Read This If You Have Lots Of Ideas
Maybe you've heard this before, but maybe you haven't.
Ideas aren't really useful.
By themselves, they don't do anything.
It's the executing of the idea that helps people and is valuable.
So, stop looking for ideas.
Look for actionable insights.
2 Minute Action:
It helps if you know what to do and when to do it.
It also helps if you have someone in your life who can keep you accountable.
Take an idea you had recently and make it actionable.
Decide, in the next 2 minutes, what first step you're going to take, when you will do it, and who you will call to ask to keep you accountable.
You've got this.
We're all counting on you.
Read This If You Aren't Doing Enough
This is where I start to say things like "don't do more, do less!"
And, "focus on what's important, not just what's urgent!"
Sure. That's true.
But how do you know?
Here's a question you can ask yourself if you're not sure where to put your time or energy when every task is screaming your name:
"What would happen if it didn't get done?"
So simple. So not easy.
I've talked with so many small businesses and non-profits who are absolutely strapped for resources. Somehow, they think they need a custom logo, beautiful website, LinkedIn ads, and all these other things that might not be giving them the one thing they truly need: paying customers.
That's right folks. You heard it here.
You only need one thing to have a successful business and I'll say it again: paying customers.
Sure, there are plenty of companies that have huge ad-spends and beautiful websites and in-office chefs who cook snacks and lunches and dinners for the team and all that.
But you know what?
There are plenty of businesses that are doing just fine without it because they are focused on what matters to them.
Joe's Crab Shack is never going to spend money on a conventional TV ad because that doesn't matter to them. They have their ad on the local diner's menu and in the Jersey Shore guidebook for tourists and that's enough!
There are plenty of businesses just like Joe's Crab Shack.
When I meet up with an old friend with a new business idea and I ask how it's going, they often go into a long list of things they're working on:
"Oh, we're so busy it's crazy! I am wrapping up our logo design, we just bought the domain name, I have a web designer coming in on Tuesday, and we are going to be looking at office space to rent next week."
None of those things matter unless they are getting you more paying customers and when you're small or just starting out, the answer is "they're usually not."
2 Minute Action
Take a look through your to-do list and see if you can find an ROI on your work.
But Chris, the website I'm building lets people know I'm legit and can execute.
Do you know what else does that?
Here's a short list:
- Referrals.
- Testimonials.
- Customer success stories.
- Pictures from your portfolio.
All of these things can be attached in an email, which costs $0.
Chances are there is a cheaper, easier, faster way to get what you want. It's up to you to challenge yourself and find a cost/resource-effective solution.
So, ask yourself: "What would happen if I had to do this without a website?"
What would you do?
Start with that and test your assumption.
Building a website is the easy part.
Talking to customers is scary and harder.
Work on the hard stuff and I promise you'll do fine.
If your business doesn't have a hard part then you probably don't have a business.
Read This If You Do One Thing At A Time
Those of you who have been readers for the past couple years know my feelings about "multi-tasking."
There is plenty of evidence that doing multiple things at once means you don't do any of them well. That's fine if the tasks are small and the consequences of failure are low-risk.
You might not need to hit 6-Sigma level industry standards if you're just folding pizza boxes or sealing envelopes.
For everything else, though, it's usually worth it to just focus on one thing at a time.
But that's not good enough!
I want to do all the things!
I want to be productive while I sleep!
Me too.
So, how do we do multiple things at once, without actually doing multiple things at once?
Okay, brace yourselves for this super boring, unsexy, nerd answer:
Do stuff that compounds or does double-duty for you.
Yep.
Building tools and systems are one way to achieve this.
They allow us to apply the same effort and get way better leverage.
The bicycle is a perfect example. A bicycle might take days or weeks to make--or it might take a chunk of cash to buy--but once you've got one, you can move literally 3 - 10 times faster than pedestrians.
Same effort. Way better output.
Make your work do double-duty.
The next level is thinking about how you can then turn that same energy you're putting into the bicycle into something else that's useful to you, like exercise, or eliminating your carbon emissions.
Now you're not only going faster, but you're increasing your heart rate and burning carbohydrates, not hydrocarbons! Cool!
- If you're a marketer, this might mean taking that YouTube interview you did and turning it into a podcast or quick checklist for your audience.
- If you're a teacher, this might mean using your garden to teach biology, chemistry, and cooking skills in the same lesson.
- If you're a software engineer, this might mean using code you've already built and either refactoring it to use less CPU or just updating some parameters to make it solve a new problem.
Multi-tasking is out.
Single-tasking on work that does double-duty is in!
If you keep chasing more work I promise that's what you'll get.
But if you look for more ways to put the wind at your back you'll get more done and you'll still have time left over.
Prefer to work on things that provide multiple benefits.
2 Minute Action:
Check-in with your partner, co-founder, teammate, or your own personal to-do list.
Look at all the work you're doing and call out some areas of focus (marketing, operations, finance).
Create a Venn diagram, triangle, or whatever you need to create to visualize the overlap between those areas of focus.
You might not magically come up with ideas immediately and that's okay, but put a post-it note or reminder of this diagram somewhere you'll see it.
I've found that when the question keeps knocking on my door, I start to see answers in my day-to-day that I might not have seen before.