Business leaders are always looking for ways to do what they do, only better. But often, they’re crippled by their own behavior, mainly because businesses are stressful enterprises. The following are all proven ways you can enhance what you do every day.
Focus On The Important Tasks
Too often business owners run around like headless chickens, darting from one task to another. But this is killing your productivity. Stick to the tasks that are the most important and prioritize these above all else. Getting the most important tasks done first will make you more productive over the course of the day.
Improve Your Work-Start Routine
Business owners like to slip gently into their day’s work. They fetch a paper, grab a coffee, browse the internet. But all this stuff takes up time and, ultimately, waste it. What’s more, you’re a lot more productive right at the start of the day. So wasting this time is a big mistake. Don’t slob out for hours on end; get straight to work and hammer through what you need to do.
Contemplate The Challenges Ahead
For small business owners, every day brings a new challenge. Whether it’s a supplier who won’t deliver or a customer who won’t pay, it’s tough. That’s why it’s good to take a moment to prepare yourself emotionally for the day ahead. Heck, you could even do this to replace your work-start routine. That way, you’re still using your time productively.
Give Yourself Time To Read
I know I just said you shouldn’t spend so much time reading newspapers. But by reading, I don’t mean reading the news; I mean reading stuff that’s important for your business.
No business wants to get left behind. That’s why it’s important that business owners flick through the pages of an industry journal from time to time. It’s important that they have a sense of what everybody else is up to. Why reinvent the wheel when all you have to do is copy it?
Train For Business Like You’d Train For Battle
You wouldn’t go into battle without doing some training first. Yet millions of businesspeople go into business without any training at all. Sign up to a business training program, like Lean Six Sigma, and get prepared for the challenges that await in the business world. Find out where your weak points are and improve on them. And most importantly, discover how to satisfy your customers, just like a Fortune 500 company.
Learn To Control Your Stress
Stress is a big deal for those at the helm of big enterprises. But stress hides and important truth. Only the person experiencing stress creates it. Learn how to control the stress you feel. Make sure it’s only in response to situations that warrant it, like when you’re actually in danger. If it’s not, go deep and meditate. Discover your fears and overcome them.
Take On One Activity At A Time
Business owners are bombarded with new tasks every day. Some make the mistake of flipping from one to another and then back again. This is a big mistake. It causes you to waste time, and you end up falling behind. Instead, focus on one task at a time. Plan out your day and when you’ll be finished with each task. Then, get to work.
Take Small Breaks To Clear Your Mind
It’s not good for people to sit for hours in front of a screen stressing about a problem and not being able to solve it. Many business leaders think that they have to just plow through, no matter what. But this is counter-productive. Often you’ll find that if you take a break, you’ll get a random burst of inspiration. On the way to the coffee machine or the bathroom, you’ll suddenly have an idea that solves the problem you were wrestling with. Taking regular breaks can help you feel less overwhelmed and more in control of your enterprise.
Assign Tasks
Business owners know the feeling of thinking that they have to learn everything. They feel as if they have to be a jack of all trades. But the truth is that the key to success is business is delegating responsibility to others. Great business owners know their boundaries and weaknesses. And they act on this, employing the right people to do the right tasks.
Don’t Ruminate
Businesses are all about maintaining a high level of productivity and moving forward. But often, business leaders can stew, thinking about this or that. Perhaps they’re thinking about how somebody was to rude to them. Or maybe they’re worrying about a colleague who has been behaving badly recently. All this worrying gets in the way of doing your work. And it actually makes problems harder to solve.
If you find yourself stewing, do something about it. It can be as simple as squeezing a stress ball or going for a quick walk.
Make Use Of Spare Time
At certain points during the day, you’ll find yourself waiting for one thing or another. Perhaps you’ve gotten stuck on the train on the way to see a client. Or maybe you’re waiting for a colleague to deliver a presentation. But these little chunks of time are still an important resource that you can use. Remember, you don’t have to use this time to work. You can use it to relax or even listen to music.
Have Patience
Business leaders are people of action. They want to go out into the world and make profound changes. It’s just in their nature. But there’s a slight problem with the world: it’s stubborn. It doesn’t always want to do what you want it to do.
This is where patience comes in. Most businesses aren’t like Facebook. They take many years to come to fruition. But when they do, the payoff is enormous. Bide your time and be patient. If you can see that your business is on the way up, stick at it until you reach your goals.
Give Yourself Personal Pep Talks
Pep talks are all about inspiring oneself and getting motivated. But a lot of business leaders struggle to believe in their own ability to perform the task at hand. In other words, they have self-doubt – some of the time, at least. But there are also times when they feel as if they could take on any challenge thrown at them. Pep talks are great for bridging from self-doubt to self-confidence. Just remind yourself of what you’ve already achieved. The sky’s the limit.
Find New Challenges
All too often your role as a business leader becomes repetitive. You go to work and do the same things every day. And that means that you end up getting bored and depressed. But in business, there’s always a new challenge to be found. There are always potential new markets or ways to improve your product. It’s a question of driving these projects forwards and doing away with energy-draining rote tasks.
Share Your Knowledge
You might not realise it, but being a business leader has endowed you with great knowledge. This is a valuable resource that other people want access to. By sharing your knowledge, you’ll build up a vast array of contacts. And going forward, the people that you share it with will be willing to help you out in return. They’ll remember that person who helped them out and told them what it would be like.
Worry, But Only At 5 p.m.
As already discussed, worrying can be a big handicap. Some experts recommend that business leaders set aside 30 minutes of “formal worrying time.” That way, you’re able to consider problems, without it detracting from the rest of your work.
