[0:00] If you want a life-friendly business, one of the key things that you need is to become time-savvy. In today's episode, I'm talking about achieving more in less time. You're listening to the Life-Friendly Business Podcast, where we lift the lid on the reality of running a business around family life and shine a light on the mindset gremlins which which may well be stopping you from stepping into your zone of genius. I'm Erin, the Life Friendly Business Mentor, and I'm here to empower you to succeed through personalised support, strategic business training and ongoing mentorship. Let's work together to champion your goals and ignite your potential so that you can create your very own life-friendly business.
[0:57] One of the biggest challenges that we can face is not having enough time to work on our businesses. But the truth is that it is possible to build a business on limited time, but we need to be super savvy with the things that we are choosing to do in the time that we do have. It's not really about how many hours we have to work on the business. It's about what we do with that time. So today I'm going to be talking about recognising where your time is actually going, how to know where to focus your time and how to get in the right zone for being more productive.
[1:39] So first of all, recognising where your time is going. This is something that it's really, really valuable to do a time tracking exercise, whether that's using software like Toggle or just literally having a piece of paper next to your desk and writing down all the different things that you are doing. Because often we can realise that we're spending a lot of time faffing on something that isn't really going to move the needle on our business, whereas we could be spending more time on a different area that maybe we have not been focusing on enough. Also, when we're feeling super busy, when you actually log the different things that you're doing, it can be quite enlightening because you can realise that actually your head might be very, very busy, but the actual hours you're working isn't as much as you felt it was. And that's when we need to work on allowing our brains to switch off as well, because obviously we're constantly, you know, trying to think about how we can improve things and all these different things, then we're not giving our brains the break that they need in order to rest and rejuvenate and then work for us even better the next day.
[2:53] The second thing is how to know where to focus your time. Now, this is something that I speak to my members and my clients about. And, you know, it really is about being aware of what your bigger picture is. So I'm going to use the word strategy, but I don't want that to sound, you know, overwhelming. But it's literally like, what is your plan? What is your aim here? You know, this year, what do you want to be selling? What do you want people to be buying? and what do you need to do in order to get those sales. So once again, I always refer back to the 5% strategy. The 5% things that are actually going to move the needle on your business. These are the things like your sales and marketing and visibility and also your customer fulfillment. These are the things that you absolutely need in order to be running your business smoothly, but they're the things that are also going to bring more business to you. And creating CEO time on a weekly basis where you're actually thinking about this stuff is absolutely transformational. I cannot tell you that enough.
[4:00] At the annual Momentum Day, which takes place in Bournemouth, we had a talk about CEO time and I was absolutely thrilled because so many people have been implementing it since then and referring back to me that it has just made such a difference. If you're feeling really overwhelmed in your business and just constantly in the weeds of the business, you're not giving yourself this time to kind of look at the bigger picture.
[4:26] And that's what CEO time is all about for me. And for those of you who are thinking, but I'm not a CEO, if you are the chief decision maker in your business, you are also the CEO. So this is a great opportunity to step into those shoes as the business owner that you are.
[4:43] Now, I'm talking about doing the 5% and understanding what they are, but what do you do about the 95%? These are all the other things that you might have on your list. And this is absolutely about taking the time to think about what is on that list that only you can do. What are the things that only you can do? This is about you leaning into your zone of genius as well. Like there might be lots of things that you can do, but if you do do them, It's taking you away from the stuff that absolutely can only be you. So for the things that someone else could do, is it time to start delegating some of those tasks?
[5:27] Can you ditch some of those tasks or could you defer them to later on? But what we want to be thinking about with our 95% is what we can automate and what we can have systems in place to help save time. Like I said, if you want a life-friendly business, you need to learn how to be time savvy. I do have a fantastic time-saving systems course where it helps you identify your business needs, then to plan for success. And I share some simple time management strategies and also how to streamline your customer onboarding and your online marketing. These are the things that I work with, with clients all the time that are really making a difference to, you know, the way that they're running their business and freeing them up to be able to do all the things that they love in their business rather than being
[6:22] absolutely tied to their desk. So if you want to check out that course, visit lifefriendlybusiness.com forward slash time dash savings dash systems. But these are the things that we need to be thinking about. out. So where are we actually focusing our time? Do we know what our bigger picture is? Do we know what our 5% activities are? And what do we do about all the other 95%?
[6:49] The next thing is also thinking about how we can get in the right zone to work, because it is so important that we are setting ourselves up for success by getting into the right headspace to work.
[7:01] Like, I absolutely know that if I wake up in a particular mood and I'm feeling really low energy that day, it's going to take so much work to get myself in the zone. So I've created my business around in a flexible way so that there are particular things that I can do, particular tasks that I don't need to be really creative and buzzy. And then on the days where I do wake up and I feel ready to take on the world, then that's when I can do those creative things like writing social media posts, like recording videos or podcast episodes, whatever it is. So one thing I want you to be really aware of is the expectation that you're putting on yourself when you're transitioning into work mode. So whether that's after doing the school run, which might have been highly stressful, that you're expecting yourself to instantly sit down and get in the zone to work and make good decisions when actually your head is swimming with stuff. There's also the transition from the weekend into a Monday morning where you feel like you should be hitting the ground running. So, you know, what I really advocate for is for you taking that time to, you know, let your brain settle, let the snow globe settle so that you can see clearly through that water. And whatever that takes for you, whether that's like taking yourself off for a walk.
[8:20] For me, it's going to the cafe and sitting there quietly with a coffee and letting my brain settle. It might be listening to music. I love listening to the piano guys on Spotify with headphones. I find that that really helps get me into the zone. You might want to light a candle, whatever it is. So think about what you can do to make sure that you are in the right zone to
[8:42] work before you expect yourself to really get into the nitty gritty. Also, it's proven that the more happy we are, the more productive and successful we can be. So if you're not feeling great, work on that first. Think about what you can do to fill yourself up, whether that's listening to, you know, a positive podcast or audio book or, you know, affirmations or doing a meditation. Think about how you can change your state so that you can approach your work with a more positive mindset. mindset and also recognizing your energy levels. Like I said, you know, I really understand with my own energy levels that sometimes I just, I need to accept that today is going to be a low energy day and that that is okay because I trust in myself that I know that by allowing that the next day I'm going to bounce back or two days later, whenever it might be. Working with your your energy levels rather than fighting them and working against them.
[9:45] So these are the three things that can help you become more time savvy so that you can create a life-friendly business.
[9:53] So one is recognizing where your time is going by doing a time tracking exercise and, you know, really taking time to think about when you're feeling busy, busy, busy is a lot of that because your head is feeling busy. And what can you do to quieten all those thoughts that are whizzing around your head? Number two learn how to know where to focus your time if you need help with this this is where you reach out you can reach out to me um reach out and chat to people you know your friends accountability buddies but think about where you should be focusing your time and that all stems from knowing your bigger picture and knowing your five percent activities and thinking about what's going on right now in your business and how all of the actions that you need to be taking need to be linked to that. And the last thing is learning how to get yourself in the right zone to be productive so that even if you've got limited time to work on your business, you know that you are approaching it from the kind of place where you are going to be making the best decisions that you can be, that you know that you're going to feel more resilient, that you know that you're You're not going to be knocked off course by some odd comment that someone has made on social media. So what are those things that you can do to protect yourself and protect your energy so that you can be showing up for your business in the best possible state?
[11:21] So if you would like help in identifying areas where systems and processes could be implemented to improve your efficiency, or if you want to learn how to create a strategic plan to help your business run more smoothly and how to organize all of the different tasks that you have going on so that it can save you hours from repetitive tasks, please do reach out to me. This is what I can help you with. this is the final episode of this season five of the podcast I really hope that you have enjoyed listening please do let me know please do share this podcast with your networks as well or any friends that might benefit from it I would love to invite you into my world so do come and join my email list so that you can hear more from me and I'll be sharing lots of tips and inspiration and free training to help you design your life-friendly business.
[12:43] Openers like you, you'll discover proven from time-saving systems and strategies. You'll get step-by-step guidance and insider tips and tricks to leverage free or low-cost technology and so much more. Say goodbye to endless to-do lists and hello to a business that works smarter, not harder. It's time to achieve more and stress less. Check out this course at life-friendlybusiness.com.
