How To Be A Productive ‘Busy Beaver’
Part II: Are You A Busy Beaver?
Thank you for returning for Part II of this time management series. If you have not read “Are You a Busy Beaver”, please click HERE to get caught up. If you have answered the three questions from yesterday in Part I, then here are the suggestions I promised to best optimize your time and effectiveness.
What is normally your first task of the day?
* a) returning phone calls
* b) administrative paperwork
* c) work on strategic projects
* d) dealing with customers
* e) responding to employee requests
Your first priority of the day should be c) working on strategic projects designed to prevent stagnation and increase profits. Typically however, Network Marketers put off strategic work to do other work such as responding to emails, posting on different social media sites, etc because they just want a SALE so bad. They concentrate so much on relationship building they never end up building a business. Are you getting this if you are too busy then you are too busy and you’re never really getting anything done… well, not anything that is truly growing your business.It’s always easy to put off work that’s strategic in nature because relationship building is fun and enjoyable, and strategic work requires something many of us prefer to avoid – strategic planning. The problem is that if you continually put off projects designed to increase profits or reduce problems, then you end up having more crises to deal with. In other words, no sales, empty bank accounts, suffering family, etc.A lot of Network Marketers enjoy the connections they get from social media sites because it gives them a sense of belonging. However, if you do not utilize this relationship building to its fullest, then you will end up with a whole bunch of connections with whom to chat and zero sales.If you are a full-timer, then doing strategic projects for the first 1 to 1.5 hours of your day puts you in proactive mindset. These strategic projects are income-producing activities designed to propel your business forward. By completing these projects first, you are setting the path to success and increasing your chance of gaining revenue in your business. If you do them later, then you risk running out of time in the day or getting caught up with other activity and never really doing anything that will actually bring revenue into your business. In other words, doing strategic project work gives you a sense control and a feeling that that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.When I speak to prospective business builders about the hour and a half of uninterrupted strategic project work, I often hear protests or see the “deer in headlights” look in their eyes. People talk about the emergencies that require their attention or the FaceBook friends they need to accept and get back to.. blah blah blah. The truth is, unless you work in emergency services, there is almost no problem or ‘crisis” or Friend Request that can’t be handled AFTER you have completed your strategic project work a mere hour and a half later. Realistically, you’ll accomplish more in that hour and a half of strategic project work than the other 5 or 6 hours of activity combined.
Of your major project work, which do you typically work on first?
* a) the one with the most pressing deadline
* b) the one that’s the easiest to do quickly
* c) the one that will generate the most profits over the long term
Obviously, you should work on c) the project that will generate the most profits over the long term. That’s what you’re in business for. Ironically, most Network Marketers don’t do it. Theypost spam messages all over everyone’s FaceBook wall, spend all day long socializing on social media sites, sending out postcards to an untargeted markets — submitting to the tyranny of the urgent or should I say showing their desperation. It’s fine to socialize and relationship build, but at least spend the first hour on the long term profit project, then work on the other activities that complement the strategic projects such as relationship building and growing your presence on social media sites.
Administrative activities are some of the most important tasks as a Network Marketer
* a) true
* b) false
Answer: b) false. Adminis-trivia is the day-to-day organizing of money (cash flow) manpower-
(scheduling) and machinery (inventory). It’s the tedious, mindless emailing, messaging, ordering and paperwork that simply has to be done. And it’s the lowest form of work for any Network Marketer. It should be automated, delegated or outsourced. If you are doing this work yourself, you are a clerk — not a leader. Ok – maybe you are also just now getting started in this business.
I’ll cut you some slack.
The path of least resistance
The problem is that adminis-trivia is seductive because it’s easy to do and it makes one feel busy. It is the path of least resistance. Longterm strategic project work, on the other hand, requires concentration, vision, and rarely has an immediate deadline. It is a work in progress. A classic example is developing a marketing action plan and actually following it or creating your informational products or finally getting around to developing that coaching program or following up with your leads on the phone. You can put it off indefinitely and still look busy doing paperwork or chatting online. The consequences are that your business stays stagnate.The bottom line is that to be an effective Network Marketer you don’t have to be the most intelligent, the most enthusiastic, or even the hardest worker. You simple need to learn how to organize your working day so that you’re less busy and more productive. If you don’t do this, then that phrase on my old church’s wall just might apply to you, “If You Are Too Busy, Then You Are Too Busy.” Too busy doing everything, but succeeding in your business.
