Where Does All The Time Go?
Where Does All The Time Go?
I was recently thinking about the way I organize my time. This is crucial when you are running a business, writing articles for publication, developing regular blogs, recording a couple of videos each month and completing occasional speaking engagements, as I currently am.
While this may be required to keep myself on track each month, I believe it is equally important for anyone who is interested in achieving more in life.
One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received came from my Business Coach Dan Sullivan of the Strategic Coach organization. He advises that we designate our days as “Free, Focus & Buffer” days, and while Dan coaches only entrepreneurs, I believe the three-day model can be useful for anyone.
The Free Days are useful for maintaining Family relationships, vacations & fun activities and include no work. Focus Days are days when you truly concentrate on the business (or work) activities that help you bring in revenue. Finally, Buffer Days are preparation days where you pull things together for your Focus Days. Once again, while these were designated for entrepreneurs, I believe they are also useful for those who work for someone else.
I wanted to outline this concept for you, so you understand the overall design of my days. However, my ultimate objective is larger than just that. One of the things I have learned while operating my own business these past 26 years is just this: If you don’t plan to take these “Free Days,” they probably won’t happen…
That is a problem. However, there is a solution, and right now is an excellent time to implement it. At the start of each year, I mark all my planned “Free Days” on my calendar before the year begins. Now, I have the days marked off so I cannot book business related activities on those days. Now, in all fairness, sometimes for an emergency, I must change when a “Free Day” may occur. However, I will still get it on another day that week.
The most crucial point is this. As the saying goes, “People don’t plan to fail. They simply fail to plan.” I hope I have convinced you of the importance of completing this task, particularly at the beginning of each year, before other “stuff happens…”
Why wait? Please go mark your calendar today! Wishing you the best of success in the coming year!
“If you measure something, you can understand it. If you understand it, you can control it, and if you can control it, you can improve it.” The same holds true in your monthly budgeting.
The reality is that it is nearly impossible to complete & follow a monthly budget without improving your overall financial position. There are several reasons for this, so I would challenge you to do this.
First, just developing a budget for yourself will raise your awareness of what you have for revenue or income sources and then also boost your cognizance of how much you are spending each month. Next, you will come to grips with the reality of one of three facts. Either you need to boost your income sources, reduce your outgoing expenditures or, thank goodness, if you have more income than expenses, you can then save some money. Of course, this is fantastic! You just need to determine where you will store or invest those extra funds each month…
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