On January 1st, I’m going to…. Next Monday, I’ll get to… The diet starts tomorrow… When work slows down, I will… As soon as I get these few items done, I can…
I’m guilty as anyone else of saying these things, but why do we have to continue? EOS®, the business operating system we operate internally and implement for other organizations, places a ton of value on clarity and focus. As hard as it is to say “no” to certain things, people, and projects, it’s exponentially harder to get everything done when you commit to too much.
As EOS® preaches, “When everything is important, nothing is important.”
I can personally tell you in my own life—the less I try to do at once, the more I actually accomplish and the better quality the work. While this is easier said than done, here’s a way to get tactical with it in your business:
- Give yourself 20 minutes to write down anything that’s been frustrating you, keeping you up at night, or causing you stress in your business. Seriously, set 20 minutes on your cell phone’s timer. By the way, you don’t have to be a business owner to do this. Any intern, employee or executive who wants to be great should have goals.
- Look at your list and prioritize the Top 3 items that will make your life easier to do something about. You don’t necessarily need to start with only one, but be careful: Latching on to a number of goals will get you right back where you started.
- Look at your calendar for the next week, and schedule yourself one “session” per day for the next seven days. It doesn’t matter how long the session (could be as little as 30 minutes each) or when it is each day, just do it every day. Set your timer for that amount of time.
- Once you’ve finished the first week with a minimum six of seven days complete, chart your progress on the issue/goal and schedule the next week.
I promise you, this actually works. When life, business, or personal projects feel like they’re spiraling out of control, this simple process will help you make progress on whatever is truly important to you.
IT DOESN’T MATTER THAT IT’S JANUARY. IT MATTERS THAT IT’S RIGHT NOW. GO AND DO.
P.S. I just followed the process to write this blog post. Living proof!