Less Is More

If you want to increase your productivity, spend more time thinking than doing.  And when you’re thinking, think about what not to do!

We must focus to succeed, as an entrepreneur, or in any endeavor, and the easiest way to focus is to eliminate all distractions.  There will always be more to do than the time available, so that’s what draws our attention.  We ask, “Ok, what do I do?  What do I do first?  And what do I do after that?  Then what?”

Staring at a crowded agenda and ever-growing To Do list (book?!), trying to spot the commitments and tasks that are most likely to help grow your business right now is challenging at best.  You “can’t see the forest for the trees,” and you end up constantly busy but not making significant progress toward your goals.

Productivity isn’t just a question of efficiency.  It’s a question of effectiveness.  Is what you’re doing making a difference?  The Pareto Principle states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort.  It’s great to be efficient, getting things done quickly and with the minimum expended effort, but that’s only useful if you’re doing things than advance you toward your goals.

When you have overwhelming demands on your time, it’s very difficult to target the 20% of activities that will result in 80% of your progress.  Strategic, deep thinking demands both time and energy.  For entrepreneurs, your time and your energy are very limited resources.  Depleting your resources in the trenches is not effective.

To improve your focus, clear some trees.  When you sit down to plan your week and decide which of your many To Do list tasks you will assign to a precious spot in your agenda, make a habit of eliminating at least one item from your To Do list each time.  That is, take it off your To Do list and DON’T schedule it in your agenda.

We’ll look at options for those tasks in future articles.  For now, however, you can save a lot of time by eliminating tasks that don’t contribute to your goals (your goals have changed or you shouldn’t have accepted the tasks in the first place).  If you’re feeling ambitious, delegate tasks that someone else can do almost as well as you can and outsource tasks you’ve been “too cheap” to pay someone to do.

What tasks did you find hiding on your To Do list, adding to your stress without contributing to your bottom line?  What was the most surprising task you found?  What was the most creative solution you found for eliminating a task?