If you are dedicated to your business, you are probably surrounded by minutia on a daily basis.  It’s the little things that are easy to do, fun to do or provide a hideout from the more important things that must be done.  However you define it, minutia is the bane of every small business owner that struggles to grow revenues in a marketplace that has kicked the traditional forms of marketing to the curb.

Why is minutia such a detestable yet comforting area to occupy ones time?  It has to do with the feeling of overwhelm that is created when the subconscious has too many things to juggle.  Your brain is the largest, most powerful computer on the planet and its memory access is unlimited.  So when the list of tasks gets out of control, the mind takes over and begins retrieving everything associated with your list in an attempt to get you to focus on the things you need to do.  The only problem is the mind has no way to prioritize the list, so everything gets equal weight which means everything needs to be done NOW!  Feeling overwhelmed yet?

When business owners start feeling this way, the first reaction is to protect the sanity and focus on easy tasks that bring immediate reward- the minutia.  Unfortunately, focusing on the simple, probably unimportant areas f your business simply reinforces the fact that these are important to your subconscious, thereby perpetuating this cycle, over and over again.  Instead of making progress by the end of the week, the list is even longer and there’s even more important stuff to be done.

Recognize that the only way to resist the comfort of spending time on small, unimportant tasks is to actively focus on the big stuff.  And, do not assume that you must handle it all yourself.  If you are going to stay ahead of the daily operations of your business, you must learn to assign the list; either to others or to a specific time slot when you will do it.

One way to gain control over this debilitating behavior is to write down everything that needs attention.  Go ahead, make the list as long as you like.  Just record the actual task; nothing else.  Then, go back and tag every item that can or should be done by someone else.  Don’t worry if you don’t have ‘that certain someone’ to do it, tag it as such.

Next, identify all items that have to do with producing revenue.  These activities need to get the highest priority.  Everything else falls in the minutia category and should be sidelined until your top revenue producing tasks are completed.  If some of the minutia are things only you can do, set aside brief periods throughout the day (no more than 30 minutes) and knock off a few at a time.  Then get back to the heavy lifting!

Practice this technique regularly and you will train your brain to focus on the important things and resist the need to run and hide when your business starts to overwhelm you.

If you would like help identifying your best use of time in your business and the areas that will improve your performance, go to http://www.growthsourcecoaching.com/Business-Growth-Discovery-Session.html and request my complimentary 30 minute Growth Strategy Evaluation.

Originally posted 2010-04-05 09:45:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Getting things done continues to be an overwhelming challenge for most small business owners. Sometimes, the list of tasks seems to be beyond attainable and appears to have no end! It’s not that these things don’t have merit or that someone important is asking you for them, it’s just that there’s not enough time in the day- right?

Tradition Time Management Can be Detrimental to aSmall Business Owner
Time management approaches have been sout after by small business owners for decades. The whole industry reached a ground swell about 20 years ago with the advent of the Franklin planner, the Day Timer and a while host of other systems to capture the focus (and investment) of busines people everywhere. Unfortuneately, none of these systems really changed the small business owner’s ability to make better use of the time they have or get better results from the businesses they own. Why… becasue time management as a concept is an illusion! You only have so much time and it cannot be managed like others things because you can’t stop it, reserve it or allocate it to someone else. It’s the most valuable resource you have and you can’t replace what you lose or make more if you waste it.

What does work is the concept of knowing what you need to spend time on that produces the greatest return in your business. Get really clear about what you should be doing to drive revenue, attract more of your best clients and let others do the things that are not your best fit. Let me explain-

Joseph M. Juran was on to something
There’s a universal concept called the Pareto Principle. You may know it as the 80/20 rule. It was first introduced into business by business management expert- Joseph M. Juran and named after Vilfredo Pareto. Simply put, 80% of all activity, results, accomplishments, etc come from 20% of the source. If you belong to a networking group, chances are that 80% of the work is being done by 20% of the members. In the retail grocery business, 80% of a store’s volume comes from 20% of the item selection. And, in most businesses, 80% of your revenues come from 20% of your clients. Likewise, 80% of your profits come from 20% of your product or service offerings.

Juran observed that Vilfredo Perato’s principle had application in the business world as well. In just about all business situations, you can apply this principle. It’s as dependable as gravity! But what does it mean for using your time better?

It’s About Focusing on Results
In most traditional time management systems, much of the focus goes to managing your schedule. Although priority is given to tasks, the main priciple involves getting more done in a given day or week. Unless the business owner has objectively assessed where their revenue, clients and profits come from, there’s no asurance that the things you schedule are the right things for you to be engaged in. As an example, if book keeping is a low prioity task and something you are not good at, why even spend time on it. The best thing you could do is outsource it.

Look at your business and using the Pareto Principle, write down the activities that will produce 80% of the results that grow your bsuiness. If you missed ‘sales and marketing’, you should rethink your business approach. Sales and marketing are the only activities that generate revenue. Everything else (although important to some degree) is an expense. And when it comes to generating the needed sales and revenue, who will be more committed to acheiving this than you- the owner of the business.

Separate the Important from the Minutia
To get a quick handle on this issue, go back and look at your schedule for the last 2 weeks. If you have no schedule, the problem is obvious. If your schedule has only appointments with other people and there’s lots of open space, it also reveals a lack of focus on the important areas. Now, you might say, “I don’t use my calendar for everything I do”. Herein lies the problem. Read on.

Look at all the things you spent time on and the time you spent and create a list with 2 columns; one for important activities like sales, marketing, management, client visits, etc and the other column for evrything else. You’ll quickly see where most of your time goes and why you may not be getting what you want from your business. If your calendar is not detailed enough for this exercise, spend the next 2 weeks writing down everything you do in 15 minute increments. It sounds tedious, but the learning you’ll get will be a major game changer!

Take Control of The Growth Aspects of Your Buisness
Once you figure out where you spend your time, think about the things you should be focused on to acheive growth in your business. Things like evaluating who your ideal clients are and where they can found; who your best referral partners might be; what networking groups or events you need to attend; developing a compelling referral program for your current clients or creating an ad campaign that drives more traffic to your website. All of these activities lead to reveneue generation and deserve time on your calendar.

If you have employees, think about how to give them direction and let them perform with scheduled check in meetings to monitor performance. Look at things in your bsuiness that others could do (inside or outside your business) and get them off your desk. Ask yourself this question everytime you are faced with doing a task. “Who else could do this?” (and if no one knows how) follow up with “who can I train to do this?”

Whatever type of business you are involved in (solo-preneur, partnership, management, multi-divisonal organization, etc. this approach to using your time to get the most important things done is a ‘life changer’ in terms of how you look at your business the goals you want to reach.

In the end, you’ll be much happier and feel the power of getting vitaul, growth related initiatives accomplished that produce more revenue, good clients and profits for your business.