Over the years I have read an awful lot of business related books and I’m sure you have too. I’m a bit of an addict when it comes to reading ones on improving outcomes, whether that’s short term ones like “how much am I going to get done today” or longer term ones such as “I want to achieve X in the next 12 months”.
The key commonality across all the books is FOCUS. I find one of the biggest road blocks when it comes to maintaining focus on what really matters when it comes to growing your business is the daily busy grind.
By that I mean the constant emails, phone calls, actually doing the work, managing your diary, chasing clients, invoicing so on and so on. So what’s the secret to managing all that “noise”?
This comes back to FOCUS! There’s a Stephen Covey (author of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) saying “Begin with the end in mind” that works whether you use it to help focus on your daily task list or on your annual goals.
I’m also a huge Brian Tracy fan and he talks about “Eat that Frog” which says, in a nutshell, that you should do the big task for the day first thing in the morning. That task is your “frog” and by eating it straight away you are way more effective and it feels great as you’ve accomplished it and still have loads of time to get the rest done too.
If you couple those 2 points together you can achieve excellent focus.
You need to be very clear on what you want to achieve every day. If you aren’t you tend to feel unproductive because you can’t see what you’ve achieved and you won’t work effectively and efficiently. You can gain that clarity by “beginning with the end in mind”. Basically you need to decide what you want to have achieved by the time you finish work for the day. Once you know that you can work through your list and prioritise the tasks that will help you achieve it.
I often talk to my clients about getting focused on their “Do or Die” activity for the day (slightly over-dramatic title for it but it’s memorable!). That single activity is basically their frog, and needs to be completed first.
By coupling the “begin with the end in mind” and “eat that frog” you will see your productivity soar.
Make a decision to try this out for the next 3 days and see the difference it makes. You must write everything down so you can clearly see what you need to do to reach your goal for the day.
It’s easier to do than you think!
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