Are you making the best use of your time?
Last week, I asked you to remind yourself why you started your business and to consider how productive your actions are towards that intention. I am curious to know how you got on.
When we set any goal and actively work towards that we can often get distracted by something brighter, more fun or less challenging. We can sometimes get overwhelmed with our goals (usually when it’s too detailed – but more on this next week) and decide to just go with the flow.
Going with the flow is OK if you’re not bothered about where you ‘end up’ but not so if you are unhappy about that. However, when setting any intention we do have to recognise that we may not be in full control of that coming to fruition. We may rely on customers buying our products or coming to us for our services. We may rely on our partners, colleagues or others for support. This is when accepting and going with the flow is useful. We have to accept that our goal in its perfect imagined state might not just happen as we want it to. But it’s not OK when we get stuck in going with the flow and forget about the original intention all together…
Our society talks about wake up calls. Those may be moments when someone we care about gets ill or dies, or we ourselves are diagnosed with a serious illness. However a wake up call can be less traumatic, but still painful, when we just simply wake up one day and realise life has past us by.
As I was heading to see Blade Runner 2049 last night (its ok you can read on, there are no spoilers!), Margaret was asking me about the original one. I summed up very briskly by saying that the androids had come back to earth to ask their creator for more time. I think we can all relate to that!
You may recall, I shared a blog a year ago when my gran, aged 90, quietly said to me “I want more time.” When I asked her what she would do with it she replied ”I want to spend it with you and get to know you more”. (You can read the full blog here)
We all want more time. The sad news is that we only have a finite amount of time; 24hrs a day, 168hrs a week, 8760 hrs a year. We all think we have enough, regardless of our age but sadly, in any moment, that can be taken from us.
The Bank of England’s definition of productivity is the measurement of a output in reference to a unit of labour. What is your definition?
My definition of productivity is achieving the thing that brings me joy, whatever that may be. I assess my productivity (what I want) on how kind I am to my mind & body, how much fun I am having (and my version of fun differs from others), how present I am with my environment & those I love and whether I am respecting my finances and being grateful for everything else I have in my life.
My business helps supports that by allowing me to earn money whilst I do the things I love and gives me the flexibility to do them in a way that fits in with the way I like to work and gives me quality time to see my family & friends. I still have to manage my time, be focused on challenging tasks and say no to ‘bright shiny objects’ in order for this to happen but so long as my business is helping me to achieve this and assisting me in inspiring others to do the same, then I feel it (my business) has achieved my goal.
Being busy is not always productive and being productive is not always about being busy.
What do you want from your life? Furthermore, how will your business support that and what specifically do you want your business to achieve? Remember keep it simple (see last week’s blog).
Feel free to share with me privately or below. The more we say what our intentions are the more we remind ourselves, it’s one of the reasons I blog! 😉
Love Helen x
Accountant & Author of Successful Business Minds and 12 Steps to Improve Your Cashflow.
© HM Coaching Ltd
