Or how I got
Start 2022 off on the right track. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in a day if you are a small business owner. Your to-do list just keeps growing longer and longer. Most items seemed important as you thought of them but in reality, the majority of items on your list actually never get done.
As an entrepreneur you have so many thoughts going on in your head, deep or fleeting. I find the best way to remember things is to write them down. Sadly more often than not one just adds them to a to-do list or just scribble them on post-it notes that flap on the side of your computer screen and then surprise, surprise nothing actually happens. When you read the list or notes weeks later most things are neither important nor urgent or you can’t remember what it was you wanted to do with this action item.
But hang on a minute, there were some really important items on those lists and post-it notes and they got missed. Missing some of these could have serious consequences for your business. If this sounds familiar, know that you are not alone. This happens to many people and I hear time and again how they struggle to get everything done.
So what can you do about it?
The start of a new year is just the right time to start building some good habits to help you manage your time and action items. Here are some tips from me on how to effectively plan and execute your to-do items. Create good action habits now and you’ll be so much better at not missing those all-important things and you’ll have time to focus on the items that really matter for our business.
Hunt down all your to-do items, find all those post-it notes, lists and items in multiple notebooks, scraps of paper, post-it notes, in files and apps on your computer, pad or on your phone. Check each and every item, then decide if you should keep the action or just bin it. BE ruthless!
Now segment the ones you have kept into 3 categories. Colour code them so it’s easy to see which is which. My choice of colours are as below, but you can use any colours you like so long as you know what they mean for you. Above all keep it simple or you will be spending more time managing a convoluted process than actioning the to-do items.
Red: here you put the items that you absolutely must do. If you don’t do them it has consequences, monetary, loss of customers or staff, loss of reputation, miss timelines etc. Items here could be to pay a bill on time so you get the materials for your Christmas release product in on time, complete your tax reporting by xx deadline, hire enough people to fulfil your Christmas order, train team on new software going live xx date. Renew your work permit, visa, license etc.. The all-important things you must do.
Yellow: this group is for items you need to do but could live without for a while. For example, you might need a more fuel-efficient delivery truck, the current one is still working and can last a few years. You have large stocks of a material you no longer use, want to get rid of it or find a new use for it. You need to update your privacy policy. You need to revamp your restaurant’s menu layout, repaint the outside of your building. These items will eventually end up on the important Red list if you don’t do them by a certain time.
Blue: in this group you put ideas you have about a future product, something that would be nice to have, a machine to split an atom, an article to read, plans to write a book about your business. Something you can do once travel opens up again. Things that if you don’t do them it’s not a problem for you.
After your first pass on segmenting your action items – do it again for each group and push the items to the right group where they really belong. Now add dates to when the Red items need to be done. Schedule them in your calendar in your chosen colour and add timed reminders so you don’t miss them. If you have not completed a specific to-do item by your due date, then reschedule it so you don’t forget to actually do it.
Now add in your Blue to-do items to fit your schedule so you get them done too. Add dates and dependencies here as well. If you have too many action items in your calendar consider delegating them to other people and keep a managing brief on the items so you can tick them off as complete when done.
An action might have a dependency such as ‘you need someone to provide you with numbers, invoice info etc. in order to complete the action. Then you have to add that as an action by someone else – use the task based action list in your calendar to track that the person responsible has it on their list of actionable items.
Staying on track
To stay on track begin every week with a check of all your scheduled action items for the week. I also take a peek at all the red ones for the following week so I don’t get any surprises on the following Monday. Review how the action items are planned for the week. You might need to move them around a bit to fit other items and dependencies. You might need to delegate some of your actions but remember to keep an eye on them to tick them off your list. You can define a colour that denotes a completed action item – always satisfying to see the number of items you have completed multiply as the week goes on. also makes it easy for your Monday morning review to see which items remain outstanding from the previous week.
Sometimes an action item has resolved all by itself. I would be a little wary of these, as they tend to drive inertia on your part. I view them as missed opportunities to influence an outcome: Someone else decided what was going to happen without your input – but then I am a control freak.
Booking contingency time
I have several hours with free time blocked in my calendar every week that allows me to fit in any actions that get missed or suddenly become more urgent than expected and need to be addressed now. If I don’t need these blocks of time, so much the better as now I have extra time to sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and reflect on how my business is going.
As a business owner, you need to spend your time on work and actions that drive your business forward. If you have too many things to do, consider hiring someone to help you execute those actions. You can literally bog yourself down in too many to-do items and then get nothing done for the furtherment of your business.
Work should be fun and fulfilling not a struggle from dawn till dusk. By learning to be more efficient you reduce the burden and mess of your to-do lists. If you feel you can’t do it yourself get help with implementing an easy process that helps you every day.
LAN Business Consulting 