by Lindsay Gomez

Your business is real, right?

So start acting like it.

Act as if you’re building a global enterprise or an 8-figure organization… something that feels slightly scary and out of reach but also gets your heart fluttering with excitement.

Yes, you know the feeling.

Follow it and get clear on what your business vision is. What does that clear, specific roadmap look like?

Once you know where you’re ship is pointing, there’s only one step for you to conquer to reach that next level.

Your One and Only Step – Get Control of Your TIme

Time is the one finite resource for everyone. The one thing we all have in common. There are 24 hours in the day for every single person on the planet.

1. Know what is taking up your time.

Tasks, projects, appointments and priorities – get them all down in a list. Paper, Google doc, it doesn’t matter. Just get it all into one place where you can see it all.

Next, move each item into one of three buckets:

• Keep it: these are the items that need to be done by yourself and no one else on your team, such as 1:1 client sessions, sales calls, podcast interviews
• Delegate it: these are the items that can be delegated to those on your team, such as scheduling your weekly newsletter, updating your website, creating graphics for Pinterest and Instagram
• Eliminate it: these are items that don’t align with your business vision, so why are you doing them? Permission to ditch ‘em granted!

2. Set your priorities for each day, week, month, quarter and year. And, review them regularly.

In order to aim where you want to go, you need to assess what you’re doing along the way, to know what to keep doing more of and what to adjust for better results.

This part of often overlooked because it isn’t sexy to review your numbers.

But it is the game-changer and what separates those with an expensive hobby from those business owners who are all in.

You want to look and assess for what you should be paying more attention to, what isn’t working, what could be done better, what’s missing, what important goal might have slipped through the cracks and where your time is really going.

3. Get good at saying “No.”

That would be a solid, confident “no” to opportunities that don’t support your business vision, to complicated success, to extra steps.

If you need to practice your “no” response to get good at it, go right ahead.

4. Get comfortable knowing that good enough is good enough.

The very concept of perfect draws visions of something being complete. But in business, when we’re continually growing and pivoting, nothing is ever truly complete.

Embrace good enough and give yourself permission to let go a bit.

5. Get great at making quick decisions and move on.

So much time and energy is wasted on decisions that don’t move our business needles.

Should I use this image of a woman at her MacBook for my next blog post or this image of the woman at her desk?

It really doesn’t matter, so give your assistant the direction and move on.

Better yet, delegate the image selection and decision to her.

6. Check your email no more than three times per day.

This idea sounds ludicrous, right?

The inbox is a time and energy drain. When there’s 24 hours in the day and only 5 to 6 are optimal for focus and action, spending an extra hour each day will start to impact your business (and not in the way you’re dreaming).

The sky will not fall if you get back to your client in 5 hours instead of 5 minutes. Promise.

Taking action to implement any of the above tips, even if it is only one to start, will have you on your way to taking back control of your time and running your business like a pro.

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Lindsay Gomez is an organization and systems expert, who helps coaches create personalized, actionable business plans so they can build a streamlined, successful business that they love.

Before launching her own business, Lindsay spent over a decade in the office products industry in various marketing and management roles, including the development of consumer office supplies and oversight of national and private label product lines.

Her passion to help others reach their next level, through better use of their time, team, and technology was what drove Lindsay to make the decision to leave the corporate world and work with small businesses.

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