Better Life Habits

Simplify...and grow your business

A few weeks ago I had the chance to go to a presentation by Mark LeBlanc of Small Business Success. He was in St. Louis and did a seminar for the local chapter of the National Speakers Association. It was tremendous, and here's why.

As small business owners we can get bogged down with opportunity. If you're a small business owner you know exactly what I mean. There are dozens of ways to market, product and service expansion ideas, gobs and gobs of networking opportunities, etc. Sometimes we need to get back to business at its simplest level to make certain we're still (or starting out on) the right track.

His very small (I'm telling you, it's simple) and readable book takes you through the required steps to get your business where you want it to be. Of course, starting out by making certain you know where you want your business to be.

Mark made a powerful statement I'll not soon forget. He suggested that businesses do not fail because of lack of commitment or conviction. They fail because of lack of Clarity, Congruence and Consistency. If you want to succeed you must know precisely what you need to be doing, you must both do what you promise to do and behave the way you tell others to behave, and do the right things over and over and over.

The workshop was rich with material. And though I've been in business for eight years, acting as though I was just starting out allowed me to clear away the distractions that had crept in and take a fresh approach.

Check out his "Growing Your Business" book over on the right side of this blog, and visit his website, www.MarkLeblanc.com

To make a change in your life, start small.

And by start small I mean, break this change down into the smallest possible forward movement you can take. Too often I hear people say things like, "I want to eat healthier.", "I want to get in shape.", or "I want to get organized."

Great goals but too big and not specific enough. If you want to eat healthier, what if you just drank water instead of soda and made no other changes for awhile? It's easy to remember and is a positive step toward better eating habits.

As far as getting organized, how about deciding that you'll check e-mail only three times a day and only spend 20 minutes on it at each sitting? Or, just spend 10 minutes a day going through various stacks of paper in your office? Remember the Tortoise and the Hare?  Slow and steady wins the race!

Recognizing the difference between a brick wall, a roadblock and a speedbump.

My last post was about the difference between not knowing how to do something and knowing how to do but not how to make yourself do it. Clear as mud? If not, scroll down and read the previous post.

But sometimes the stumbling block is when you don't know how to do something. This blog is a fine example. When I first started this over a year ago I'd known about blogs for a long time, but since I'm not a techie I thought it would be too difficult. But I picked up a how-to book, set the blog up, posted once or twice...and promptly quit.

I quit for many reasons but mostly because I thought my posts had to be perfect or earth-shattering to be worthy of posting. Those expectations created a roadblock in my brain that halted all blog traffic for a full year. (Check out the dates on my posts.) Then I read a fantastic article by The Nametag Guy and started writing with newfound energy. I sure hope people find what I write helpful. If they (meaning you) do or don't, I'd sure like to know. But the perfection-induced roadblock that was there is gone for good.

There are still some speedbumps. I have all sorts of ideas about linking to articles (like the one above), other blogs, etc. and I'm not just a little stymied by that. I posted this later in the day than intended because I wasn't sure I'd know how to link to the article. A little nagging voice in my head kept telling me the process was complex. It wasn't.

Compared to what else is out there in blogworld I've gotten into the game in the fourth quarter. But I'll do my best to put interesting stuff out there that folks will find helpful. These occasional speedbumps won't turn into roadblocks.

What about brick walls? It's vital to know when you've hit one of those because you're not going to win no matter how long you keep banging your head against it. Staying with the "tech" train of thought, a brick wall for me would be creating my own website. That, my friend, is left that to the pros. In eight years I've had three or four websites created by other people. Left to do it myself, website #1 would still be in development.

Navigate around brick walls. Do what you must to tear down roadblocks. And though you may slow down for the speedbumps, keep moving forward. It's all about making steady progress.

What commitments are not negotiable?

If you're being pulled in a lot of directions with regard to how you spend your time -- and who isn't -- then you need to set boundaries to protect the activities that are most important to you.

Last week I was invited to attend a networking breakfast. And there were going to be some people there that might be very good connections for me. But Monday through Thursday I work out from 5:45 to 6:45 a.m. -- and that's not negotiable.

It wasn't always like that. Some years ago exercise was one of those things that I fit in when I could, which means I rarely fit it in. I eventually figured out that I feel better and I work better when I'm in decent shape, so now I have an exercise plan and that time is not negotiable.

It does make sense to pick a time that's likely to work for you based on the activity. I'm a morning person so that hour of the day is good for me. In addition, there are very few things that vie for that time slot. But like that networking event, things do come up. The event started at 7:30 a.m. which made it impossible for "high-maintenance me" to get there in time.

So what in your life should be non-negotiable?

• Time with your significant other or with family?
• An hour a day to make sales calls?
• Using time in the car to collect your thoughts instead of talk on the phone?
• Time set aside to pursue a hobby?
• A few hours a week to yourself?

Once you've decided what's non-negotiable you've just eliminated a decision you have to make. For that period of time you don't have to decide what you're going to do with yourself. The decision has already been made.

E-mail ain't always the best choice

E-mail can be a crutch. Yep. I'm seeing more and more that people choose e-mail to connect when the phone would be a better choice.

Think about it. With e-mail, every time you have "your side" of the conversation you have to be at the keyboard and you have to stop what you are doing to craft the e-mail. You will undoubtedly be interrupted again (and again) to read the "other person's side" of the conversation.

Here's a crazy idea. Pick up the phone! You can have the same conversation in minutes (or even seconds) and it's only one interruption in your day.

I know that choosing the phone can result in voice mails, but I hear an awful lot from people who feel bogged down in e-mail and yet rarely choose to converse ear to ear. Hmmm. Can't hurt to give the phone a try and see how it affects your ability to focus and stay on task.

Progress vs. Perfection

A few weeks ago I was scheduled to be the moderator of a sales and marketing call for GO (Get Organized) System Trainers. It was to begin at 4:00 so I blocked out my schedule starting at 3:45 so I would have time to clear my head and get focused. At 3:44 the phone rang and I picked it up. I chatted with the caller for 6 or 7 minutes and went back to work. At 4:08 my cell phone rang. I heard, "Mary. Are you going to join us?"

In that instant I got that sick feeling last felt when I was 7 and I had just broken my mom's favorite vase. How humiliating to forget about a call with a bunch of trainers who teach people how to get organized!!!

I got on the call quickly and all turned out just fine. But it reminded me of two important points.

1. I never should have picked up that phone. I had wisely blocked out the time right before to get prepared and then ignored my own good planning.
2. I always tell clients that getting organized and being more productive is about progress, not perfection. And I can't expect to be perfect either. The important thing is learning something valuable to take away (Which happened to be the point made in # 1 above) so we don't make the same mistake over and over.

If you want to learn more about GO System Training, visit my web site at www.openspaces4me.com. There are also a bunch of free articles you can access.