As entrepreneurs, small business owners and leaders, most of us struggle with a pervasive and deep sense of urgency – that is, time panic and the resulting wild rushing around that manifests itself in our work like ADHD races the thoughts in our head!
Due to the fact that many entrepreneurs are their entire staff, or alternately have the responsibility of leading their entire staff, high pressure and workload abound – only perpetuating the reality of “the race”. And with the tremendous benefits of technology, comes the call for (expectation of) immediate responsiveness.
In addition to the obvious impact of excessive stress, we find that the time panic and constant rush takes a toll in several ways. It’s most commonly seen as lack of focus, which not only impacts productivity but also contributes to more accidents and errors. Lack of focus is flitting around from one issue/project to another without taking the time to adequately complete what you started. It also negatively impacts relationships. Witness: inability to be present, listen to and thoughtfully respond to others. And it doesn’t matter why: whether managing competing priorities, doing multiple projects at a time, checking email or answering a call on your cell phone while you are talking to an employee, client or customer…What you think is a drive to efficiency and productivity, is really a prescription for not getting work done and annoying those around you. None of which is good for you or your business.
While periods of high pace, “hot” days or weeks, are perfectly normal and should be anticipated, pervasive exposure without mitigation can be very destructive to both the individual and their business. Entrepreneurs need to expect and plan for “pressure management” to effectively navigate these times in business. As well, they need to regularly and aggressively plan for, keep close in front of them (and articulate well to their team) the key priorities that drive results verses getting lost in the day-to-day weeds and inherent distractions that inevitably arise. And yes, this is about vision, values and guiding principles. Without them, it’s like trying to find your way out of a forest without a compass.
In this week’s Quick Tips we will provide ideas on how to focus your time and efforts to not only improve your personal efficiency, but also your business success.
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