A Solopreneur's Biggest Dilemma
Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash
Today, I want to dive into a topic that is near and dear to my heart: finding the time to create and generate your future. This question came to me last week from one of the students in the Create Your Signature Course program:
“How can I make progress with course creation when my schedule is booked solid with clients?”
This dilemma is one that faces almost every solopreneur I know. It can be so hard to focus on creating the programs you know will grow your future when there are people and projects booking up your calendar every day.
On the one hand, it feels so great to have a full schedule (money, money!). On the other hand, you know there are passive revenue streams and courses that could generate the funds you’ll eventually need to take that month-long vacation you’ve been dreaming about since you decided to go for it in your business.
If you haven’t heard of it before, I’d like to introduce you to the Urgent Important Matrix - otherwise known as the “Eisenhower Principle” (because the former US President used it daily to organize his tasks).
“What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.”
- President Eisenhower
Can you relate? If so, keep reading…
For most of us, we spend our days jumping back and forth between time-driven priorities (urgent + important), interruptions (urgent + not important), and distractions (not urgent + not important).
Let’s take a closer look at some examples:
A Time-Driven Priority might be the deadline that is quickly approaching for your big project, the meetings that continually take up more than half your day, or the massage client sitting in your waiting room. For every solopreneur I know, these are essential to business success. Not addressing them isn’t an option.
An Interruption might be the co-worker who comes to hang out in your office, your fifth-grader who rushes in to declare that he finally got to a new level on his video game, or your phone ringing with an unexpected call from your boss.
A Distraction might be your inbox beckoning you every ten minutes, a quick check of Facebook that turns into a 30-minute rabbit hole, or what I like to call purposeful procrastination (when I suddenly NEED to clean out my closet because I have a big deadline looming).
When we constantly bounce back and forth between these three quadrants, there’s no time to focus on the future.
A Future Focus task might include setting your strategic goals for the quarter, planning out meaningful content to share over the next several weeks, or actively working on a passive revenue stream or group program.
Without the pressure of a time-driven deadline, we often sit back and let our business future unfold without gently guiding it along in the direction we desire.
I can hear your mind-chatter: “Jeannie, okay. Good to know. But what am I going to DO about it? Where am I going to magically find the time to change this? And even if I find the time, how do I protect it time-driven priorities, interruptions, and distractions?”
The first step to changing anything is awareness.
Print out this worksheet today and map your tasks into the quadrant as the day unfolds. You might want to set your timer on your phone for every hour as a reminder to stop and ask yourself: “What have I been doing?” Then, write those things down in the appropriate quadrant.
Then, join me for a virtual coffee meet up and share your answers to these questions:
Which quadrant was most full?
Were you surprised as you looked at your worksheet at the end of the day?
How many tasks did you have in your Future Focus quadrant?
What would you like to see more of in your Future Focus quadrant?
JOIN ME!
Come spend an hour with me dedicated to your business future! Sign up for Hustle Habit! It’s a workout - not for your body, but for your business. I’d love to see you there!