Here I am working on Lesson Two of the weekly Small Business Success E-Course – four weeks after I completed Lesson One.
I find when I procrastinate, there is usually a good reason, but often not one I can immediately put into words. Sometimes it’s because my gut is telling me that timing is wrong and the results could be opposite to those planned for, or at best the effort would be futile. It only becomes evident after the time has gone by. At other times it is because I know I need to work on something to improve the way I do things, or I have to ‘face the music’ regarding some of my own personal faults. And wouldn’t you know it, that newspaper article catches my attention instead, or suddenly I really need to work on that marketing brochure, or, or, or…a thousand other, suddenly important things get in the way.
Well, Lesson One of the course asks you to document all the time you spend on all your activities during the day, for one full week. Lesson Two asks you to analyze these and create a plan for how you want to spend your time.
Lesson One I had not problems with. I was as meticulous as a Wall Street corporate lawyer. I had it down to one minute increments. I was proud of myself. I documented every little productive and non-productive activity.
Then came time to analyze. That was four weeks ago. It took a Herculean effort, finally this week, to sit me down with myself, and my meticulous notes, and review where that time had gone. And, as my own boss, I was not too pleased with where some of the time had gone. Some of the time-wasters I suspected. Others were an eye-opener. All confirmed that though I was pretty efficient, I could certainly use some rebalancing in terms of how I spent my time. So now I have a weekly schedule with all the major time categories, and I am going to track planned versus actual time. And if there is no improvement, I am going to have a real “Come-to-Jesus” meeting with myself.
Other highlights of the week were a couple of meetings with fellow consultants for networking purposes. The one thing that is becoming clear to me is that these meetings are only so useful. Networking is an important concept, and definitely a necessary activity, but you have to really be clear on the quality, for lack of a better word, of the network contact. Networking with fellow consultants leads to new ideas, clarification of thoughts, and stimulating conversation, but not necessarily to new money-in-the-door opportunities. Or at least not in the short to medium term. So, together with Lessons One and Two, I am going to be tracking the types of business development meetings I have.
My committee work has kept me busy, and it look like we are leading up to another good event. The timelines worry me though. But then, as a project manager, they always do. But still, we are behind by a week, and with four to go we will have to scramble somewhere. Fortunately this is a very part-time volunteer activity, so most deadlines are achievable. The trick is to keep the eye on the ones with a natural lag time that you can’t crash.
The other highlight was the day off with the kids. Being able to spend time with them like this makes me so grateful I am no longer in the corporate environment. And I always end up catching up once they go to sleep, or like today, before they wake up.
The week ended on a downer, though: another project delay, meaning, personally, another delay in planned revenue and cash flow. In addition, a sponsor we counted on for our committee event pulled out in the last minute. It was very disappointing, after all the work that went into developing and cultivating the relationship. Oh well, at least it’s the weekend. Time to have a beer (or six) and forget. Then refocus for Monday morning.
I feel fortunate in the sense that these setbacks only bring me down until I get a good night’s sleep, and then by the morning they seem to steel my resolve to succeed. Being Monday morning, I feel tremendous energy pushing me forward. It’s going to be a phenomenal week!
Peter Hadas has over 10 years consulting experience working for major national clients in the Biotech, Distribution, Retail, Financial Services, Professional Services, Energy & Utilities and Public Sector industries. His area of expertise is working with senior management to plan and implement complex change initiatives resulting from rapid growth, post merger and acquisition integration, or large scale systems implementations. Contact Peter Hadas Consulting at 905-470-7703.
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