You're in your budding days as an entrepreneur. You wake up and stare at the blank slate of a day that lies before you. When you think about all that you have to do, the blank slate becomes a tangle of items that you don't know how to prioritize. Paralysis sets in and several hours pass before you realize that you've done little more than hang out on the Internet.
That's when the panic arrives. How in the world are you supposed to grow your business if overwhelm sets in every time you think about all that you have to do?
I used to experience this phenomenon more times that I care to admit. It was always ironic when I would go through this because one of the principal reasons I quit my job to become an entrepreneur was to have more control over how I spend my time. And yet, having complete control over my schedule threatened to kill my productivity.
Awareness has helped transform my inner stance so that I can make the most of my days as an entrepreneur. Below, I share a few strategies that can help you exponentially increase your productivity.
Create structure
One of the biggest changes in the switch from employment to entrepreneurship is that business and personal life melt together without clear demarcations. This is particularly true when working from home, and I can easily go from coaching a client to having a chat with my love to watering the plants to Skyping my niece to writing an article, all over the course of a couple of hours. Jumping from task to task really drains me, and I've had to learn how to build in structure so that there are clear hours when I'm working, and clear hours when I'm not. I've found that there are times when I'm naturally more productive (between 11AM and 7P), and so I commit to working within that timeframe (taking several breaks for sanity). The rest of the time I claim as mine to spend however I wish.
Creating a productive working space is also important. At home I tend to float between the couch and kitchen table while working and I use several props to get into a proper mindset. There's my laptop, a notebook with a pen, and also my to-do list. Having my to-do list in plain sight subtly helps me stay focused. (Checking items off and looking over all that I've completed in a day makes me feel really good). On days when working from home just isn't cutting it because of distractions, I head to a cafe where I can laser in and focus for a few hours.
The key here is to create structure while remaining flexible. For example, if I have to switch things up and work earlier or a later to accommodate items I need to complete, I do that. (And if I need to cut my working day short to allow for more flex time, I do that too). But a structured day remains the status quo for me. It makes me a happier entrepreneur and person.
Drop overwhelm as a badge of self-importance
This was the hardest for me to implement. Whenever people would ask me how I was doing, I would secretly get satisfaction out of going on and on about how "busy" and "overwhelmed" I was. I would create an entire drama around all of the items that I "absolutely had" to complete within a day, even though accomplishing that feat was unrealistic.
Reading Steve Chandler's Time Warrior helped clue me into what I was doing: "Your problem is not that you are overwhelmed," Steve Chandler writes, "Your problem is an attachment to the story of overwhelm."
That insight caused me to closely look at my own story. Most importantly, it helped me cut away all of the self-importance that using terms like "overwhelmed" and "swamped" made me feel. Once I did this, I realized taking this stance was setting me up for failure. I was playing a game that I would never win because I would always have a daunting list of things to do. Additionally, I was unconsciously ensuring that I would always be overwhelmed so that I could earn sympathy from those I shared my story with.
"You can drop the story," Chandler advises, "Try this story: 'I've only got one thing to do! How liberating. It's the thing I'm doing right now.'"
When I dropped my story, I immediately had energy to use in productive ways. The payoff was exponential. Instead of seeking pity from others, I was able to talk about far more interesting things than a to-do list. I also began accomplishing more and reaped the benefits of feeling complete at the end of the day. I'll take this over a badge of self-importance any day.
Consciously choose items to complete and items to put off to another day
The best way to integrate the above point is to be super realistic about what can be accomplished within a day, hour and minute. What's the most important thing to be done in this moment? Do that and forget everything else.
Here's the thing. Sometimes there are very important items to be done within a day and I realistically can't get to everything. This used to really bother me and I'd spend my time accomplishing one task while worriedly eyeing the other important tasks I had to complete. Fortunately I've found a way to deal with this:
I let the relevant parties know if I will be unable to complete something by a promised deadline AND provide a timeframe as to when it will get done.
I've had to learn that it's not the fact of having a lot of things to do that trips me up. It's the story that I create around it. Letting people know that something will be late immediately frees me up. It makes me feel responsible and as if I have control over my schedule. I get to stay in a place of consciously choosing how to spend my time which is really what I've wanted all along.
An extra note about the Internet
I'm not doing this post justice if I don't mention the Internet. Given a lot of my work is done via computer, it's very easy for me to spend time wandering down paths that aren't very productive (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, etc). It's a habit that I've developed (I think it's safe to say that I'm not alone here), and I've not found a surefire way around this. One of the things I've been focusing on is awareness around how I use the computer. I've been using a productivity app that tracks time spent on different sites. It's been really helpful for me to see where my computer time goes. Several moments checking friends' status updates on Facebook can really add up over the course of the week. In all honesty, I'm not doing much about this other than being aware of it. Awareness and observation are foundational for any habit changes that I choose to make.
Once the euphoria of working for yourself wears off, it's important to adopt a stance and mindset that ensure you are experiencing life and business on your terms. An important part of this is maintaining control over your time and enhancing your productivity. Give the above tips a try and let me know how they're working for you. I'm at thebusinessalchemist@gmail.com and would love to hear from you!