When you are first starting out there are a lot of details that you will need to make sure are handled. Having the ability to focus on these details can mean a lot more control over the success or failure of your business. It can also mean avoiding that feeling of failure that not taking care of the details will lead to.
This is true even if you have the best business or product idea ever. Whether you’re a new start-up or an experienced entrepreneur, chances are the excitement of the idea is going to wane in a few weeks or months, leaving you with a problem of focus. When the going gets tedious, follow these five strategies to increase your entrepreneurial focus and push on toward success.
Stop When You Reach Your Goals For The Day
One thing guaranteed to derail focus is too much focus. Many entrepreneurs continue working even after the goals for the day are met. Why not use that “free” time to get ahead on tomorrow? There will always be a tomorrow to get ahead on, though, and never taking some time for yourself can result in burnout. Instead of working past goal achievement, consider evaluating your day.
- Did you really complete all the work you set out to do?
- Is there an urgent and unplanned matter that needs your attention?
- Would working extra now save you stress in the near future by helping you to meet a deadline?
Let those questions decide whether you continue working or take time for relaxation, relationship, fun or finding out why you need a business plan.
Plan for Bad Days
Even Superman has a kryptonite-laden off day. When you hit a bad day, don’t throw in the towel and return to bed. Work through the distractions, stress, boredom, or don’t wannas. Don’t beat yourself up over not meeting goals or getting less done than normal. If you’ve planned ahead, worked extra on productive days to meet upcoming deadlines, and scheduled make up time on a weekly basis, you can recover from a slow day with no problem.
Social Media Blackouts
Create social media blackouts during every day or week to cut down on distractions.
- Select a range of time and frequency. You might avoid all social media from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. every day or log out of accounts all day on Wednesday.
- Let friends, family, and coworkers know in advance; you won’t have to worry about hurt feelings, unseen messages, or emergencies. Everyone will know to contact you via a different method for important matters.
- Follow through with your planned outage, no matter how much you want to check in.
Understand Your Productivity Schedule
Knowing when you’re most productive helps you schedule tasks appropriately. If you tend to get more done mid-morning, then schedule your most challenging tasks before lunch to ensure you have the right amount of focus. Save easier or more pleasant work for the afternoon, when your focus is waning.
To define your peak productivity times:
- Keep detailed track of your work for a week or two.
- Review your lists to see what times of day you get more done.
- Try scheduling around those times, slotting complex tasks into productive hours.
- Evaluate your progress and tweak as necessary.
Delegate to Increase Focus Where It Matters
If you’re spending all your time focusing on work that could be done better by someone else or detracts from important items on your to-do list, then your focus is not doing much good. When possible, delegate tasks to those who are better qualified to handle them; you should also remove tasks from your list when it doesn’t make sense for you to do them. A business owner shouldn’t be making widgets—he should be developing new plans,creating an internet company, marketing, and overseeing plans to sell widgets.
Implementing These Tips
Applying these tips in a vacuum won’t do you much good—they aren’t right for every situation, and it helps to know when the tips won’t work or how to handle stumbling blocks. If you’re running into the situation in the first tip on a regular basis, then knocking off for the day may not be an option. If you’re meeting all your daily goals with two hours to spare on most days, then you aren’t planning correctly. Reevaluate your goals and scheduling—you’re estimating too much time on something. Edit your schedule accordingly to make the most of your time—you want to create a schedule that allows for an early finish once every week or two.
Blacking out social media doesn’t do any good if Facebook or Twitter isn’t your distraction of choice. Switch the blackout to whatever tends to get in the way of your focus and productivity, whether it’s games, socializing, or getting up to grab a cup of coffee every hour.
Delegating only increases your focus if you delegate correctly—giving tasks to unqualified individuals usually results in numerous questions directed at you or worry on your part that the task won’t be completed correctly. Surround yourself with capable people and delegate according to experience, skills, and willingness to work.
Benefits of Increasing Focus
By increasing your focus, you’ll enhance your ability to work longer hours and get more done whenever you’re working. You’ll also reduce stress associated with procrastination and distraction and do a better job at every task you tackle. Clients will appreciate your eye to detail and polished work, which could result in increased business and higher revenues.
Click Here to discover how to painlessly focus your efforts to create a business plan for your online business.
