Friday I had a decision to make.
I could schedule Facebook posts to my business page for December (the thing that will get me seen).
Or I could take myself through some coursework of a business program I recently purchased (the thing that will improve my business).
I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to work on them over the weekend while at my in-laws and I knew I already had planned a full week for myself this week.
What to do?!
I had identified both as priorities for the week.
It came down to two things.
- Completing the business program coursework is a top priority for my business right now (I decided when goal setting for December).
- To make the most of my business program coursework, I want an hour or two of focused and uninterrupted time and when scheduling Facebook posts I only need short 10-15 minute bursts of focus for about two hours.
So, Friday morning I spent about two hours on that coursework.
And Saturday afternoon I ended up having about two hours working at the kitchen table while my husband and his sister went shopping and my mother-in-law was busy doing her things (it might sound boring, but it was really a great afternoon).
I didn’t get everything done I wanted, but I made really great progress.
I think we go through different phases in our business.
One phase where we want to hunker down and get all the behind the scenes things done and we ignore the things that make us visible to others or get us seen (whether in person or virtually).
And Saturday afternoon I ended up having about two hours working at the kitchen table while my husband and his sister went shopping and my mother-in-law was busy doing her things (it might sound boring, but it was really a great afternoon).
I didn’t get everything done I wanted, but I made really great progress.
I think we go through different phases in our business.
One phase where we want to hunker down and get all the behind the scenes things done and we ignore the things that make us visible to others or get us seen (whether in person or virtually).
Another that is the opposite where we’re very visible, always being seen, but at the expense of the behind the scenes work.
And the third where we have a nice mix of the two.
Each phase is important and needed.
It’s also important to recognize when we’ve become really comfortable in one phase and are ignoring another.
As an introvert (or maybe as someone who likes to plan) it’s very easy for me to focus exclusively on the behind the scenes things.
But sometimes, in my effort to not do that I start ignoring some of the behind the scenes by over prioritizing visibility.
It’s like a pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other, but finding that middle ground may require some work.
I talk about that in the video below.