“I just don’t have time.”
That is a phrase that all of us seem to use
automatically. It’s so common that when
we hear it, we never challenge it.
Rather, we nod knowingly, as though this is the pinnacle of all excuses,
and it can’t be challenged. Another
popular alternative is the phrase, “I will do <blank> just as soon as I
get caught up.” In other words… never.
Making progress in our businesses is often held up by this
seeming lack of time. I think that one
of the reasons we allow ourselves these excuses is that we are looking to reach
our goal in one step, or as few steps as possible. We want the time to put a big initiative into
place so that our businesses leap forward in conjunction with the big thing we
have done. For example, when we have
time we’ll…
- Clean up our workspaces so that our whole team becomes more efficient.
- Put together our business plan, or strategic plan, or budget.
- Initiate the new product line.
- Start calling on a new customer base.
- Invest in the software the employees have been asking for.
- Teach our employees to do some of the work we take on ourselves.
- Lead our team and our businesses the way we imagined when we started the business.
- And many more big, potential initiatives. Add your own here: ______________________
But of course, the amount of time and effort needed seldom
comes our way because we are so wrapped up in the day-to-day work of our
business that we see no “free time” in our future.
Rather than looking for the big chunk of time to work on
important initiatives, I prefer to encourage baby steps. Maybe it is too hard to find a large block of
time, but it’s not really hard to find or plan for small pieces of time. We do it all the time in our life, fitting in
our kids’ soccer game, the Chamber networking event, the sales webinar, or the
meeting with the Yellow Pages rep. (Now
there’s a chunk of time you could save!)
So my advice is to break down those big initiatives into
small steps. Let’s take the example of
cleaning up our work space, maybe our production area. Break it down into small steps.- Have a 30 minute meeting to gather employee ideas of the easiest areas to attach.
- Agree on one small, specific area to clean and organize.
- Have a 20 minute stand-up meeting with the appropriate employees to agree how it will be done. Set a goal for completion.
- Clean the area in one or more steps.
- High fives and pats on the back for a job well done.
- Repeat.
That’s it. Just think
if you cleaned one small area in your shop every week. By the end of the year you’d have 50 areas
cleaned and organized. Your shop would
be more efficient. Your employees would
be more motivated. You will have
accomplished the “big initiative” you’ve been delaying for the last three
years. And you’ll be ready to tackle the
next one.
Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Break down your projects into baby steps and
take those steps one at a time. And if
you still feel you need a little accountability to get moving, ask a business
coach for some help. You’ll accomplish
big things.
