I wrote a similar article a couple of years ago when I felt that making time for success was an appropriate topic for the start of a new year. However the sad truth is that as a year progresses, busy women frequently find themselves so overwhelmed by their all their commitments, that there is no time left for anything, whether that’s personal ME-time, or valuable time to identify what we really must make time for in our business in order to be successful!
Another sad truth is that no-one will simply achieve success in business by just working really hard! Your own definition of working hard might not be same as a successful entrepreneur’s idea of working hard. She may be working hard making the right strategic decisions, you may be working hard servicing and juggling your existing clients as well as doing the back office tasks, networking, lead generation, looking after sick children, older relatives as well as supervising the builders. All in a day’s work you may think and many women accomplish such a lot! But at what price?
In one of my previous blog posts I wrote about the importance of showing your business who’s boss. A person in charge of their business will happily be spending time ‘on’ the business, rather than ‘in’ the business because they tend to think further ahead than today, tomorrow or next week.
They may also find it easier to unravel the causes of overwhelm and take action accordingly. But when you’re caught in the ‘busy-ness’ trap it can be hard to know what to do first. Plus, busy women are often not good at taking time out whether for themselves or the business, unless- for whatever reason- they are forced to do so.
For some women taking time-out is the only way to take control and indeed it can have a very energising effect! It’s great when it makes you more productive afterwards but whether it helps you to be more effective in the long run, I’m not sure!
Most microenterprise owners or freelancers ARE the business- if they are not taking time-out that’s spent on the business, then they won’t be making time for success!
ME-time, or time-out for you is different from ME-time for the business and ideally you will have some of both. Spending quality time to help you identify what REALLY matters in your business can have huge benefits: a clearer direction and doing more of what works- the high impact tasks- whilst also letting go of low impact, time wasting activities.
This is an efficent as well as a proactive approach and much better than the reactive way of dealing with whatever requires attention right now- often a zillion seemingly urgent tasks.
All successful people invest time in themselves as well as in their business and this seems to be a key aspect that differentiates them from less successful people.
So as you are reading this why not schedule a Business- ME-Time slot in your diary right away?
Time is precious, it cannot be recycled, and the time you value, will equally be valued by your business!
Ute Wieczorek-King is an experienced trainer, mentor and business coach who specialises in helping busy women be more efficient, productive, visible and profitable in business. Founder of the Inner Circle Business Clubs she is also the author of “How to Write a Simple 12 Month Plan” and co-author of “From Contact to Advocate (TM)” . She has written a number of free inspirational articles for women in business. For more information please browse this blog or visit http://www.successnetwork.org.uk/articles/
*Image from Gewn.org (Georgia Executive Women’s Network)
