A long time ago, at the rear of an old and well established business that I was visiting, I found nailed on the back of the only toilet door, a story titled something along the lines of "My Busy Day".
It had obviously been there for sometime, as it was faded and torn around the edges, but the fact it was still there, indicated that it was probably worth reading as I went about my business.
I was very glad I did, as the message it contained has stayed with me to this day, and it is a message that I have been forever grateful to have received.
In essence it told the story of one person's day from the moment they arose until they lay down in their bed at the end of the day and reflected on what they had achieved during the day.
It went something like this;
Today I am going to plant a vegetable garden; I get up, get dressed, have breakfast and start heading out the door to go to the tool shed to get everything I need to start building the vegetable garden.
Just as I step out the door, the dog runs up to me carrying a stick in its mouth. I throw the stick for the dog to fetch and then notice that my bicycle has a flat tyre. I decide I had better fix the tyre because I might need the bicycle tomorrow.
I head back into the house to pick up my puncture kit from the laundry, and as I step into the laundry, I see that there is a load of washing that needs to be hung out to dry. As I carry the basket out to the washing line, I notice that someone has left the garden tap running, so I put down the washing and go over and turn the tap off.
As I head back to the washing line, I spot my gumboots that I have been looking for for a few days, lying under the wheel barrow. I walk over and pick them up and take them back into the laundry where they are normally live.
As I do this, I see through the laundry door that the kitchen window is wide open and I walk across the kitchen to shut it. On the way, I see yesterday's mail still sitting on the kitchen table so I stop and pick it up.
Knowing that several of the letters contain bills, I put them on my office desk and head to the bedroom to get my cheque book from my coat pocket. On the way to the bedroom, I pass the bathroom and see that the rubbish bin is full. I pick it up and head off to empty it.
On the way, I decide that I am thirsty, so I put the rubbish bin down beside the back door and head into the kitchen to get a glass of water. While pouring the glass of water, I notice that the fridge is desperately in need of a clean. I quickly drink the water and go out to the shed to get a cool box into which to unload the contents of the fridge.
I come back with the box, and as I open the fridge to get started I see some chocolate bars. As I now feel hungry, I grab a chocolate bar and decide to have a break. I go outside and sit on the bench on our front porch, whilst I eat it.
Admiring the view as I ate my chocolate bar, I tried to remember what it was that I had first set out to do today. Before I could remember, I saw the local policeman put a leaflet in my neighbour's letterbox and walk away. This reminded me that I had not returned a bowl I had borrowed from that neighbour, so I headed back into the house to get it.
As I walked down the hall, I kicked one of the kids toys which had been left lying on the floor. I picked that up and walked further down the hall and threw it in the child's bedroom and as I did I noticed they had not made their bed. I decided I should make the bed, but before I got to the bed, I saw that their was a pile of dirty washing on the floor, so I picked that up and started heading off to the laundry to wash it.
Going through the kitchen, I remembered I still hadn't shut the kitchen window, so I put the dirty laundry on the kitchen chair and walked over and shut the window. I then turned around and headed out to the laundry still trying to figure out what it was that I had set out to do today.
The rest of the day continued in a similar vein;
At the end of the day the vegetable garden did not get built, the bicycle still had a flat tyre, the washing had not been hung out, the bills had not been paid, the rubbish bin was still full, the fridge was still filthy, the neighbours bowl had not been returned, the kids bed was still unmade, the dirty washing was still dirty, and the dog was still sitting on the porch with a stick in its mouth.
Lying in bed that night, the person reflected upon their day and could not understand why absolutely nothing was achieved that day given that they were frantically busy all day.
Does this ring a bell with you? Do you regularly fail to achieve what you start the day out hoping to achieve? Are your business goals proving elusive?
The crime here is lack of focus, a key killer of any chance of real success in the business world.
As a business owner, you only have so many hours in the day, and you need to maximise your effectiveness in using each of those hours to be successful.
Learn the discipline of preparing a to do list for tomorrow as the last task you complete each day and make this list the first thing you look at each morning.
Make sure the first three items on this list are must do items, and then ensure that these are the major focus of your day. Don't go home until you have ticked off on each of these three must do items.
If you do this you will sleep far better at night and the results will be self evident very quickly.
