You’re Focussing on the Wrong Things to Get Your Business up And Running!
Are you busy doing filler stuff or are you doing what actually matters?
I am guilty of spending years focusing on the wrong things in my several businesses. I wholeheartedly thought I was doing the right thing — as it turns out, I was not. I am sharing this because you might be doing the same thing, and not getting anywhere.
Strategy is important, right? So is having a platform (read: website, SoMe, etc.). What about setting up a functional system? Doing budget calculations? and a gazillion other stuff?
Everybody who knows anything about building businesses will tell you it’s crucial to focus on the most important tasks. Obviously, right? But so many things are important, and they all need to be handled.
It’s practically impossible (or at least it was for me), to know what the most important stuff is.
I spend so much time on shit that I thought was absolutely crucial to my business. So much time that I never really managed to get to the things that truly mattered.
Even when you know what tasks are the most important, it can be a challenge to choose the right next task on a moment-by-moment basis. Sometimes the filler tasks are more in-your-face than the most important ones. Aside from sharing what the most important tasks in your business are, this article will also show you how to prioritize and choose the right task at the moment.
I’m gonna spill the beans now and explain later:
The most important stuff in your business is the thing that makes all other things possible! Nothing else matters as much!
Let me explain what I mean by the thing that makes everything else possible.
I am currently writing my first book. It’s a step-by-step guide on how to find your purpose and passion, aimed at people searching for more in life and work. I want this book to help a lot of people — because I know my method works and I can change a lot of people's lives. Therefore I need to get it in front of as many people as possible. This is going to take a lot of work since I don’t have a large audience at my disposal.
I obviously need to write the book, make it good, design it, have a website, a SoMe presence, market the book, build an audience, do collabs, be a guest on podcasts/blogs/youtube videos, etc. IT’s A LOT.
But, before all the other stuff is possible — the book needs to be written. So writing the book is my #1 priority.
If you are starting a podcast, recording episodes is your most important thing.
If you are creating an online course, the production of the course is the most important thing, first the content, then the set-up, etc.
Gary Keller is talking about something similar in his book “The ONE Thing”. He writes:
“Whats the ONE Thing I can do, such by doing it, everything else will be easier, or unnecessary?” — Gary Keller
I put a different spin on it though:
“Whats the ONE Thing I can do, such by doing it, everything else will be possible?” — Yours truly
Ask yourself what it is you want to do or sell in your business? Is the product done? If not, then that is the most important task. If your product is something that is never done, like a podcast or writing on Medium, then producing podcast episodes or blog posts will ALWAYS be your most important task.
If the product is done, then your most important task is the thing that will sell the product to most people. That might be creating a website, doing SEO, sharing on SoMe, or whatever else that makes sense in your business. When the task is done (if it is a type of task that can be finished), then ask the question again. Creating a website is something that can be finished (but does need updates once in a while), but sharing on SoMe is never done.
Comparing your business or project to a bus gives you a clear picture of how to prioritize.
Your most important task will always be the engine, all the other tasks are windows, seats, and wheels.
Your bus can get from A to B without windows, but cannot without an engine. Find your engine, and you have your most important task.
The Priority List
Writing the book is my most important task, however, I cannot spend all my time writing it. Sometimes the motivation isn’t there, sometimes the energy, sometimes I only have a little time to do a task. I would go bonkers if I spend 8 hours a day writing. So, I need to do other stuff as well. Therefore I have created a priority list.
It looks like this:
#1 Write book
#2 Create Medium posts
#3 Share on SoMe
#4 Other stuff
I highly recommend you to make your own priority list (I also made one for my private life, I love that I can look at it and it helps me to decide what I am going to do next)
Prioritizing on a moment-to-moment basis
A few years back I read David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” — loved it, but never managed to implement it properly. I re-read it a few months back. A tiny part of the book is dedicated to “how to prioritize”, and I find this section of the book super helpful. Here is how he suggests you prioritize what to do next:
- Context (do you need your PC to do it vs. do you have your PC now?)
- Time (how much time you have available to do the task vs. how long the task takes)
- Energy (How much energy you currently have at your disposal vs. how much energy the task demands)
- Priority (How important the task are)
I love it — BUT I wanna switch it around. I believe that “priority” gets lost too easily if it’s placed so far down the list. I suggest this order instead:
- Priority
- Context
- Time
- Energy
Let me show you how to do it in practice:
- Priority: Look at your priority list in chronological order (1: Write book, 2: write medium, 3: Share on SoMe, 4: Other stuff)
- Context: What CAN I do with the things a have available right now? If I don't have my computer I cannot write the book or a medium post — I don’t like writing on my phone. So, SoMe and other stuff is left.
- Time: Do I have 3 hours or only 15 minutes? I want to maximize my time, so if I have 3 hours I don't want to do a hundred 5-minute tasks. On the other hand, I don't want to do only 15 minutes of a 5-hour task. So I choose a task that roughly fits into the timeframe available. Let's say I have 45 minutes at my disposal. I can spend 5 minutes on a SoMe post and 40 minutes on researching how to do Amazon PPC ads. Or 45 minutes creating SoMe content and scheduling it, if that's how I do my Socials.
- Energy: If I have my PC a few hours available but NO energy, I am NOT going to write my book. I might have energy for a medium post, or maybe just for watering plants and watching Netflix.
Why do we get derailed so easily?
Creating a business or doing a major project involves a lot of emotions. It impacts our self-esteem and it's scary. Doing the “easier” stuff — the filler stuff is less daunting. For a lot of people, myself included, planning, doing research, and learning new stuff is more exciting and fun than actually DOING it.
We, humans, are engineered to avoid unpleasantry, and that is what we do when we focus on the less important stuff. The most important stuff often feels unpleasant, scary, or downright anxiety-inducing. The important stuff is the thing that makes or breaks us, and the risk of breaking is too scary to expose ourselves to.
When starting a business or a major project there is so much stuff to do, the sheer amount of to-dos can easily overwhelm. This can cause you to spend too much time on planning and strategizing because the act of doing seems too daunting and scary (for the same reasons as mentioned above).
If you only get one thing (or two) from this article, get this:
#1: You can only have ONE main focus at a time, and that focus is the thing that makes all other things possible.
#2: That ONE thing is what must have your #1 focus and be your #1 priority
I hope you enjoyed this article. I love to connect and talk to people reading my stuff, so please add a comment or reach out :-)
Loving Life, Living Life
Sincerely, Maria
