My Priority Planning

Some time ago, I wrote about steps to reduce overwhelm. It was wonderful to hear from so many of you about how the tips I shared was encouraging to you and helped you reduce your overwhelm. I love that! My goal behind everything I do is to provide value to all who receive it and have what I do positively affect others. Thank you for the feedback! Today, I want to talk about going a bit further with dealing with your daily tasks. You see, many of us have a TON of tasks to complete in any given day. We know that we are busy and getting stuff done, but sometimes, at the end of the day we feel like we haven’t made a dent. We handled the “urgent” things and realized we have not done anything toward growing or expanding our business. How do we decide on what to do first? How, with all the daily tasks to do IN our business, do we still make a point to work ON our business? As many of you know, I have been in business over 11 years and have seen and tried many things to answer those same questions. There is only one approach that I have found that works for me, as well as many of my clients, to conquer working ON the business instead of just IN the business. That approach is setting and consistently using your Priority Hour. What is a Priority Hour? It is the time dedicated specifically to tasks that are money making tasks; tasks that will generate new business now or in the future. This is not a time to check your email, answer the phone, return phone calls or any other task that you do while you are working IN your business. The Priority Hour is also not a time to work on current client work, which is, yes, money generating. The hour is sacred for only tasks to generate NEW business and create NEW products that will create NEW cash for your business. Many of my clients set their Priority Hour differently. For most, setting the first hour of the day works the best. Before you start answering the voice mail and emails, take that first hour to accomplish a few tasks toward growing your business. The rest of the day, be it 5, 6, 7 hours, is used to work on what is happening in your business. I like setting the first hour of the day because before I have a chance to receive any “bad” news, I have made positive steps in my business to keep it growing. So, when I do receive any “bad” news, it is a bit easier to take because I see progress not defeat. One of my clients sets a Priority Day and the rest of the week is for working on everything else. You choose what time of day works best. The key here is to be consistent! Do it every day and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish. As an example, one of my clients sets to make 5 prospect calls a day in her Priority Hour. What she found out quickly was that she was able to do many more than that in that one hour. Now, her goal is 10 prospect calls and she has nearly reached her yearly financial goals in almost 7 months! Don’t under estimate what you are capable of. You are capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for. Beware, though. It may become addicting! When you see how much you can accomplish in only 60 minutes, you will want to do more, which is great. You should stretch and challenge yourself. Just remember, while it is important to always be working ON your business, you do still need to work IN it! You will need to service all that new business in the process. But, hey, maybe it will be time to expand the staff to handle the massive growth!?