You and I have too much to do. Our to-do lists overflow, our papers stack up, and we won’t even talk about our inboxes. With all that overwhelming our minds, of course we need to get away from our business. But there is a bigger reason lurking, a bigger reason to get away.
It’s lurking because we’re not paying attention to it, and it’s shy. What is it? Our purpose, our direction, our mission. We are so busy working in our business every day, we never take time to step back and work on our business.
You’d forgotten all about that, hadn’t you? Let’s reintroduce you, with these three resources to get you spending some time away from your business, in order to make it better.
1. Are you building a body of work, or a cornucopia of chaos? This classic comes from Jonathan Fields. I love this post so much, I go back to it often. Really absorb this mindset, then go on to the other two.
2. Ask yourself ten questions to strengthen your heart as a leader. Cheri Baker not only asks the questions, she shares her own answers. It’s a good piece to get you thinking about your leadership roles. A tip of the hat to Steve Farber who shared this post on Twitter.
3. Rethink your customers and your direction. Clovia Hamilton went through some precise reevaluation of her small business’s customers and services. While you may not be as thorough, her process makes a lot of sense. Schedule time away to complete the process.
When can you get away?
- Every week. I spend an hour each week reviewing the last week and planning ahead.
- Every month. I spend an hour with a mastermind group once per month to review, share plans, and get feedback.
- Every quarter. I spend a few hours once per quarter in a kind of not-really-a-retreat. I block out time to work on a neglected project or to do some refocusing.
- Every year. I spend time around the new year each year, reviewing business plans, thinking about direction and focus, and brainstorming new ideas. Then I do some mid-year correction when preparing for SOBCon in early May.
How about you? Are you getting away from your business? How often?
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
Some very good ideas here, its very easy to wrapped up into the day to day operations and overlook the big picture. It can be hard to take a step back but it is the only way to gain perspective.