Discipline

How disciplined are you? This is a tough question, isn't it? I think most of us would admit that we could be more disciplined, particularly when it comes to our businesses. We typically WANT more activity and results, but we find we don't have the TIME to make those wants a reality. So when we think about our shortcomings on this topic of discipline, we usually think of it in terms of time management.

The reason it is hard to be disciplined in our use of time is often due to the tons of distractions we face. From a business standpoint, the biggest distraction of all is our personal life! Yeah, if we didn't have to eat and bathe and sleep and spend time with family and friends and recreation and church and....well, we'd have a lot more time for our business, wouldn't we? But since our business is supposed to support our life, the “distraction” of our personal life is one of those things we just can't get rid of.

Managing the distractions (personal or business) comes down to priorities and choices. We choose the things that we do, although many of our activities are guided less by conscious thought than they are by the habits we have. Still, our ability to stay on task or be distracted is our choice. And our choices should be guided by our priorities. But are they? Is it a priority to spend two hours per day on social media, or on sales followup? Is it more important for you to discuss politics with a supplier or review your financial outlook? Are you more productive making a run to the post office, or discussing performance and expectations with an employee?

For many small business owners, we often choose the distraction rather than the priority, sometimes because it's easier, sometimes more fun, and sometimes without thinking at all, just reacting to what is in front of us. So in order to improve our use of time and achieve more of the results we want from our business, we first of all have to raise our consciousness about our priorities and our choices. One way to do that is to start each day with a simple list of the most imporant thing(s) we want to do that day... and then actually DO those things. If you want to improve your discipline, improve your focus on priorities. By definition, priorities should be the most important things in your business and life. Keeping them in front of you, at the top of your mind, will improve your ability to make the choices that create the business and life you want.