list up on a wall or open in a never-closing tab and keep coming back to it. Every time you have an idea jot it down.
Rank your loves
This next part is a bit more challenging: Now you get to rank your To Dos from most important (at the top) to least important.
Each and every task you implement needs to get you closer to your end goal in a measurable way so the initiatives that make it to the top of the page/wall need to deliver on that promise.
Keep in mind how large each task is, how much it will cost to implement, how long it will take to implement, how many resources you will need to hire to complete it, etc. All of these factors will impact your rankings.
Be ruthless. You only have so much time in a day and you have goals to reach! Everything can be on the board but not everything can take top billing status.
Measure your loves
You now have a prioritized list of everything you need to do that is going to get you to your goals. You should have a rough idea of how long each task/project will take and how each task matches up with the time and resources you have available.
Next you need to plot these deliverables out on a calendar (I like to use a spreadsheet) broken down by month.
Now, not only do you have a list of WHAT you are going to do, but also WHEN you are going to do each job over the next several months.
A very important part of this step is determining how you are going to measure success for each of these tasks. Beside each task write down how you are going to measure success (e.g. revenue generated, sales calls, likes, comments, meetings booked etc).
The key here is to be very, very, very SPECIFIC. How many sales calls are you going to book? 10? 50? 2? How many ‘likes’ (exactly)? How much revenue will you generate from a specific initiative? How many people will attend your event? Obviously you don’t have a crystal ball, but the idea here is to get better with your forecasting, so with time you will get better at guesstimating how particular initiatives will drive results, which will help you to prioritize high yield activities and build momentum.
Building momentum in your business comes down to actioning on the activities that will get you closer to your goals quickly and effectively:
Get it out of your head;
Rank your loves;
Measure your loves.
We have now covered Simplicity and Building Momentum in managing the overwhelm in our business, next we’ll talk about Clarity - stay tuned!
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Have questions? Follow me on Facebook: Shauna Stewart Douglas and reach out and connect on LinkedIn: Shauna Stewart Douglas - I’d love to hear from you!
► Get my free video on the Top 5 Things you are start doing right now to make more money in your business: https://permissiontoprofit.co/watch-now/
By Shauna Stewart Douglas - WIL Entrepreneur Expert + Founder of Permission to Profit: I help ambitious women surpass their income goals and make their business run like clockwork in 8 weeks: permissiontoprofit.co
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