Lots of folks make resolutions to do X, Y, or Z in the New Year.
Nothing wrong with that, I say.
Except that you might have made similar resolutions last year. And maybe the year before that. And before that.
The most common problem is that we’re adding tasks into a schedule that’s already overbooked.
This is like adding cars onto a busy freeway at rush hour. You don’t get more throughput, everything slows down.
So instead of resolving to do more, what can you do less? Or not at all?
What can you:
- Delete
- Automate
- Delegate
- So you can focus on what you really want to Do?
For everyone in a relationship business– in other words, a conversation business, because conversations are the building blocks of relationships– are your resolutions leading to the right conversations?
If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the full, super-secret sales process for relationship businesses:
- Figure out exactly who you want to have conversations with.
- Have those conversations.
I’ve talked to so many consultants who believe in this theory, but say they don’t have time to follow it, or they aim to have 2 conversations per week or something absurd like that, because they have cluttered their calendars with less important tasks.
A lot of this comes from not doing task #1. So you waste time on conversations with the “wrong” people (wrong fit, not wrong people) and you don’t attract the right people.
You can’t do #1 without doing #2– you need to have conversations to figure out who you want to have conversations with…
So, if you haven’t already, take a look at your calendar– your official one if you’re following time-blocking techniques, using a time tracking app like Timing, or just thinking about what you’re doing if you don’t have any hard data. Block off time for the critical stuff in your calendar. Then put in the almost-as-critical stuff. Take out (delete, automate, or delegate) the stuff that you shouldn’t be doing– the Not-to-do-list.
What’s on that list for your in 2024?