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Is your previous experience helping or hindering?

by EvieBurke, posted in planning

I was driving somewhere the other day (I don’t remember where) and was thinking about my goals and what I want to accomplish/complete next year. And I thought about how I wanted to plan for meeting those goals and completing those things.

I started to think about my time in cubicle-land (in my previous profession). There I was responsible for my projects, I took support calls for two to three clients, researched those issues, and sometimes did tasks that were part of co-workers projects.

But most of my time WORKING was spent alone with a computer.

In retrospect there were two unspoken rules from my time in cubicle-land:

  1. Overwhelm is normal, because anything else means you aren’t pulling your weight and are causing others more work!
  2. REAL work is done just me and the computer. Everything else is more of a distraction.

These unspoken rules don’t serve me as an entrepreneur (a case can be made that they didn’t really serve me then either).

I realized this pretty early on for rule #1 and started working with it. I occasionally need to remind myself it’s not true if I fall into old habits.

But I only recently realized there was a rule #2. It’s caused me to rethink how I do some things and what kind of projects are actually important.

One project that I’ve been wanting to complete for almost a year falls squarely in that “me and the computer” arena. And the return on my time for completing that project is currently fairly minimal compared to other things.

My question for you: How might your experience from your former profession/job be helping or hindering your goal setting and planning?

In this week’s Facebook Live we’ll touch on that a bit before we get into the meat of it – which is planning next year. I’ll walk you through a process to plan your next year (or next quarter).

You can join me live, Wed, Dec 21 at 1pm CST. Like One Insight Closer on Facebook to receive an alert when I go live!

Know thyself

by EvieBurke, posted in planning

December is generally a pretty busy time of year for people, especially personally. With the holidays, there’s lots to do and places to be.

In the past this caused a huge amount of stress for me in my business.

Why?

Because I didn’t adjust my business schedule to work FOR me.

You see, I love my time alone. I need time by myself each weekend to do things I enjoy and aren’t work related. My work week is significantly affected if I don’t do that.

And my personal rhythm is to slow down in December. I want to curl up on the couch and watch my favorite programs (my favorites are murder mysteries where there’s also light-hearted humor). I want to put old favorites on the TV and put together jigsaw puzzles (or sit in silence). I want to read something that’s been on my shelf all year.

December for me is about slowing down, taking time for myself, and reflecting. It’s also about taking days off to spend with family and celebrate.

And if I don’t adjust my schedule for these things, I will drive myself batty.

So, here are some quick tips (that I’ll elaborate on in this week’s Live Stream):

  1. What are your non-negotiables?
    For me, they’re things like family Christmas’s and recharge time.

  2. What are the one or two things that you most want to complete this week for your business? These are the things that if nothing else is accomplished, will make you feel like you moved forward this week.
    This is usually important, but this time of year it’s super important for me. It moves my business forward and gives me permission to take care of myself (or do something else) at this time of year.

  3. What can wait?
    Some things we think we should get done before the end of the year and put a huge amount of pressure on ourselves, but honestly, they’ll wait until January. Or, in some cases, we can let them go completely.

What it all comes down to is: know thyself.

What’s going to support you this holiday season?

Are you like me and slowing down or are you ramping up and going full speed? One’s not better than the other, what’s important is what works for you.

Join me here on Wed (Dec 14) at 10:30am to learn more about preparing yourself and your business for the holidays and ask your questions.

How can I possibly prioritize?

by EvieBurke, posted in procrastination, Self Care

But everything I need to do is important! How can I possibly prioritize?

How do I easily start keeping track of my to do’s when I haven’t been for a while?

I’ve read both these things over the past week in various places (or versions of them).

Let me share a story about a woman named Anne with you.

She wanted to have a successful business, be involved in organizations she believed in, and spend time with her family.

And she believed that it was super important to be super productive. How much could she get done in a day?!

She worked in her business during the day, attended various committee meetings in the evening, and spent the remaining evenings with her husband.

Anne productively drove herself right into the ground.

She started to dread going out at night to any committee meeting. And anything that needed to be done for those committees? She complained to herself all the way through it. They were cutting into her family and business time! How dare they!

But it was all so important. And they were counting on her. And she secretly felt that no one could do the job as well as she could, so it was important for her to continue – despite how frustrated she was with it all.

And it got to the point where she realized something needed to change.

So, Anne looked at everything she was doing and realized that she wanted to be doing a better job. But her heart wasn’t in it. Slowly, Anne stepped down from various committees and commitments. Keeping only the ones she was most passionate about.

Anne looked forward to the free time that would now appear in her schedule, but it never appeared. She still was super busy and everything was still important.

And she was spending more time procrastinating, and then beating herself up for procrastinating when there was so much to do! And she was so very tired.

Again, she realized something had to change – and she had a strange thought – What if instead of asking, what’s the next thing to do, she asked, what will support my productivity? And when she did that, sometimes she was surprised that the answer wasn’t the next thing on her to-do list, but getting a glass of water, going for a quick walk or meditating.

My point? Sometimes we make it so much more difficult than it has to be. We think we have to do it all and we don’t. And if we try to, we’ll end up frustrated, overworked, and oh-so-tired.

So, a quick answer to the questions we started with:

  1. But everything I need to do is important! How can I possibly prioritize?
    What on your list will bring you income? This includes tasks 2 or 3 steps away from generating income.
    What on your list has to be done in the next 24 to 48 hours?
    Tasks that meet both of those criteria are your highest priority tasks.

  2. How do I easily start keeping track of my to do’s when I haven’t been for a while?
    What are your three most important tasks to complete this week? Write those down.
    At the beginning of each day write down what your most important task is and a task to be completed after that one.
    This will keep you moving forward and making progress.
    And keep a blank piece of paper under your daily list. On that piece of paper write down things that need to be done as they pop into your head. Keep it under your daily list so you’re not looking at a long list of things to do.

These are quick ways to start to get a handle on everything we have to do.

You can watch the Live Stream I did on this topic here.