Deliberate Simplification Produces Growth

Ahhhh….for a simpler time!

As I sit with my laptop and write this article, looking up facts and quotes on my phone, with the Sonos playing a selection of my favorites in the background, and my notifications letting me know I have twenty minutes until my next Zoom call, I close my eyes and think back to a less complicated era.

But alas, the ding of my computer is letting me know that 10 more emails and 23 more social media notifications have just come in…. oh, and my daughter will be home in less than an hour with a slew of to-do’s and to-be-somewhere needs.

Funny how all this ‘tech’ is designed to make our lives easier, and how all the choices we have for things to do, and see, and watch are intended to make our lives richer and more fulfilling. But in reality, there is just more to look at, more to do, and more alarms to alert us to the next thing we need to rush off to.

Where are we rushing to? It seems there is an elusive and even invisible finish line that we can never seem to cross.

Busy is the word of the century and many seem to make it synonymous with success, happiness, fulfillment, validity. But it is not.

Busy is the thief of joy that distracts us and has us controlled by a digital device and screaming schedule.

Overwhelm and a never-ending turnstile of tasks seems to be the norm in twenty-first century living.

I say NO MORE!

We all know that we can’t negotiate with time, we can’t create more time, and we have ZERO control of time passing. Yet we jam pack our days and fill every hour, sometimes even multitasking along the way to try to ‘trick’ time in some way. Then when there is a slight hiccup, an unforeseen happening, our schedule is upended, chaos ensues, and we catapult into madness.

What good does this do us? Every one of us has been (at times) too busy to eat, sleep, think, create, enjoy, be with family, change.

Rather than be busy and a slave to your calendar and to-do list, why not practice productive productivity and deliberate simplification?

By doing so I guarantee you will get more done, have more enjoyment, and have better results.

“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”

– C.S. Lewis

You can’t control the passing of time, it is going to tick by every second, you can control what you do with the minutes and moments.

But how you might ask.

How do you put the brakes on busy, stop multitasking, and not get stuck in the mud? How can you (and your business) grow if you slow down?

Start here.. Realize there are 3 types of ‘busy’ activities:

Needle Movement

Process & Delivery

Fluff & Arrange

Unfortunately, many business owners spend a great amount of their time on the Fluff & Arrange. Perfecting and re-doing things, spinning their wheels with marketing tactics that are not producing results, occupying their time with the ‘easy’ things they are comfortable with, all the while telling themselves they are ‘busy working’.

Example: There are so many choices in today’s world for marketing. In the ‘good ole days’ there was just word-of-mouth and who-you-know. With all the choices available to us today many people think they have to be everywhere, all the time! Exhausting! Choose wisely and deliberately simplify your marketing efforts.

Look, to be a successful business owner you need to market but, you need to spend the majority of your time on what moves the needle. Client acquisition, sales, and increasing your market.

You also need to be aware of how much time is being consumed with Process & Delivery of your products or services. Streamline this as much as humanly possible so that you can focus on the Needle Movement activities.

I am not saying to cut corners, or not have excellent customer service and experience. Simply create a process that requires less dedicated time but still provides an exceptional experience for your clients and customers.

Now, don’t get so caught up in creating this that you get stuck in the Fluff & Arrange mode again – where everything has to be picture perfect before you even start to do client acquisition. You can always make changes and improvements along the way.

Realize that there may be a LOT of things in the Process & Delivery that you can outsource as well. YOU should be doing the things only you can do and outsourcing the rest! This frees you up to focus on moving the needle.

How to get started with your new LESS BUSY Needle Moving schedule:

Take a look at your calendar. What on there is income producing activities? Make sure this is the majority of where/how you are spending your time.

What falls into the Process & Delivery category? What of these can you outsource? What can you streamline? How can you batch things together to be more efficient and productive?

Now, be honest, how much are you doing in the Fluff & Arrange area? Where are you spinning your wheels, re-doing things that are in essence already done, or perfecting and nit-picking things apart?

Now that you know where and how you are spending your limited time, adjust. Cross things off, let things go, realize there are some things that are ‘good-enough’ (at least for now), and determine where and how you will spend your time moving forward.

Don’t get caught in the trap of being busy. Busy doesn’t create growth, busy doesn’t move the needle. Intentional and deliberate simplification of what you do on a daily basis does.

Simplify your activities (especially marketing which seems to occupy many hours of the day).

Simplify your calendar.

Simplify your processes.

Simplify your choices.

Simplify your life!