Are you overworking it?
It’s true, there are a lot of good reasons to work overtime. Especially if you’re an entrepreneur, and starting your own business. A good part of overtime is all about making sure your business stays competitive and has that special edge to propel things forward! The problem is, too long of a haul can drain the creative banks and render a powerful sharp mind to a more blunted type of steel. In other words, your day could be working you.
Your primary question should now be, “how does this happen?” It’s an odd feeling to look back on all those long hours of “digging in the trenches” only to feel as if you’ve been rather like that darling hamster running inside a wheel. Cute, but ineffective. As there are so many hours in a day, you increase your speed but completed projects and their substance evade you. Consider a few alternatives to this tick-tock madness…
Mind Map, without Apps…
Technology is supposed to be there to help us, not hinder us. Try setting up your phone, email, and whatever other loud or obnoxious notifications you may have for support (no not your trusted secretary with vital information…it could be important) to go into torpid mode for at least an hour. Knocking out an hour of serious quiet time, with zero interruptions every day can restore organizational energies where they should be. Take this time to prioritize the rest of the day, week, or month. The more detailed you get, the fewer questions you’ll have when you step into the office that following Monday.
Set aside a Social Cocktail Hour…
There’s nothing better than having a team working in-sync with one another. But this can get tricky can’t it? It takes a lot to form a team where everybody’s on the same page in terms of picking up certain nuances, distinctions and work ethic. Cocktail hour can be an enlightening, fun and rewarding experience with your team. You can discuss in greater detail how a project went, the little things you might change, and any disagreements that arise-all the while enjoying a longer laugh and getting some deeper insight into how your company is running. Nobody’s on the clock, the project is complete, and another successful-time-efficient-day gets checked off that calendar.
Choose Quality over Quantity…
Knowing which tasks to pick up and work on can actually get tricky. People tend to pick up the easiest tasks first. This makes sense…occasionally. But, marking off all those “little to-do’s” to get them out of the way ends up adding more time (and money) than we might think. Psychologically the brain says “hey, if it’s simple why not just do it and get it out of the way?” Ahh, but there’s safety in numbers… and that’s where these nettlesome little tasks like to hide! Often times the real thing you should be paying attention to is, “which of these tasks is more likely to bring you to your supreme goals like–more revenue, peace of mind, or inspiration?”
-And remember, at the end of the day..be kind to yourself. It’s not easy starting and running a business, there’s always sure to be another opportunity to do even better the following day!
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