The top two (2) tips for finding more time.

With special guest RACHAEL DOWNIE
Success Mentor, Author, & Speaker.

Introduction by Rachael Downie

Have you noticed how we introduce ourselves to one another these days?

“Hi how are you?
I’m busy, how about you?”.

It has become a form of introduction and justification almost in competition as to how busy you are. You get swept up and overwhelmed with all the things that you think that you need to get done. Your to do lists, emails, meetings, phone calls, deadlines, difficult conversations, and more. This can take you away from doing the things you love like spending time with your family.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Are you able to give yourself space to just down the tools and take time to fill your tank in whichever way fills you up? Please look at your calendar and schedule time this week to “rest and recharge.”

This “busyness” has taken over life and you can get swept up and overwhelmed with all the things that you think that you need to get done.

— Rachael Downie

TIP #1 Let's start with your mindset about time

with Rachael Downie, Success Mentor, Author, and Speaker.

None of us know how much time we have. There is nothing we can do about the time that is gone, and spending time focussing on what has happened in the past takes away the only thing we truly have – the here and now.

Spending your time thinking about the past will only create more of the same in your future. Is that what you want?

Did you know most people ask for what they want and then spend most of their mental energy focused on why it is not showing up!

Think about water from a trickle to a stream, river, and ocean. It does not waste any time with an obstacle. It quietly works its way around any interference or obstacle and hurries on. The little stream may wind its way round and round many crooks and turns, but every turn takes it nearer its goal.

If we go through life fighting, opposing, resisting, arguing, we are bound to meet with many obstacles and likely become so occupied fighting them that we lose sight of our real objective.

Worry, fear, doubt, complaining, arguments, angry thoughts all become boulders in your stream and lengthen the time it takes for your goal to be reached.

Another lesson from the stream is that when it is small and struggling it has the most difficult time. It grows stronger in force and volume and becomes a larger stream and then a river. Its path is more direct, and the obstacles become less and less.

How then can you make the shift and release resistance? By being non-resistant and in agreement with all that is showing up for you.

Identify your resistance.
Ask yourself what are my resistant thoughts and habits?
What would be a different perspective that you could use?
Practice saying: “Everything is always working out for me and I have plenty of time to do the things I love.”
Expectation: What you want is going to show up and act like it already has. Practice your behaviour which is based on everything working out exactly as you had planned.

TIP #2 How micro-management will steal your time and what to do about it

with Rob Cameron and Mike Denehey, Business Coaching at Collins SBA

Do you remember why you started your business? Maybe you had a vision for the meaningful impact or lifestyle you wanted to create?

We often find business owners working in a high-pressured job and stuck in the ‘day-to-day’. You may find yourself doing everything when you should be leading everything.

As your business experiences a growth curve, every area of your business will require more.

More marketing
More sales and customers
More product or service development and delivery
More operational requirements
More financial management
And more people

Each function of your business will demand more time and energy, but that does not mean it should be your time and energy. A key mistake we see business owners make is this:

I will do more
I will work harder
I will sleep less

The paradigm shift is to go from ‘technician’ or the person with their hands on the tools to ‘entrepreneur’ or the person leading your team towards the vision.

The goal is simple: How can you build a business that works without you or not so much of you? However, without the right advice or coaching most business owners struggle to achieve this. Please consider the following key tools to help you design a business that will work without you or less of you or time to work on your business:

Review your financial model: ensure you have a financial model that will support you as an ‘entrepreneur and leader’ and not just a technician.
Review your approach to the tasks required in your business and how simple or complex they are.
Review you organisational structure: design a structure that ensures the technician work is completed by team members and not only you
Review your systems and processes: build a clear process, delegation protocols and efficiency into everything you do
Self assess your leadership skills: get really great at delegating key tasks, fostering a culture of proactivity and coaching others to succeed

Stop micromanaging and find the extra time to work on your business with these tips:

Delegate tasks and provide your team with clear expectations
Set aside time each day to review progress and give feedback
Encourage your team members to take initiative and make decisions
Create and distribute clear policies and procedures
Communicate regularly with your team to keep everyone on the same page
Set a great example by avoiding micromanaging yourself

Encourage your team to have open communication, asking questions and solving problems together
Be open to seeking and receiving feedback and willingness to make changes
Reward team members who take on new tasks and a job well done!
Address challenges immediately and address the root cause of the problem

“I believe my husband and I have always shared the same personal values, and, in our business, I feel these values are totally mirrored.”

“We have very similar values in personal life and business. Having said that we have very different skillsets and ways of working which complements each other, well most of the time. One is fast and efficient; the other is meticulous and always gets the details right.”

“Same values. This is important because it sets the foundation of how we do our work.”

“As business owners working together, we know what our strengths & weaknesses are as individuals - and we keep our strengths to our individual roles, unless we have a project that requires our combined expertise to join together to achieve.”

“We talk through everything thoroughly and look at various scenarios. We look at the good & bad & we are very honest in our thoughts! There is trust & respect between us. If one is not there & the other has to decide on the spot - the decision is totally respected!”

“We met at work, so we learnt to work as a team before we got married. I think this is what makes us work so well. We were already used to disagreeing with each other but have excellent communication skills and we do not get upset if we do not see it the same way. We then workshop it and resolve it or come up with a solution/idea that works. We do not worry about who thought of what - we are more focussed on getting the right answer.”