I am still reading that great book called “Flawless Execution“, I highly recommend it to anyone that owns their own business today or even thinking about branching out on their own. It is an awesome book to put life in business into perspective for business owners. It is a journey not for the faint at heart being an entrepreneur. I never realized how much fun running a business can be and I never anticipated the stress and burdens it also put onto a human being and also those associated with the person running it.
One of the areas that I am reading about right now is on TASK SATURATION, I never really looked at having an abundance of tasks on your plate and being saturated in a way that the author of this book describes it. How do you deal with having too many things on your plate? I know how I feel – overwhelmed, not knowing where to start, spinning my wheels thinking I am busy and not really going anywhere and a few others. Some folks make “to do” lists, some lock themselves in a room and hide (I have done this one before – guys doesn’t work – trust me!!!), and some run around pretending to be busy and not really doing anything at all. This all happens when you have too many things to do and not enough time. As the writer in the book states “Task Saturation is one of the leading causes of fighter pilot deaths”. WOW!
What can we do in our businesses to identify task saturation and how do prevent ourselves from falling victim to this nasty curse?
I personally find that having way to many things to do, and I allow it to creep into my strategy time, the valuable time that I need to work on my life, my business, my family and other important things in our lives that many entrepreneurs discount as “not immediately important” when they really are. Strategic time is much more valuable that tactical time, never ever allow your strategic time to be taken away, however, we all do it!
I received this great email the other day from a special person in my life, who has helped me see the light in the way I act, live – it is not really who I am, and she sees that. Remember the Law of Attraction, I asked for the right people to offer guidance in my life and they are showing up. Anyways, this email goes into a story about someone bumping into a stranger in the shopping mall, we are so polite and say “Excuse me, sorry about that, please forgive me”, when at home or with those closest to us “Get out of the way, what are you doing, didn’t you see me”. I got thinking about this and said, WOW, that is me…what can I do to fix that one, is it because of the stresses in the business, it is because I am saturated with tasks?
I promise to have some more material on ways to resolve this issue of task saturation, perhaps it will be in my next book or a podcast…not sure yet what the best medium would be for this.
I received an awesome email this morning from Randy in St. Catharines, ON. Randy and I are great friends, colleagues and we are working together as part of my mentoring program. His company is an awesome Microsoft partner in the Niagara region. Give him a call if you are looking for small business computer services in that region, you will not be disappointed.
“It is awesome that you offer your mentoring program and I appreciate your efforts in helping VACS become the success that I dream of.”
Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Canadian Small Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.
I recommend Tony Robbins’ OPA system (Outcomes, Purpose, Action) for separating tasks into urgent, urgent and important, etc. Ideally you can focus on important tasks before they become urgent. And the e-myth concept of working ‘on’ the business rather than ‘in’ the business.