Are You a Slave to your Business?

One of the perceived, toughest tasks for any business owner, is to find enough hours in the day to achieve even half of what needs to be done every day, to ensure that their business survives and grows to a point where they see a good return on the time, effort, and money invested.

I disagree with this common perception as I find that, as a general rule, if a business it is going to achieve success in the long run, it is more likely to do so if  the owner does not personally put in any more than 50 to 55 hours per week on a continual basis, once the initial business startup phase is over.

In my considered opinion, consistently working more hours than this per week, especially with the pressures that most business owners work under, will not only lead to reduced personal effectiveness, but will more than likely also have adverse effects on the health, general wellbeing, and most importantly, the personal relationships of the business owner.

Often, much of the time a business owner spends working in or on their business, becomes unproductive time for a whole host of reasons, but a key one being the old adage that the more time available, the longer required tasks will take to complete.

The key to striking the right balance between the time allocated to the business and time allocated to ensuring that physically, intellectually, and emotionally you are as fit as possible to be super productive when working, is to first set a limit on the average number of hours per week, you will devote to your business, over any given period in the future.

Once you have determined the maximum number of hours per week you will allocate to working in and on the business, you need work out how you will then complete all the tasks you usually need to complete each week, in the reduced time frame.

There is a real art in determining the amount of time you should allocate to each specific task, but if you start by looking at how long it currently takes you, and halving that due to the fact that you will be more focussed, more energetic and more determined to complete it in a specific time, you will have a good starting point.

The next step is a simple one, but requires a good self knowledge as to your own capabilities at various times of the day, and on different days of the week. What you need to do is break the week up into the number of timeslots necessary, which may be of different durations, to complete all of the tasks you need to complete for the week.

A couple of good tips are firstly, to set aside either one or two timeslots each day to deal with incoming e-mails and other correspondence and leave them alone at all other times, and secondly, when dealing with the key tasks requiring the most concentration have a “do not disturb under pain of death policy” to stop phone calls, staff, visitors and anything other than dire emergencies, from stopping the flow of your concentration.

The final thing you should do as part of this process, is identify whether or not some of the tasks you are allocating to yourself, are really the best use of your time, and/or could be better performed by someone else, with a lower skill set than your own.

If you are serious about assisting your business to become a long term success, take action now to reduce your hours, and you and your business will reap the long term benefits. The simple process above, if implemented effectively, should shave a minimum of 15 hours per week off the time you currently put into your business, without any negative effect whatsoever.

Do you want to continue to be a time slave to your business?

Would you achieve more in less time if you were more focused, more energetic and more determined?

How will you celebrate seeing the light and limiting your time input to no more than 50 to 55 hours per week?

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