Numbers Are Life

A comment by Tim Ferriss (author of 4-Hour Work Week and 4-Hour Body) at the Problogger event really got me thinking. He said: “A lot of teaching fails from too much info, not too little.” From what I can tell from feedback, I give great information. But as to what content my reader is after, [...]

We need someone to clear the tracks, provide a solution to the lack of movement and get our momentum going again. Just like my trainer is able to see what I am capable of achieving in my fitness, so is a business coach for your business. They can often provide ideas and solutions to your non movement that you can’t see, simply because you are the one stuck there, trying hard to move, but unable to see the situation from the outside.

Do your days rush past in a flurry of activity, only to leave you feeling disheveled at the end and with no sense of accomplishment?

Instead, imagine working through your day more productively and achieving your goals.

I love systems, and continually implement them for clients and myself. I see systems in process all the time – some are great, some not so great.

Implementing systems is fabulous, but some just stop there. There is so much more that can be done for continuous improvement. Let’s see where your systems could work better together:

Holidays of any sort, be they school holidays for your children or family vacations, all require planning when you have a business. With my business we have monthly, quarterly and yearly deadlines to met. As such, it’s imperative that I map out when all the school holidays are for the year on a wall planner at the beginning of the year. That way I can see if any of those super important deadlines occur during school holidays and present a conflict for the schedule I have with my children.

The same goes for scheduling in vacations. They are often booked around ongoing commitments that can’t be moved. Planning plays a big part in ensuring your transition from work mode to play mode is successful.

When a child is learning to walk sheer determination kicks in. Regardless of how many falls or mishaps, once they have a taste of it they need more and are single-minded in achieving the goal to walk. They continue to try over and over again until they succeed. One focus, one aim; achieve, tick; onto the next goal. And think about it – they literally take baby steps (hence the expression) to achieve walking. The first step is crawling, next standing, then walking. Single, focused baby steps achieve the end result.

Once we’re adults we tend to “rush over” baby steps, anxious to get to the end result. And often, as the end result is slow coming, we are left feeling disappointed, unmotivated and doubtful of our intentions. I have been guilty of this many times. In this fast-paced world we live in, we have forgotten about taking single, focused steps to achieve the end result. So, how can you maintain your motivation, drive and focus to achieve your end results, without sabotaging yourself along the way?

As most of you know I love systems and wanted to share the systems I use in my business everyday. Below I outline the tools I use to manage myself, my time, my team and my business?

Managing myself

I use a iPhone, all of my email, calendaring & contacts runs through google apps which allows me to access all of this information through the online interface or my iPhone, iPad or Mac, no syncing required, it’s real time!

I’m also an information lover. I am constantly reading books, listening to mp3’s and coming across useful information on the internet. To keep track of it all, I use an online system called Evernote. It has many uses but I mainly use it as an electronic filing cabinet. There is a feature called “clip to Evernote” for your browser that allows you to “print” an interesting website page or part of a page to Evernote and then tag it appropriately.

We all think the reason we should attend conferences is to enhance our learning, along with a little bit of networking thrown in. I agree this is a great reason, but perhaps we can be more strategic about it. Perhaps we could attend conferences solely for the networking opportunities they offer?

On the weekend I saw mums from all over Australia converge on the AusMumpreneurs Conference in Sydney. They were there to learn, and learn they did, but the real magic was in the relationships being formed; the matchmaking of individuals who should know each other and the business being done in the corridor. And unless you are there, you don’t experience it.

How do you know if you’ve outgrown your system?

You love the new software system you implemented, but you are officially over the honeymoon phase. You’re now working with and using the system extensively and have figured out some of the quirks, but have also discovered some things you’d like it to do but are not a feature yet.

This system is ingrained in your daily activity, yet you’re beginning to get frustrated because you can’t do something with ease.