Don’t keep adding stuff to your to do list. If anything, start crossing stuff off that doesn’t need to be done.
If it won’t have an impact on sales going up, profits going up, or costs going down – stop doing it.
Instead, each morning or the night before,write down the TOP 5 things you need to get done that day.
Then start working on number one until it’s done.
Then move on to number two. If you can be diligent and stay focused using this age-old method, you and your team will grow during any upswing or downturn in the economy.
And about the good ol’ 80/20 rule: We all know and accept that eighty percent of the results come from twenty percent of the work.
I like to use that as a way to focus myself. For example, if you only had two hours a day to get work done, what would you want to get done right away?Do you know what that activity might be? OK, do that, and that alone.
Imagine if for eight hours a day you just worked on those crucialtasks versus focusing on the numerous other items that seem to spring from out of nowhere each day.
Eighty percent of your results come from twenty percent of your clients – as a business coach, I always advise CEO’s to at least fire the bottom twenty percent of your clients (they’re sucking up eighty percent of your time).
Feels odd to be thinking about getting rid of some of your revenues at any time, let alone during an economic downturn, but these clients likely generate very little revenue,and perhaps even cost you money. So get rid of them.
Your bottom 20% also take up more of your time and energy too.
When cutting these bottom twenty percent clients, you can also eliminate some of the waste or overhead you have in supporting them. You’ll free up time in all areas of your business especially shipping, customer service and accounting. You’ll save time in your sales meetings by not talking about these clients.
Fire the bottom twenty percent:clients who take up time, suck up energy or don’t pay their bills. You’ll free up more time for your profitable clients and get more business from new, better ones.
Who would you rather spend time with? Your Top 5% or your Bottom 20%? Where are you spending it now?
When writing this post I was sitting in a quiet room with a fireplace up at a Whistler, BC lodge. No people, music, phones or email. Just me sitting beside a window watching the snow fall = perfect environment for me to focus and get some real quality work done.
Being a CEO and running your own business comes with a lot of pressure. It’s critical to take the time to think and be away from the distractions of the business. I coach and mentor CEO’s to find an environment to focus weekly and productivity improves. So will the quality of your work.
Strict Focus Days are helpful. Slowing down every month or quarter long enough to sit quietly and obsess about the future helps fuel more thoughtful decisions about the present and future of your business.
During these times, it’s good to think about the following:
Where in your business could you be focusing more?
Who could you be building better relationships with?
Who are your biggest clients? How could you get more business from them?
Are you taking time to really focus without the trappings of day to day life distracting you (laptop, email, phone)? If not, I strongly urge you to think about taking a Focus Day (or a few) to disconnect from the rest of the world and be alone with yourself and your thoughts.
I’ve looked at my companies metrics or KPIs every week. Back in my College Pro Painters days, we called it the “Weekly RAG” (Results At A Glance) and it was critical to the goal-setting and planning we did weekly to drive the business. If you’re not looking at a dashboard for your business weekly already, how’s that working for you?
To assist me in keeping teams and individuals focused, I’ve had one-on-one meetings each week with all my direct-reports. And I’ve ensured that they had these same one-on-one meetings with those who reported to them. At College Pro Painters, we called it GS&R: Goal Setting and Review. This simple meeting rhythm provided a ton of focus for all of us.
Fortune magazine asked me once, “How do you motivate your employees?” I said, “I don’t.” I continued, “I refuse to try to motivate people. What I want to do is try to take people who are already motivated and inspire them to do the stuff they know they have to do, and give them the systems and tools to create change. Then be there to support them.”
Help align and keep people focused who are already motivated. That’s a recipe for growth.
Are you struggling to stay on task? Do you often feel like you are jumping from here to there and back to here, only to forget where ‘here‘ was?
Good news: You’re not alone.
Bad news: If you don’t fix it, you will be alone (with a struggling business).
Tom Peters, the author of In Search of Excellence,used to say you need to be a “monomaniac with a mission.”
True leadership is saying “no” more than you say “yes”. Saying “no” will allow you to focus on one project rather than taking more on.
As a CEO coach, I always tell my clients that multi-tasking may make you feel busy, but it doesn’t drive results. It’s impossible to get real results while doing two things at once. One of the core things the CEOs I’m mentoring benefit from is me helping them say no to the big shiny objects they are attracted to starting as entrepreneurs.
A few years ago one of my mentors was telling me about a story at Starbucks. He was a Senior VP at Starbucks reporting into Howard Schultz.
Years earlier, Howard had called my mentor on his cell phone and asked ‘Why is the letter B not working on the signage at the 50th & Wallingford location’ in Seattle.
My mentor laughed out loud and responded ‘Really?, Howard is that really the question you should be asking me when you’re CEO?’
Howard frustrated replied ‘Yes, why isn’t the sign working?’ And my mentor replied ‘I don’t know. I’ll check. And I’ll get it fixed. However, if we’re really going to grow this brand our leadership team needs to ask leadership questions.’
‘Howard, instead of asking why isn’t the letter B working we need to be asking questions like this instead…’
‘I noticed the letter B on a sign at 50th & Wallingford isn’t working. What systems do we have in place to ensure that all letters, on all signs, at all locations, in all countries, are always working?’
My mentor was right.
Entrepreneurs all too often ‘Major in the Minors’ and get stuck asking questions about the details. And yes, the details matter. And the details will always get fixed. However, instead of just asking the question about something specific like a letter on a sign not working, try using the details as specific examples to ask larger more systemic questions. People don’t fail, systems do. Look deeper in the systems that need to be fixed or created.
As a business coach and mentor, I suggest that you start asking the right questions and you’ll grow your company too.
It’s really cool how they work: You post the projects or work you need done and people around the world bid on the project, offering their price to get the work done for you. They even provide references and samples for past work they’ve done. Over the last year alone, I’ve had research done by someone living in Karachi, Pakistan, for $2 an hour. I needed to get some contact info, addresses, and information related to venture capital firms and angel investors in Washington state and British Columbia. It would’ve taken me all week to do it and an employee would have cost too much when this person was thrilled to do it for $120 in total. And the output rocked.
I needed to have all of my training DVDs from speaking events transcribed so I used the transcription services of someone in Sweden for $8 an hour. I also had some media interviews that produced content I thought could be useful, so I simply emailed her the files and she typed them all up in Word for me. Many transcription firms used to charge $75-125 an hour for this. Her 20 hours of work was a little more than $125 in total.
I’ve used virtual assistants around the world to work on miscellaneous tasks for me. Even CEOs that I mentor are already starting to outsource work they used to delegate to employees. It just doesn’t make sense to delegate work to people for three to ten times what it costs us when you can outsource using services like this. As long as you’re getting the right quality out of these services, it’s worthwhile.
As a business coach, I believe the number one thing that every company can do in 2010 to be successful is focus. Pure and simple focus.
Too many employees and companies are off plan, stuck in email, wasting time in poorly planned meetings, and chasing after big shiny objects instead of getting hyper focused.
It’s about getting the critical few things done, not the important many. It’s not rocket science. Focused effort will beat everything else, hands down, every time. Prove me wrong
I coach & mentor CEOs in 5 countries. And last year I was the top rated lecturer at MIT’s Entrepreneurial Masters Program. I’m certainly not the smartest guy out there but I can get more done than almost anyone due to one thing. Focus. And when I’m not focused I’m pretty useless just like everyone else.
I have begun to really see the power of focus in the past few years of coaching and mentoring CEOs. It’s not about working five days a week. It’s not about working sixty hours a week. It is about setting goals at the start of each quarter, month, week and day to stay focused. If you stay focused and work on the critical few things, instead of the important many then you don’t need to work Fridays. If your employees were this focused you wouldn’t need to ‘hold them accountable’ or need them to come to the office Monday to Friday. It’s about the results stupid! Why are you working Fridays? Seriously…
Don’t keep adding stuff to your to do list. If anything, start crossing stuff off that doesn’t need to be done. 
