“I Don’t Have Time”
You don’t need to do more. You need to do less (but better).
Most business owners will say the same thing… "I just don't have time". But time isn't the issue, and this is largely a result of business owners feeling an intrinsic need to do more. That's more marketing, more content, more services and more hours.
But more is rarely the answer. In fact, it's usually the problem.
A business owner can be doing 50 different things, but only a couple will actually be creating value. Everything else becomes noise or worse, a distraction. It’s worth listening to the podcast before reading on further.
As Rowan, Ian, and I talked about, most of the impact in a business comes from a VERY small number of activities. The challenge is that most business owners don't actually know what those are.
When you reduce what you're doing, two things happen:
You free up capacity
You increase focus
Trying to do everything leads to inconsistency, burnout and really mediocre results across the board. Whereas doing fewer things will have better outcomes, stronger positioning and more control.
The most difficult part about what I'm saying here is not doing more; it's knowing what to stop because saying "no" to tasks feels incredibly risky. The best criteria my work has to fill, for me to say yes, is this:
Am I taking away my focus from something that actually matters?
So from now on, I'd encourage that instead of asking "what else should I be doing", ask "what should I be removing".
The businesses that grow sustainably aren't the ones doing more than everything else; they are just doing the right things better.
