How to tell good busy from bad busy

​Make sure your “core” activities don’t include the whole apple
 
The aphorisms on this topic abound: Work smarter, not harder. It’s hard to see through the smoke of battle. Don’t spin your wheels. An apple a day keeps—no, scratch that one. But you get the idea. There is, simply, a lot of discussion about this topic because it’s important.
 
You know that already. The last thing you want to do is squander your time on non-core activities when it’s clear that your time is worth more than that.
 
But how do you define “core activities”? If you are so jammed with work that you barely have time to read this sentence, how can you be sure that you’re truly being as efficient, productive, and profitable as you can be, whether working as a solo practitioner or part of a team?
 
Take a breath. Let it out slowly. The few minutes you spend reading this article, and considering your answers to the questions it poses, won’t kill you. To the contrary. They could liberate you.
 
Let’s start with an assumption. And that’s that you are jammed. There’s not enough hours in the day. You wish you could clone yourself—yep, no shortage of clichés. (Because if the converse is true, and you’ve got too much time on your hands, check out some of our previous articles on business development.) We would argue, right off the bat, that there’s unnecessary effort in your day. Think of others who accomplish more than you. Do they have more hours in the day? Of course not. “But they have tons of assistants and staff!” you might argue.
 
Now you’re onto something. In a previous article, we’d discussed what we called “becoming Elvis.” We’d noted that when Elvis was starting out, he toted his own instruments and equipment to every gig. When he became a superstar, he was booked solid—and you know for a fact that he wasn’t exactly plugging in amplifiers. He had veritable legions of people—roadies, technicians, press agents, managers, assistants—who let him be, well, a rock star.
 
Did this happen overnight? Of course not.
 
Ahh…. Is the light beginning to dawn on you? Taking control of your time and sharpening your focus on what’s worth the most (and is probably most satisfying and enjoyable, too) needn’t be done via one single violent upheaval of your daily life. You can ease into this.
 
Consider it this way: What’s on your slate for today? If you have a calendar or to-do list, look at it. Now look at it as if you were Elvis. How much of those activities require a rock star vs. a roadie? Or even a backup singer?
 
Clearly, the lowest-level activities should be offloaded first. If you’re picking up your own lunch, and that’s taking a half-hour out of your day, have someone else do it or use a place that delivers. In a word, duh. But you’d be surprised how many seemingly higher-echelon activities can be taken off your plate without any diminishment of your value as a professional; to the contrary, you can actually elevate your stature, while saving time and driving in more business.
 
It may sound too good to be true, but it’s actually quite prosaic. Here’s a simple example: All of the stuff you’re required to write every day. That includes client briefs, text for PowerPoints, sales presentations, session pre-reads, blog posts… the list is practically endless. You can offload this work—as much or as little as you like—while maintaining your own brand voice, and having someone else sweat the details (“Oh God, should that be a comma or a semicolon?!”) and letting you bask in the glory. As we’d mentioned in a recent post, you can find this talent on the cheap, even free. Or you can invest in professional services, which should turn you a healthy ROI; if not, after all, why bother?
 
It’s easy for us to weigh in on this subject because we do it all the time. It’s our bread and butter. We do it for others (we can’t name names) and they get the glory, the increased business, and the reduced blood pressure. It’s one of those “once you try it, you’ll never go back” kind of things. Don’t believe us? Contact us today and let us show you how easy and profitable it can be to regain control of that ever-ticking clock. 

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