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WHY things don’t get done: Making things too complicated

April 6, 2022April 6, 2022 by EvieBurke, posted in Overwhelm, video

Welcome to Part Five in the WHY things don’t get done series. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

Last week we talked about constantly reworking.

This week we’re talking about a similar topic: Making things too complicated.

One way we make things too complicated is by putting overly complex solutions together. The question is: Do you really need it to be that complicated and elaborate? You can always add layers to it after you know the basics work.

An example of this is a very long sales pipeline (they by this, then I’ll sell them this, and then this and then this, and THEN they’ll become private clients). If each piece is tested and converts for you, great. The problem comes in when everything’s new. Then if anything goes wrong in the process, everything breaks down.

In this example, start with what you ultimately want to be selling and work out the messaging and marketing for it. After you have that down, you can begin adding other layers.

Or your solutions might be overly complicated because you don’t have enough of the pre-work done. For example, don’t create a system that relies on you having an appointment scheduler and prevents you from adding appointments to your calendar until you do.

I’ve seen clients not set up 1-1’s or sales calls with people because they were researching scheduling tools. Or they’d picked one and were lost in the details of getting it set up. Their time would have better been spent reaching out personally to people to get appointments on their calendar and creating a simple system around doing it manually. There are two main benefits of this.

They start getting appointments/meetings on their calendar
They learn what’s important to them in this process which makes choosing and setting up a scheduling tool easier

When we overcomplicate things and spend too much time putting together the perfect system, it feels like we’re being proactive and productive in our business. But instead, we’re avoiding the things that move us closer to the results (aka clients and income) we want in our business.

The last example of this is overthinking an email or conversation. Perhaps it’s a follow-up email or call. Or maybe it’s asking someone to have a 1-1 with you. Or something else. Whatever it is, we can get lost in trying to find the perfect wording or feel like we’re being a bother, or create any other story in our head that stops us from moving forward because we’re overthinking it.

So, take a step back this week and do a quick review for where you’re making something too complicated instead of doing a more straightforward task and moving forward.

If you prefer listening/watching, you can catch this on YouTube or in my free FB group.

WHY things don’t get done: Constantly reworking

March 30, 2022March 29, 2022 by EvieBurke, posted in procrastination

Welcome to Part 4 in the WHY things don’t get done series. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Today we’re talking about Constantly Reworking.

This can come in several forms, and we’re going to talk about the main 2:

Productive Procrastination
Perfectionism

Productive Procrastination

Productive procrastination is when you avoid the important things that need to be done, but you get a bunch of other less important tasks done. So it feels really great because you made all this progress, but you didn’t get the really important thing done.

In the context of constantly reworking, it might feel like you ARE doing the most important task, but if you take a step back, you realize you’re doing this project to avoid the projects that will move your business forward.

An example of this is from several years ago when I put a lot of time and effort into reworking and tweaking my website (and some other things). Later, when I took a step back, I realized I was doing this to avoid learning the things that would have really made a difference for my business at the time.

To look out for productive procrastination, ask yourself if you’re constantly reworking something as a way to procrastinate something else.

Perfectionism

The second form is perfectionism, where you tweak and adjust and edit something until it’s PERFECT before you declare it done and move on or release it to the world.

I’m reminded of something I heard on a podcast several years ago. He realized that he and his team spent 80% of their time completing the last 20% of a project. They spent a lot of time reworking things after they started marketing. So what would happen is they’d complete the project and get all their marketing created and then spend a lot of time tweaking things after they started marketing it.

Instead, they started promoting and marketing things when it was 80% done. That allowed them to adjust their marketing and the final program or service based on the feedback, questions, and interest (or lack thereof). It saved them time because they weren’t perfecting things that they’d change later, AND they had happier customers. Plus, they spent much less time in perfection mode.

Notice when you’re caught in constantly reworking something. Take a step back and review if it’s something that actually needs to get done, or maybe it’s done enough as it is.

We’re at the end of the first quarter, so this is a great time to take a step back to review and make adjustments for the second quarter.

Next week in the WHY things don’t get done series, we’ll discuss overcomplicating things.

If you prefer listening/watching, you can catch this on YouTube or in my free FB group.

WHY things don’t get done: The unexpected

March 23, 2022March 22, 2022 by EvieBurke, posted in Overwhelm, unexpected

Welcome to Part Three in the WHY things don’t get done series.

Today we’re talking about the unexpected.

Sometimes things happen that we can’t control. Sometimes they’re little blips (like unexpected phone calls or emails), sometimes they’re a series of little blips that add up quickly, and other times they’re things that shift our attention for a more extended period of time (like a day or several days).

Let’s talk about the little blips first.

Little blips might cause you to reprioritize your day. For example, I had a former client call me unexpectedly one day. So, of course, I answered the phone without hesitation! I hadn’t talked with her for months and wanted to know how she was and what was new.

The mistake most make here is then trying to cram everything on their to-do list for the day in the remaining time (and get frustrated) OR working later to make up for that unexpected call.

Instead, decide what you’re moving from today’s list to tomorrow’s list because this is all about intention. Your intention doesn’t need to be to follow the plan exactly as laid out. Instead, your intention can be to have a plan that you’re doing your best to follow. And when the unexpected happens (because we all know it does happen), you are allowed to rework your plan.

Just like your goals and intentions are not set in stone, neither is your to-do list for the day. You get to adjust it and decide, “Is this still something that I want or need to get done today based on all the other things that happened today?” Then make adjustments as needed.

The second part of this is the things that shift our attention for a day or more are what I sometimes call LIFE happening. These are the times when your top priorities (like family, your health, etc.) cause you to have very little, if any, time for your business.

In these times, it’s completely understandable that things in your business are a lower priority. So tell people who might expect things from you what’s going on. You don’t have to share all the details if you don’t want to, but you do need to let them know that you’re not going to be available. And this will free you up to take care of yourself or your family or whatever/whoever you need to.

If you’ve created checklists or plans for your projects or goals, then you’ll know where to pick up when you have a bit of time that you want to use to get something done in your business.

You’ll also know where to pick up when you’re ready to start back in your business. Know that it’s okay to tackle the easy things for the first few days.

I did this after my Grandfather passed last year. After having some time off, I got itchy for the structure I’ve built for myself around coming into my office to work. I wanted the comfort of that structure. But I also didn’t have the attention span or focus to do the tasks that required a lot of energy, creativity, or focus.

So, I gave myself permission to write down all the things I needed to do when I did have that focus and allowed myself to do the easy stuff first. Yes, those weren’t the highest priority tasks, but they allowed me to get back in my office and feel like I had that structure I needed.

Give yourself permission to be where you are and recognize that you’ll make the adjustments later. Do what’s best for you in these times and let go of the shoulds.

Next week, we’ll discuss reason #4 for WHY things don’t get done: constantly reworking.

If you prefer listening/watching, you can catch this on YouTube or in my free FB group.

WHY things don’t get done: Break it down

March 16, 2022March 16, 2022 by EvieBurke, posted in Task List

Welcome to Part Two in the WHY things don’t get done series.

Last week’s reason was not knowing what to do next (you can find that here).

This week we’re talking about knowing what to do but not doing it.

This might happen because you haven’t broken things down enough, are afraid of getting it done, are waiting for inspiration, are feeling lethargic, or some other reason.

Sometimes I have clients who KNOW what to do next, but they don’t know how to approach it. It’s a black hole project (a project that you don’t know how long it will take, and it feels like it will such ALL your time and energy).

The reason you’re not doing it will determine what your next best step is.

The reason you’re not doing something isn’t always obvious either.

To get to the reason, you need to remove obstacles to make it easier to see what’s going on.

I’ve had clients who thought they were afraid to finish a project, but the actual problem was that the project wasn’t broken down enough. Once they broke it down, it was no longer a black hole project, and they were able to complete it quickly.

Alternatively, I’ve seen clients break things down into a manageable checklist and not do it. But this allowed them to see what they were actually avoiding.

Breaking things down into smaller doable steps (or creating a checklist) can sometimes provide the momentum that allows you to be inspired or move through the blah feeling.

And sometimes, it provides the momentum that allows you to get inspired or move through the blah feeling.

When it comes to inspiration, a quote I return to a lot is:

If you want to create something and you’re not feeling inspired, take a closer look as to why that is or just ignore it and start doing stuff.
Craig Benzine

Often action creates inspiration (and not the other way around).

To sum up, break projects and tasks down into smaller steps. Then one of three things will happen:

you’ll get the project/task done or
it will shine a light on the real reason it’s not getting done or
it will give you the momentum to finish it.

Next week, we’ll discuss reason #3 for WHY things don’t get done.

If you prefer listening/watching, you can catch this on YouTube or in my free FB group.

WHY things don’t get done: Part 1

March 9, 2022March 8, 2022 by EvieBurke, posted in Overwhelm

Sometimes things just don’t get done.

It can be because we’ve decided to focus on something else.

But typically, that’s not the case.

Something else is going on.

We don’t like to talk about it.

We try to ignore it.

But it’s there, causing us problems and holding us back from the progress we want and the success we know is on the other side of it.

Today is the start of a 6 part series where we’ll talk about WHY things don’t get done.

The first reason we’re going over is having so much to do you don’t know what to do next.

This is one way that overwhelm manifests itself.

There’s so much going on in your head, so many priorities, that you just don’t know what to focus on first.

To solve this, write everything down.

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” – David Allen

Release your mind from holding your ideas and tasks by writing them down.

If you need help with this, read last week’s post called Making “writing it down” work for you or read this post on doing the next three things.

Next week, we’ll discuss reason #2 for WHY things don’t get done.

If you prefer listening/watching, you can catch this on YouTube or in my free FB group.