Are you busy? Isn’t that a stupid question to ask? Of course you are. You have a lot to do and it all NEEDS to get done.
That’s the way it seems.
But, truthfully, a lot of what you’re doing is probably getting in the way of what really NEEDS to get done. And, you may be so busy that you haven’t stepped back to distinguish between what truly NEEDS to get done what you believe needs to get done.
We constantly get projects—large and small—and rarely give them the evaluation that our sanity and our business’s future deserve.
Look at everything you’re doing and ask: does it push you closer to your ultimate vision? Also ask: if you didn’t do it could you still get to your ultimate vision. If it fails one of these tests, why are are you doing it? The reason should be better than because you “have to”—although that’s often the reason most of us do the things we do at work.
Eliminating everything that isn’t essential to achieving your ultimate vision gives you the time to focus on everything that is essential to taking a step toward that goal.
And, it’s likely to cut down on the uber-bane of every business person: meetings. Instead of having meetings for updates or just because that’s the “culture” of the business—I’m sure you know that’s a bad culture to have—only schedule meetings that are required to make a step toward the ultimate vision. If a meeting doesn’t have an essential goal that’s clear and achievable at the meeting, then that meeting only hurts the company by taking people’s attention away from what really matters.
If it’s not essential, it’s not moving you forward. And, it’s probably driving you crazy.