I’ve been going through a lot of life changes recently, and this state of flux has created some bad habits for me. I get like this when my life gets too busy or I have a lot of projects going on that are particularly draining.
So what do you do when this happens? I’ve basically come up with a plan to get myself out of this productivity funk. It’s worked before in the past, so I’m hoping it works again. (I’ll let you know in another month if it worked this time!)
I had been using Eudora for my e-mail for a very long time, as it was handed out as part of the computing package at my school, Cornell University. And then I disaster happened: while my mailboxes were compressing, I got an end-of-file error, thereby losing about half of the e-mails in my inbox. I didn’t learn my lesson at that point, however—it took a second time, losing most of my outbox, that I finally realized it was time for a change!
I dropped the ads from my site.
In the end, it had nothing to do with the aesthetics or the influence, but with clarity. I simply felt the ads were distracting me from my true, internal reasons for having this site, and I couldn’t let that happen. The ads were removed, my purpose for this site has been reaffirmed, and all order has been restored.
Which brings me back to my continued goal of Less for 2008: Less Noise. By taking the time to reflect on my true goals and eliminate outside influences in my decision, I came up with the right decision for me—and that is what "less noise" is all about.
I have been pondering my goals for this year in the past few weeks, and I have come up with one common thread: Less. How is less a goal, you might ask? Well, I think if I can retrain my habits to keep less in mind, I can actually get more of the things that are meaningful in life, and therefore make my life and my world a better place. So over the next month or so, I will be creating a series of posts that focus on the various ways in which I can aim for less in 2008.
When I think of time management, I don’t think of scheduling every minute of my day. Instead, I think of eliminating the things in your daily activities that don’t hold meaning and making room for the things that are important to you. Eliminating time wasters will make you a better and more productive entrepreneur. I’ve processed through my own life and the stories I’ve heard from colleagues, and identified some time wasters that I do during the day. Some of these may be funny to you, but I’m trying to be as honest as possible in order to help you identify and eliminate the time wasters in your own life.
We are now into the third January of my business, which will mark the third year in a row that I did not sit down to establish business goals. I will tell you exactly why: I am a big giant chicken. (Cluck! Cluck!) In my perfectionist brain, I just tell myself that if I don’t write down any goals, I won’t have to deal with disappointment and failure for the next 12 months. I then round out my justification by telling myself that I run a lifestyle business anyway, and it would be impossible to meet projected goals when I feel free to take off work any time my child needs me or the holidays get me too busy.
What I am doing, in reality, is hurting my business.
Everyone has those brain fart moments, when you need to complete something but your mind is just drawing a blank. To help you through those times, I’ve come up with this list of ideas for getting unstuck:
As we near the end of 2007, it’s time to start making those goals for yourself and your business for 2008. After studying all the entrepreneurs I have come into contact with over the past year, both at StartupNation and in my marketing/webdev business, I have come to realize that success as a solopreneur is not just a matter of a good idea; it has a lot to do with how much self-discipline an entrepreneur has, and what kind of time management processes they have in place. I know everyone wants to think they will be a success because of their offerings or their superior inventions, but how efficient an entrepreneur can be juggling so many hats in the limited number of hours in every day will determine their fate the most. If you need some help tipping the scales in your favor in 2008, try some of these ideas I’m compiled for time management and efficiency.