Benjamin Franklin developed a list of virtues that he felt were necessary in his daily living.
He said “Lose no time, be always employed in something useful, cut off all unnecessary actions.”
If something is not contributing to the results you are seeking, is it really a good use of your time?
Develop a vision for where you believe your business can go. Not where it has been, not where it is now, but where you see it going in relation to the big picture. Where you see the economy going, where the global market is going, how the needs of your customers are changing and the abilities within your business that are needed. Also, how you need to grow in abilities to be a positive and productive part of contributing to the desired and necessary results.
Many people tell us that when they were able to step back from the hectic daily pace of business, they were able to understand the relationship between what they do and results in relation to the beliefs on where they are going.
Assess what you can do well and what your abilities are. Obtain input from other people to provide insight that is helpful. You also need to look at what you can delegate and supervise.
Another thing you need to consider is what abilities do you need to bring into your business to balance the abilities needed and free you to do only the highest priority things. Only spend your time on productive things. Many things are involved in how you use your time. The culture of your business, whether you are an owner, manager or employee and whether you are left brain or right brain oriented, among others.
Two things that are important are planning and setting priorities. Having foresight is part of planning. Your need to have a pathway that you are on that everything you do relates to is also important. Another key thing is to establish three to five priorities each day that you need to be working on to progress toward results in relation to the pathway you are on.
Garry Haggart, CPC, is a management, marketing and performance development consultant and facilitator. He can be reached at 661-259-2530.