Tycoon Woman: Becoming A Tycoon Woman: How To Get Things Done

Starting and running a small business can be overwhelming. There is so much to do so many new things to learn, so many new ways of thinking, some of which may even challenge your core beliefs. It can be daunting. Outsourcing i.e. getting other people to do most of the work for you is great in theory, however, if you are on a tight budget you may not have the luxury of being able to afford all the help you want initially.

Traditionally when starting a business, you’re taught to write a business plan. Then to go and speak to the bank manager to get them to buy into your idea and lend you the cash to bank roll your early days. Great for some, but if the idea of starting in debt doesn't “rock your boat” aka “fill you with enthusiasm” is there another way?

By the way, all those experts who want to tell you that putting your money or other people's where your mouth is, is a sign of confidence in your business idea; well, that “ain't necessarily so” as the song goes. So let's break the link that values everything in terms of how much money people are prepared to spend on it. There are many things in life that money can't and should not be able to buy not because they have no value but because they are considered to be more precious than life itself. At one extreme we have people and then there are everyday things like peace of mind, time with your family, harmonious relationship etc. They are regular reminders of the instances where money or the Market is not the boss. So free yourself from the notion that money is the ultimate value indicator for everything and step into the consciousness of what works for you.

So how do you get as much done as possible when you have to do most of it yourself? Here are my tips for doing as much as you can whilst remaining sane and healthy.

#1: Work at a sober pace.

When you have a million and one things to do the thing you need to do the most is S L O W D O W N! Rushing around from one task to the next at break neck speed does little for your overall state of mind and even less for your health. Stress related illnesses are some of the biggest killers in the west.

Slowing down means recognising that there is a limit to both what you can do and the time available to do it! Another way of looking at it is the 80/20 principle. The 80/20 principle, for those not familiar with it, states that there is an inbuilt imbalance between the efforts and results, inputs and outputs etc. So 80% of the effort you put in result in 20% of the results you see or conversely 20% of the effort you put in will net 80% of your results. By slowing down you are forced to become more focussed on the 20% of tasks that are going to net you 80% of your results. (If you want to know more about the 80/20 principle check out Richard Koch book on the subject, The 80/20 Principle: The secret of achieving more with less).

Slowing down also allows you to appreciate what is most important and what is just business. It’s a sad fact than many relationships do not survive business start up!

#2 Give up the idea of 110% perfection.
Slowing down means that you have to set realistic timetables for what you need to do. If you find that it takes you a couple of hours to write an article, package a product or to clear your emails and other correspondence then there are two things to consider if you can’t outsource it. First whilst practice can make perfect, perfection can make a lot more work for you. Be careful not to get into the perfectionist trap that is always trying to get everything in the 110% bracket. Some things are good at 40% pass, whilst others do need a bit more work. How do you tell the difference? Good question. I guess it comes down to trusting in your deeper inner knowledge. Also if you are going to seek feedback, seek it early rather than at the 110% mark because then you will be more open to incorporating it as you are not so invested in the results. And you won't have spent hours creating something that people don’t like!

#3 Aim for Outcomes rather than completing lists.
Many people advocate list making as the- be- all of time management. Personally I find that making lists speeds you up in a negative way because no matter how much time you have allocated to your list, we have all been conditioned to feel that unless we get through our daily tasks we have not succeeded. So you end up feeling guilty about working at a slower pace if you aren’t getting through your list quickly. This leaves you with the choice to speed up or beat yourselves up.

So to list or not to list, that is the question?

Personally I am a great believer in what works for you. After all you are a unique individual that's what makes you you! The one size fits all approach may work for the majority but if you are in the plus or minus 2.5% either side of the bump in the middle then this means that it is either too small or too generous. When deciding whether to follow received wisdom or be the maverick a good place to start is to ask yourself “how is it serving me?”

If you can work with a list and are able to pace your activities without feeling the-weight-of-pressure-enough-to-cause-the-bends, then go for it. Otherwise perhaps working with an outcome would be better for you. So rather than having a list of the 30 separate things you need to do to set up your social media. Have the goal of creating a social media profile. Then organically work towards achieving that by trusting your inner wisdom to draw your focus to what are the key things you need to do to achieve your outcome. It may look like chaos from the outside but it’s your organised chaos from the inside AND it works for you.

#4 Trust your inner wisdom to guide you and keep you focused.
I mentioned it above but it is worth emphasising. We all have access to our deep inner wisdom. Unfortunately we have been lead to believe that trusting it is folly. This is because we are often not able to tell the difference between what is our inner wisdom or what are limiting negative beliefs that are fuelled by our ego and our fears. How do you learn to tell the difference? Well it starts with learning to clear your mind of the background noise and finding your stillness. A great way of doing this I’ve found is to do a brain dump each day. Julia Cameron author of The Artist’s Way advocates writing keeping a daily journal or “morning pages” where you write down everything that comes into your head as the first thing you do each day. Personally I’ve enjoyed doing this for years but if writing really isn’t your thing you could try mediation, running, walking, drawing, painting or any other solitary activity were you can allow your mind to systematically drop its conscious thoughts and allow space for your deeper inner wisdom to come through. Like anything it takes practice. Experiment with different methods of finding your stillness until you find a system that works for you. The better you become at trusting your inner wisdom to guide your focus the more effective you will be both in your business and other areas of your life.

In part 2 next week I’ll be looking at:

#5 Being real about your problems and asking for help.
# 6 Recognising the emotional and energy vampires and limiting their access to you.
# 7 Giving feedback the right place in your cosmic order of understanding.
# 8 Knowing when the Market is boss

For more helpful articles and insights to help you become a successful entrepreneur and Tycoon woman checkout the Tycoon Women website and Tycoon Women Facebook page.