3 Ways to Get More Done

If you’ve had a moment of “how the heck is it already JULY?!” recently then you know how quickly the year is passing us by. Mid-year is typically the perfect time to take a look at your goals for the year and determine if you’re ahead of schedule, on track or way behind.

And, if you’re struggling because you have too many projects and too little time then I have 3 easy ways to get more done without sacrificing quality.

Strategy #1 – Say No to Something Today.

Too often we get caught up in the “should dos” and obligatory bullshit that is, frankly, a waste of time and energy. So look at your projects and cut something out. Maybe it’s the radio show that doesn’t actually bring you clients anymore, the networking group that is just a gossip magnet or the underpaying client who always has the most questions.

Even if you’ve made a commitment there is usually a way to honorably bow out to reclaim your time. Because it’s not just the time you spent on unworthy projects that’s the problem, it’s the mental energy you expend worrying, planning, thinking about this thing which doesn’t actually bring you much value in return.

If anything you’re going to ensure higher quality for the project you do give your time to and isn’t it better to stop half-assing it and whole-ass one thing?

Strategy #2 – Stop throwing away hard work

I am so sick of entrepreneurs thinking that there is no middle ground between stale, 20 year old content and re-doing everything in your business every 3 months.

Guess what? That opt-in you built is probably still really helpful and powerful even if the software you talk about has changed slightly. Those graphics you made? Still convey the point even if you have a new “favorite” font and want to re-do them all. The bio you wrote, that photoshoot you did, the package you created, landing page you wrote or workshop you built is not useless just because it’s a few months or *gasp* a year old.

Want to know why some entrepreneurs seem to thrive and grow leaps and bounds over their colleagues? They stop re-inventing and optimize.

So instead of building a brand new thing take what you’ve already made a tweak it already. (Hint: if you have an organized business it’s so much easier to find the drafts, templates and first run of resources instead of starting from scratch.)

Strategy #3 – Get out of your head

Last week I talked to 40 entrepreneurs about their goals for Q3 of 2017 and do you want to know what most of them do when we talk about action steps? They begin to tell me their mental list of all the things that need to be done.

Try it yourself by asking any busy parent what they’re working on this week. You’ll hear that kiddo #1 has a dentist appointment and they’ve got to drop off vaccination papers for the dog, oh and the plumber is coming over to replace a broken faucet, then they really should book that upcoming hotel for so-and-so’s wedding, did spouse forget milk at the grocery store? Need to get that done and so on and so on.

This running mental list of all the things you need to do in your business is an energy vampire sucking the life from your blood. 

It’s exhausting and instead of being able to focus on the big, audacious and challenging goals you set for yourself you’re trying to remember if you paid that invoice or need to call pest control.

Get everything OUT of your head and written down today. The easiest way to do this is to grab a pack of notecards or a ream of printer paper and write until you cannot think of anything else. I sort these into 2 piles: business and personal. Later on I’ll add these tasks and projects and to dos to my calendar or Asana for tracking but I do not trust my memory to track everything I need to do. 

In the end we all have the same amount of time today, this week, month and year. I know it’s not feasible for every entrepreneur to hire a team and I’m not going to suggest you stop sleeping or spending time with family. It’s time to work more strategically to make time for what matters. 

Share with me in the comments below 1 thing that you can say no to, something that’s “good enough” and doesn’t need a re-do or how you’re going to brain dump all the to dos in your mind.