It's a natural human trait to feel a little lazy sometimes. We all want to achieve more by doing less but is it really possible?
We're always told that you get out what you put in, nothing in life is for free, you have to work hard to make your business succeed.
Well, this is generally true. However, there's usually an easy way and a hard way to do everything so why do things the hard way?
Allow me to give you a few tips to help you achieve more in your business by doing less...
Be Laser Focused
Ok so you have your business up and running and you have a million things to do. You're head chef and chief bottle washer as they say.
You're trying to do everything at once and better still, every new marketing idea, every new tip, trick, fad, trend, you're trying to do all those at once too.
No, focus on one thing at once wherever possible. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of this.
Instead of trying to adopt every new idea at once. Write them down and filter out the least important ones. Then focus only on what's important right now in your business.
Concentrate on one at a time until you've achieved it to a satisfactory standard before even considering moving your focus to something else. Don't be distracted.
I use a spreadsheet myself which quantifies my key goals, tracks where I am at any point in time and automatically highlights the goal I'm performing worst against.
That's the one I focus on 100% until it's doing well again. Then and only then do I move to the new lowest performer. This works exceptionally well for me. I don't even have to think about where to direct my focus, I automated it.
The lesson here is focus on one thing at a time to avoid overworking and trying to be a master of everything but actually achieving very little.
Take Tiny Baby Steps
Leading on from the last section, if you take things one small step at a time you'll be amazed at the measurable progress you make with relatively little effort.
Even if you have a part time business and you only spend a few hours a week on it, if you're focused progress will be made and you will achieve your goals.
Try not to be overwhelmed by what seems like a massive task ahead of you though. I've taken on projects which last over a year and at the beginning I can barely imagine reaching the end.
However, by taking small manageable steps you will get there. It's not a race but you'll need to be persistent because it will take time.
As they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day", "Slow and steady wins the race", etc. All true.
The lesson here is that you don't have to achieve everything in a week. Give yourself more time and you will get there eventually. It might take a little while but seeing consistent progress towards your goals is very fulfilling and should keep you going.
Let Other People Help You
Finally, don't spend unnecessary time and effort trying to do everything when there's other people out there who can help you or even do the stuff for you.
There's no shame in asking experts for help for something you have no idea how to do or simply don't want to do.
Have you considered joining mastermind groups, either locally or in on the Internet? Groups of like minded people can give you a wealth of free advice and even do work for you in their area of expertise.
If you've read Think and Grow Rich you'll already understand the importance of mastermind groups.
Why try to guess what your customers want, then offer it to them only to find out they didn't really want it after all?
You could save a whole lot of time and effort simply by asking them "what products or services would you like the most?" or "what's your biggest gripe in this niche?"
This takes away the guess work and the wasted time and effort. I myself plan to do another little survey soon on my website to make sure I'm delivering the content that people really want.
Then there's always outsourcing. For the tasks you really dislike doing there's probably someone nearby who would happily do it for you.
The lesson here is if someone else can do some of your tasks better than you, for free or for less money than you think your time is worth then maybe you should let them.
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