I was speaking to a business owner recently who was feeling very despondent and discouraged. She had taken a week off to go on an overseas holiday with her husband to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

When she got back, she spent most of her time mopping up staff issues and client complaints.

“I’m never going away again,” she moaned.

So we started to discuss effective time management strategies.

It turns out she had been burnt so many times before by unreliable staff that she hung on to a lot of the work, intellectual property and information the rest of the team needed to function effectively while she was away. She was always feeling stressed out and tired (hence the reason for the trip to the tropics) yet didn’t delegate what she needed to and managed her time poorly.

No wonder it all fell apart!

She realised it wasn’t everyone else’s fault. She had helped contribute to the mess and had some inner work and personal development to do.

Sometimes we get sucked into the vortex of busy-ness that we forget to strategically look at the way we PERSONALLY manage ourselves.

So let’s look at the importance of working on your personal development as an entrepreneur.

What skills do you need to ensure you grow personally so your business can grow professionally?

 

1. Effective time management 

This is a big one for many business owners. Very few truly understand the value of their time (that is, what it’s worth when they invest it well), very few plan their time effectively and very few have the techniques and discipline to stick to those plans!

Delegation, being organised, running effective meetings that get to the point and up-skilling staff are all simple strategies a business can use to claw back time in their day. Actually planning your time to ensure that the important things get done and then sticking to that plan as though your life depended on it (because your quality of life does!) are just the starting point.  In the end, you want to get your business to the point where it runs efficiently if you are there or not.

Or in Hawaii.

That is the goal. And effective time management is a vital step on the road to getting there.

 

2. Know your limits

Having self-awareness around your own skills, knowledge and limitations helps you manage your own expectations.

Many business owners think they can do it all. That way of thinking will lead to failure, burnout and breakdown.

The most successful business people in the world have a team of advisors and specialists around them. They’re smart enough to know where their knowledge stops and someone else’s starts.

The best ones actively recruit people who are better than them…at least in some areas….and then go out of their way to support and develop those team members even further.

 

3. Open to growth

My way or the highway! Who’s worked with somebody like that before? Or the finger-pointer? When something goes wrong, they are the first to blame everybody else instead of looking at the situation as an opportunity to learn something.

Being closed to criticism, opportunities for growth and new ways of doing things will keep a person and a business stagnant.

Albert Einstein said it best. “Once you stop learning, you start dying.”

 

4. Alignment of beliefs with actions

Have you heard of the Be Do Have formula?  If you want to have certain outcomes then you’re going to have to do certain things.  If you want to do those things effectively, then you’re going to have to become the right sort of person.

To achieve the results you want to achieve, do you have the habits of someone who achieves those sorts of results?  Similar beliefs?  Values?  Skills?  Start by looking inside you and deciding what sort of person you need to become and work out how you’ll become that sort of person.

 

5. Positive mindset

Let’s look at Richard Branson and his outlook on life. One of the reasons he is so successful is because he has a wonderful positive mindset. He has fun. He doesn’t take life too seriously and he encourages all of his employees to follow his lead.

A positive mindset does wonders for a person’s mental, emotional and physical health.  It accelerates the speed at which your brain processes.  It keeps us motivated.  It keeps those around us motivated.  What are you doing every day to ensure that you have a positive mindset?

Whether it’s a daily review of your dreams, goals and plans, a daily meditation, daily affirmations and visualisations or another technique, there are simple steps you can take to ensure that your mind is positive and that you can enjoy the value of that.

If you need some assistance with effective time management or other elements of your business, why not book in a FREE Coaching call today.