4 Questions to Ask Before Doing Anything!
How many times have work worked you’re a** off all day. You were busy. You are tired. You are doing all of the work and are overwhelmed. Or worse, you are sitting at your desk and don’t know what to do. Staring at your computer and pushing papers around your desk. And stop lying to yourself, you do this. We all do. It is why most small businesses fail or have moderate success amounting to no more than a really hard, low paying job.
Why do we do it then? Seems stupid to do “stuff’ all day when works needs to be done. We do it because we let the tasks and the day drive us. We don’t think about why we are doing the things we are doing. They are in front of us so we do them. This is where the 4 questions come in.
Is what you are doing going to get you paid (and how)?
Crass. Yeah, a little bit. But here’s the thing, most people don’t think about what gets them paid. And getting paid is not just about making sales or presenting to prospects although this should be your number one focus. It is also marketing, customer service, branding, networking. Getting paid is business from a new client, new business from an existing client, or maintaining revenue from a current client. If you are an employee, getting paid is about knowing the results you were hired to produce on behalf of your firm
When you are about to do something, ask if and gets you and your firm paid.
Is what you are doing serving your purpose?
Business is about so much more than the transaction of selling a product or service. Your business has meaning and a group of clients it serves. If you sell solar panels, your purpose may be to get more people to put them on their homes but it may also be to educate people to make environmentally friendly choices. If you are an employee, your purpose is to do your job on behalf of your company and clients, and it may be about furthering your career and getting promoted.
Know your purpose(s) and do the things that further them
Does what you are doing need to be done by you?
We all have a lot on our plates and we get in working mode and methodically get everything done. However, this leads to that overwhelmed feeling. Asking this question can be a real game changer. Are you doing things that should be done by other members of your team? Sometimes it is your boss’s role, or your employee’s. Let them do their jobs so you can successfully do yours. If you are a 1 person shop and the answer is no, it is time to find a vendor, or partner, or software to take on this task.
Doing only the things that must be done by you will free up your time to focus on the growth and success of you and your business.
Does what you are doing need to be done AT ALL?
This is CRITICAL. Hours upon hours are wasted every year doing unnecessary work. I have heard others estimate that 20-40% of what we do, does not need to be done! This is the stuff that does not benefit you or your clients. If it just went away, no one would notice. And I am not just talking about this on a grand scale. Ask this question at the client or project level. What is necessary for one may not be necessary for another.
Stop doing time wasting stuff, do work that truly benefits you, your clients and your company.
It is my belief that life is business and business is life. If you are working yourself to exhaustion, doing unnecessary stuff, it will affect your life in a big way. I encourage you to ask yourself these 4 questions before you doing anything. You will create huge capacity for yourself and actually serve your clients better by doing less.
