There are always going to be times in business when it’s tougher than others. Perhaps on a personal level, a financial level, a recruitment level or you’re just feeling overburdened with everything that you have going on, and all the plates to keep spinning.
When you’re in one of these places, it can be easy to react and fire fight, throwing your energy into something that’s not really going to make a difference just to feel like you’re doing something, anything, to counteract what’s going on.
Tough times can be demotivating, overwhelming and difficult to see through, and that’s when you can hit a slump in your productivity.
Take intentional action
The way out of feeling unproductive, is to do something! I know it sounds super simple, and you may well not feel like you have the headspace to do anything positive, but taking small action steps will all add up and make you feel like you’re making progress. Write that newsletter, do your bookkeeping, do those copy tweaks to your website, review your project management and tasks.
Taking intentional action on something you know needs doing, will lift your mood and tick a perhaps long standing item off your to-do list. Often when we’re feeling uninspired on the bigger vision, the small mundane things can bring great satisfaction. Set aside a distraction free hour and see how much you can get done.
Do, Delegate or Delete
While you’re thinking about everything that needs to be done, ask yourself how much of it really needs to be done, or even done at all. We get caught up in patterns of always doing something because we always have. But is it still serving a purpose? Is it still enhancing what you do? Is the outcome critical to your business activities – either for your clients, or your own business?
If the answer is yes, then the next question is, do you need to do it, or can you delegate it?
And if the answer is no, then why are you doing it at all, delete!
If it has been a while so you have reviewed the way you work, you might be surprised how much unnecessary fluff you have in your business that isn’t serving you. Let it go, and make room for you to focus on what actually matters most.
As you’re reviewing the way you work, think about the platforms and subscriptions you have. Do you really need them all? Or have you forgotten when you signed up for…(we’ve all been there!). A tightening of your outgoing can also make for a more streamlined approach to your workflows. Quite often several platforms will have the same functionality as others wrapped in in the reason you signed up in the first place.
What does matter most?
That is probably a £1,000,000 holy grail! But it is actually easier to work out than you might think. In my experience it’s a mixture of re-evaluating what you’re actually working on and how you’re spending your time, and doing what matters most to you, and less of everything else.
To really focus on what matters most to you means you’ll need blue sky clarity on your business vision, and the goals you’re working towards. Working on what matters most, twinned with intentional action is what will make the most difference to your momentum, motivation and positivity, even during periods of squeeze and unrest.
Always come back to your core vision.
Find out where you need to focus in your business to make achieving your goals easier, just click here!
