The one most common complaint by most business owners if summarized in one word – “I don’t have enough TIME”.

The impact the clock puts on how much you can get done in your business, how big your business grows and how much profit you make, is massive.  But what most people in business don’t realize is, that is limiting beliefs about themselves and how they utilize their time, can have large long term effects on the future of their business. Let’s examine some of these…

“I Work Hard”

There is nothing wrong with working hard, but there is something wrong with working hard and ineffectively.

Unfortunately, sometimes people substitute poor strategies, poor approaches, with just plain old elbow grease, and the truth is, it’s a poor substitute.  Poor choices, uninformed strategies, may leave you working way harder than you need to.  And as much as there’s emotional glory in being a martyr, and in telling other people how hard you work, the unfortunate thing is, eventually, they’ll get worn out listening to it and eventually, your body gets worn out doing it.

Some of the questions you should be asking yourself can be:

“How can I get somebody else to do this?”

“Do I have to do this?”

“Is there a better way to do this?”

“How can I set this up so I never have to do this again?”

For example, I have a client that does video editing as part of his marketing.  He feels that it’s a very specialized field, but once he started asking the questions “How can I set this up so I never have to do this again?”  He spent time with his team to create systems and procedures which allowed his personal assistant to be able to edit it in the quality that he was happy with.

“I’m The Only One That Can Do This”

This one is the biggest crock I’ve ever heard in my life.

People tell me that they are the only ones that can do quotes in their business, the only one that can understand what the client needs, the only one who can do work the quality it needs to be done.  But the truth is, you need to give up the fact that you’re so perfect and focus on developing other people to do it.

As an exercise, go find your birth certificate, pull it out.  I’m sure it’s got both of your parents’ occupation on it, but does it have yours already marked on it? No. In the first 6 months of your life, were you showing amazing promises that your current chosen business?  No.  You’ve been trained, you have learned through experience how to do it.  Anything that can be taught through experience can be written, can be systemized, and can be trained.  If the US military can train a 22 year old to fly a jet fighter worth $60 million off an aircraft carrier rolling seas, then what’s your excuse in not being able to get someone to do something which is inherently less risky?

Some good questions to ask yourself …

“If I was to bust this up so other people could do parts of it, what parts could I get them to do?”

“If I had to create a step by step sequence to show someone how to do this, what order would I take it in?”

“It’s Just Quicker If I Do It Myself”

A lot of the times you are right, but the problem is, what you do is you underestimate how many times you actually do the thing and how many times a year you do it.

Imagine for a moment that you’re doing something that only takes you 10 minutes.  Let’s just imagine then that you only do it for 10 minutes but it happens everyday.  So let’s add that up:

10 minutes x 5 days x 52 weeks = 43 hours a year.

 Good question you’ve got to ask is:

“How many 10 minute tasks are you doing today?”

“What do I keep saying it is just quick if I do it myself?”  

Get Moving: Stop and write a list. What are the 3 tops things that you could do to improve and grow your business in the next 90 days, if you just started using your time more effectively? 

Article  by – Steve Smit – Reality Consulting – www.realityconsulting.com.au