{"id":355,"date":"2013-03-05T09:27:53","date_gmt":"2013-03-05T09:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karrihill.com\/rich\/?p=36"},"modified":"2023-06-19T13:09:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T17:09:25","slug":"the-right-activity-leads-to-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/the-right-activity-leads-to-results\/","title":{"rendered":"The Right Activity Leads To Results"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Like many folks in business today, I am pulled in multiple directions, subject to the whim of others in my personal and professional circles. \u00a0When in the midst of&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Launching a new business venture and setting up the proper legal and operational structures<\/li>\n<li>Prospecting for new clients<\/li>\n<li>Delivering to existing clients<\/li>\n<li>Helping elderly parents<\/li>\n<li>Working out to improve health<\/li>\n<li>Advising the children<\/li>\n<li>Doing taxes<\/li>\n<li>Nurturing relationships with the important people in my life<\/li>\n<li>Spending time on hobbies to help stay sane<\/li>\n<li>Eating, breathing, and sleeping<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>&#8230;and hundreds of other things, there is never enough time to get to it all. \u00a0If not watched, I \u00a0end up feeling frustrated \u00a0by not being able to do all the things I \u00a0think I need to do.<\/div>\n<div>\nFeeling bad about one&#8217;s own efforts is not the &#8220;secret sauce&#8221; in the recipe for success!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/richgrunenwald.blogspot.com\/2013\/01\/why-we-miss-simple-things.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a previous post<\/a>, I discussed ways to focus on activities that will get the results we want to achieve. Recent observations tell me we still struggle with &#8220;what should I do today&#8221; and managing our schedule. I find this particularly acute with established professionals.<\/div>\n<div>\nMany of us achieved success in our professions through our abilities to multi-task and quickly produce\u00a0deliverables\u00a0and responses. \u00a0We were \u00a0rewarded for this behavior, through promotions, formal recognition, and increased compensation, and thus conditioned ourselves to continually &#8220;do more&#8221; and &#8220;work harder&#8221;. We pride ourselves in our ability and effectiveness in serving others.<\/p>\n<p>Then, when we can no longer perform at or raise our personal maximum capacity, we start to skip steps, or take risks we shouldn&#8217;t. Perhaps self doubt creeps in. Maybe we start to ignore some things we shouldn&#8217;t, like personal health and family relationships and activities. \u00a0We become disenchanted with our personal effectiveness, and the inability to do all of what seemed so easy in the past.<\/p>\n<div>\nAs a &#8220;one man show&#8221; with my business, I \u00a0rapidly realized that to be a viable, ongoing entity, I needed to spend as much time as possible in revenue generating activities. \u00a0If I spend an hour in email \u00a0hell or in research on operational issue, that is an hour I am not putting my smiling face in front of a client. My chances of surviving the first year decrease proportionately.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>To this end, I look at everything I do every day, sometimes a couple times a day I print my electronic calendar out and carry it with me, adjusting on the fly. \u00a0From \u00a0day to day perspective, I start the day by planning the day almost hour by hour and sometimes in 15 minute blocks. I purposely pull myself away from my PC, and check email during schedule gaps. I block out time for prospecting, client follow up, and whatever else leads directly to revenue generation.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Similarly, from a macro sense, I look to outsource or get others to do that which takes my time away from revenue generation. \u00a0For example, I&#8217;ve recently found a firm that has comprehensive services for handling my &#8220;back office&#8221; functions (payrolling, invoicing, W2 employee administration, etc.). \u00a0I&#8217;ve found solutions to handle all sorts of operational issues that are very cost effective manner, even for an organically financed start-up like mine.<\/p>\n<p>It is a very simple &#8220;rule of thumb&#8221;: if it doesn&#8217;t produce revenue, don&#8217;t do it, do it later, or get somebody else to do it.<\/p>\n<p>Do I stick to a rigid, outlined schedule every day? No. Stuff happens that can&#8217;t be ignored. But, these &#8220;crises&#8221; can be managed so as to minimize impact on the right\u00a0activities that will lead to success. And, you&#8217;ll find most of these interruptions don&#8217;t require an immediate response.<\/p>\n<p>By planning my day to a detail level, it reinforces my true priorities, and gets me focused on what I should be doing, and not simply what others of demanding of me.<\/p>\n<p>Identify the &#8220;revenue&#8221; in your professional and personal life, and\u00a0plan accordingly. If you don&#8217;t plan your schedule,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/avoiding-the-tyranny-of-the-urgent.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">somebody will plan it for you<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like many folks in business today, I am pulled in multiple directions, subject to the whim of others in my personal and professional circles. \u00a0When in the midst of&#8230; Launching a new business venture and setting up the proper legal and operational structures Prospecting for new clients Delivering to existing clients Helping elderly parents Working [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acsconsults.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}