(Ask me Anything) "How Do I Know if I'm Wasting My Time?"
Be Brilliant In Your Business Podcast. Episode 88
"How Do I Know if I'm Wasting My Time?"
Today I am answering a question from one of our members inside the Maverick HQ. If you haven’t joined yet, come and check it out. We keep adding valuable new resources to help you get energized, organized and focused to grow your business while enjoying your life.
We’re talking about busywork versus important activities that move your business forward; I call these vital actions. Vital actions are often harder to do (but only because we have emotional stories about them) but they are what create the results that we want. Busywork, on the other hand, often feels productive, but actually isn’t.
And the more energy and time we spend doing busywork, the less results we have to show for it. Over time, busywork depletes our energy and enthusiasm which often leads to burnout and resentment.
Burnout is dream killer.
I am not here for burnout! (Because I went through it multiple times before I learned what I know now.) Burnout is the result of a mismanaged mind, which is why I talk about mindset as the foundation of your business strategy. What you think about is what creates your results.
Your thoughts lead you to busywork, or they lead you to vital action, momentum, traction and success. You’ve got to think like a streamlined business owner.
Today I’m sharing 3 Tips to make certain it’s worth your time.
Learn more about Streamline Your Business Coaching
Tip #1: Know what done means.
Anything that is important for your growth or happiness in your business or your life is going to have a measurable outcome. To find out, answer this:
“I will know that ____ is done when _________.”
If you can’t come up with a clear result then it is probably busywork.
Taking a course and learning are passive actions. They aren’t producing a result that is moving you forward until you implement your learning and create a tangible result from it.
Tip #2: Make sure that each action is a puzzle piece that fits into the bigger picture.
Think about all the tasks you do as pieces of a puzzle. For the big picture you are trying to create, are these pieces contributing to it? Do they line up correctly or do they belong to a different game altogether?
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Tip #3: Remember that a yes to this is a no to something else.
Anytime we say yes to something, we are saying no to everything else in that moment. The brain cannot focus on two things at once.
(You can’t multi-task. You can, however, productivity hack using your parasympathetic nervous system to boost your focus…that’s a whole other podcast episode!)
I have a term called “net negative” which is when the negative consequence of something outweighs the positive. Busyness always has a net negative. So anything you are choosing to do because of stress, obligation, overwhelm or frustration is pretty much guaranteed to be net negative.
The cost is too great!
So, use these three tips to help you decide if you are wasting your time, or if you are doing the vital actions that will get you the business and life you really want.
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Read The Transcript:
You are listening to Be Brilliant in your Business, the podcast for busy business owners to take charge of your time and energy to create meaning and momentum in your life. I'm your host, Linsi Brownson, certified coach and seasoned entrepreneur, and I know what it takes to run a thriving small business that works for your life. Join me for an honest look into the minds of small business owners as I share with you stories, coaching and solutions to the biggest problems that keep people from realizing their dreams. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to welcome new listeners. I'm so glad you're here. And I look forward to being part of your brilliant business. Be sure to hit the subscribe button, because we've got new episodes for you each week. Are you ready? Let's go.
Hey, Mavericks, how you guys doing? Today I am answering a question about busy work versus important activities or little activities that move your business forward, or what I like to call vital action. So how do you know the difference between just working for the sake of working and things that are actually small but contribute to a larger picture? So before we jump into that, I just want to say thank you to those of you who have submitted questions, it's super helpful for me to know what it is that you want to work on and what you want to hear about. So this is informed by it's kind of a, an amalgamated question from a few different people. So thank you for submitting those. And again, if you have questions for me, go to the Maverick HQ over at linsibrownson.com/maverick and get into the inner circle there. And you can ask me anything you want to know.
Alright, so let's dive in. How do I know if I'm doing busy work? Or if I'm actually moving my business forward? I love this question. Because I think we have all asked it at some point, right? Because we're busy people, entrepreneurs have a lot of things to do. And it's no secret that we are juggling a lot of different types of roles. So the the term, if you've heard it of context switching, we're kind of constantly moving from being an admin person to being a creative person to being working on our finances, to feeding our families to, you know, all the different things, we've got a lot going on. And we're constantly concerned about how we spend our time and what we're doing for our businesses, how it's benefiting or impacting our business and our life.
So this is a big challenge that I see come up in kind of two ways for my clients. So the first way is when it comes to making time for new things. So things that we don't already have the time budgeted for. But we want to make the time for them, like creating new products or new services or learning a new marketing campaign. Some of my clients are trying to figure out how the heck to use Instagram reels, or a couple of my clients. Actually, I too, am starting to really use Pinterest this year. And so that requires spending time learning how to use the platform, understanding how it works, creating some new content, new graphics, all that fun stuff, right? So it's the things that we want to do next, that are going to take a certain amount of time and development devoted to them. And so understanding like, Well, how do I make that kind of time for something that I don't currently have the time set aside for right? Or I also see this come up.
And the flip side, when people have been doing something for a while that doesn't seem to be working? Like I'm on social media every week, and I don't get any clients from it. So what's up with that? Right, because we've got lots of stuff to do. And most of us would actually like to have more free time and not less. So we carry this sort of fear around wasting our time. And when we're in the sort of time is scarce, or energy is scarce mode, what we're looking to do is to trim the fat, right? It's the same thing with money. If you're stressed out about money. Most people think how can I save money before they start thinking, How can I make more money, which is a totally different podcast, but it is a parallel process of thinking. The way we do one thing is the way we do most things. So if you kind of go into that time is scarce mode or I'm afraid of wasting my time, then congratulations, you're totally normal. And you want to make sure that you're using your time and energy for things that really do matter to you. Because the way I like to think about it is I want to waste my time on purpose. I would rather get meaningful stuff done while I'm working, and then have that time to do whatever I want with it, which is sometimes going to be stupid stuff, I waste tons of time, it's just that I do it on purpose. I know what I'm up against.
So this fear of doing busy work or adding things to your plate or working harder than you need to, this is something that squashes so many business owners before they even get started, or it causes them to just burn themselves out, and then to quit, because they get to a point where they think this is just not worth it. So let's talk about I'm going to go through three ways to know how to make something worth your time. Ready.
So tip number one is to know what done means or know what it looks like to be done with something. So anything that is important for your growth or happiness in your business in your life is going to have a measurable outcome. So at the end of the thing, right, when we call something done, then there will be a result that we would like. Now I'm specifically talking about action steps or tasks, not necessarily the bigger overarching project, but it works both ways. Right? So I'll give you an example. redoing My office is a that was a goal, or that was a project that I did. And so one of the things I needed to do is decide what does it mean to redo my office, what is done look like for that. And that meant, you know, the furniture is in the right position, I have the lighting setup, I have the camera setup the way I want to I feel good in my space, right? I quantified the outcome, so that I would know when it was actually done.
And then the tasks within that the vital actions would be things like, you know, researching lighting, purchase the lighting, do a video test, run, paint the walls, order the rug, right, these are actions that once taken are in line with are they're contributing toward the bigger picture goal that I have. So understand, at a macro level on the project level, and on a micro level, the actions within that, how they work together know exactly what each of them is going to produce, if you take that action. And if you can't come up with a tangible result or a measurable result, then it's probably busywork. It's probably not really moving you towards something.
And I want to give you another example, because this is one that I hear a lot or question that I hear a lot is like learning what is how does learning qualify? Like if you purchase a course, an online course? And you're actually taking that course you're going through the process of that? Where does that fall? Is it a vital action? Or is it busy work? And the answer, of course, is it depends on what you do with it. Right. So actually taking a course the learning of it, and even the workshopping if you're, you know, following along and doing the work alongside of it, those are passive action, they aren't in and of themselves producing a result, they're not moving your business forward. Even creating clarity, while feels really good and is important, it's an important part of your growth, it doesn't produce a result until you implement it right until you take it to the next step. So if you are planning to take a course, if you've purchased a course, then what you want to do is have the understanding of if I spend two hours doing this workshop series, the end result I'm going to have is x and you give that something that is measurable, like at the end of this workshop, I am going to know my client avatar, exactly what I'm going to say to them, the three main categories that I will use in my marketing, right, have a very specific outcome for yourself at the end of that, and then what you're going to do with that how you're going to apply it in the next step is what turns that from busy work into something that is productive and vital to your business.
And this, to be honest, is I think the biggest reason why so many business owners feel like they just throw money away by buying courses is because they're not clear on how and when they're going to implement the things that they learn. They kind of think that buying the course is like, that's the action step. Or like, that's the accomplishment, they're like, this is totally gonna solve all my business problems. And then they buy it and they start to get into it and it's really fun and great, but life gets in the way and they never do anything with it. And then it's just like throwing money and time and energy away. So this is how you turn it into something valuable is that you have a clear idea of at the this is how much time I'm willing to spend on it. What done looks like how I will know when I'm done with the course is that I will have created my own course or I will have created an automated onboarding process. So every new client has the same customer experience with me, right? So you have a definitive goal for yourself in taking that course. All right, that was all. Tip number one. Understand what done really looks like.
Tip number two is to make sure that each action is a puzzle piece that fits in the bigger picture. So I guess this one is kind of obvious. But we don't often think of it this way. What I'm giving you with this tip is some context, to think about all of the things that you do as pieces of a bigger picture a pieces of a puzzle. So oftentimes, we get into this mindset, that everything is important, and everything is urgent, right, which like, that's the crazy making experience that we have as entrepreneurs, when we think everything is urgent and important. And generally it's not right, so step back. And imagine the bigger picture, the puzzle that you're trying to build with the next few months of your time, right, or the next week of your time, whatever timeframe, you're kind of planning out for yourself. It's a puzzle, and you're just putting in piece by piece. And sometimes you are going to put pieces in your puzzle that seem like they fit. Have you ever done this in a puzzle, where you find the shape, it's exactly the shape that you need for the spot, and you just keep trying to like mash it in their chair like this, it looks exactly the same, the colors are right, the shape is right, what the heck is going on here, and it's not the right piece of the puzzle, you keep trying to fit it in there. Sometimes that is going to happen in your business, right, there's no way around this, you are going to try things sometimes that don't work out.
Now, I have other podcast episodes on how to not think of that as wasting your time. But for this episode, let's just stay with this context of you got a puzzle that you're building here. And every piece that you want to pick up that's worth your time to pick up and to look at and to kind of you know, move around and get some different perspective on it. And to try it out in a few different places. The whole point is to do that, so that you ultimately create this big, beautiful finished puzzle. So make sure that the pieces, the the tasks that you're picking up are the right pieces to fit into that bigger picture.
Tip number three is remembering that a yes to this is a no to something else. And to make sure you're cool with that. I have another great podcast episode, if you haven't heard it. It's all about trade offs. And anything anytime that we say yes to something we're saying no to everything except that thing. And this is true. Minute by Minute. This is true day by day and year by year, right. So really take this into consideration the trade offs of if you're spending your energy on this, you're saying no to something else. So what is it that you're saying no to by doing these tasks? Is it worth your time? That's a great question. Is it worth it for you to say no to other things in order to do this? And make sure that you are cool with that? If you want to dig in more to the trade offs, it's Episode 75 titled, what are you saying no to that was a great episode that will bring up some new ideas or new ways of thinking about what you're actually giving up what you're actually saying no to and what you're saying yes to with all of the decisions that you make, that's a great episode for this.
Alright, that's what I've got for you this week, three ways that you can check in to make sure that what you're working on is worth it is working toward a bigger goal. Or if it's just busywork as a quick recap, number one is knowing what done is going to look like for everything you do. Number two, is looking at it as a puzzle piece within your bigger picture and just checking in to make sure that that's in line with the picture you want to be creating. And number three is understanding the trade offs. If you say yes to doing this one thing. What else? Are you saying no to? And does that make sense when you're looking at it from that perspective? All right, you guys, think about what tasks trip you up the most? Where is it in your business that you keep asking this question like, is this really worth it? Or is this just busy work and see if you can apply these tips to it. And let me know what you come up with if there's any other things that you come across as stumbling blocks if there's any yeah buts that are going on in your head as you are trying to apply this to the tasks that you have.
Bring that all over to the Ask me anything inside the maverick HQ. Once again, that is linsibrownson.com/maverick. You can join for free and ask me anything you want. So I really do want to hear from you and get your feedback on how this is working. Are you guys happy? fabulous week, I will talk to you next week. Do you love these weekly doses of insight and inspiration for your business? Then you gotta join me in the maverick HQ. This is our listener library full of helpful tools to create clarity, spark creativity, and manage your time and energy like a boss. It's all inside the maverick HQ. And it's totally free for you. Head to linsibrownson.com/maverick to join me right now. I'll see you inside.