Is Time Management or Fear Slowing You Down?

During the SMB Nation East conference this past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to a number of people. With a few of them, I kept hearing a common theme of thinking they thought they had a time management issue causing them problems in getting things done.

But it really wasn’t quite the issue for any of them as I listened to their stories.





Most of them were not too bad with utilizing the basic principles of time management. Meaning for the most part a to-do or task list was put into a calendar schedule. Some didn’t grasp the notion of blocking time out and sticking to it. But the problems of not getting things done went beyond that.

The common thing I kept hearing as I asked them questions was that it was a few particular items that were always getting pushed. Those same items that pretty much never come off of a to-do list until it’s a do or die situation. And all of them in my conversations were “working on the business” items if you didn’t see that coming.

When placing these items into a schedule doesn’t get them done, either enough time to complete is not being given so human nature says “I can’t finish so skip it” or the schedule is not stopping the most likely subconscious procrastination. The reason for this desire to procrastinate on these subjects usual, as in these people’s cases, has a root of not really knowing HOW to accomplish these items.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this signals an excellent time to admit you need some help. Sometimes it’s just a matter of assistance in mapping something out or a little bit of education to have the confidence that you are going to do it correctly. In other cases it is a matter of just getting someone else to do the work for you.

There is no good reason to put your business in jeopardy by succumbing to the fear of not doing something well. Not doing it at all will definitely produce no results at all. I fully understand not want to do a bad job on an important item but you are better off making an attempt than sticking with the outcome of not doing it at all.

Better yet, recognize when important things not getting are due to fear or lack of knowledge and get the help you need. It’s not a sign of weakness but a sign of a business owner/entrepreneur that wants to succeed. Be that person and you will take a huge weight off of your shoulders. I promise you that.

To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant’s Coach

How to Find Time to Work "On" Your Technology Business

It's the 800lb gorilla in your business. And I was asked about it at least 15 times last week so now it's this week's video blog.

The question being how do I find the time to get "work on the the business" off of my to do list and actually done". This question is usually asked in many different formats and phrases but THE most common question thrown out there by any company owner that has made the decision to run a true business and not be a glorified contractor.





It may shock some but part of the real problem is this whole business about a "to-do" list.

This is a quick 4 minute video talking about a very important tenant of time management. A small but significant piece to the whole puzzle.

Quick, to the point and packing a lot of punch. Time management at its best :-)

Leave any comments or questions below. And feel free to contact me about this or any other business topic as I'm always looking for blog post material.


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach

Gettin' In "The Zone"

Being productive is always an important part of a person's day. Whether at work or dealing with everyday things.

The business owner, being a much different animal, has a much more difficult time with managing time, especially when they have 10+ things pulling at them at any given time.

But the technology business owner, is at an even bigger disadvantage when taming the time vampires that always suck their energy in every which direction. Why, because unlike the other "non-tech" people, we tend to have an obsession with multi-tasking since we think like a machine.

The problem is, multi-tasking and humans really don't mix. Actually, it really doesn't even exist amongst people. No matter how smart you are.

Unless you are setting a job to run itself, such as a backup, and leaving to do something else, you really can't do two things at once and call it productive. The example I just gave isn't even multi-tasking since it's not requiring you to actually think about the back up while you're doing something else. You have no involvement.

So what does this mean? Well, trying to do 2 things at once will always take more time rather than setting up a time frame (like an hour) to finish something and then moving to the next thing (ie two 1 hours tasks "multi-tasked" can take 2.5 hours or more to fininsh instead of just 2 hours).

Every time you go back to the second or third simultaneous task, it takes you time to get back up to speed. 1 to 5 minutes to get back in the groove can add up real fast if you switch back and forth between even 2 things a couple of times.

Although you're probably doing a ton of things someone else should be doing, like many business owners get caught up in, I want to point out to you how to at least save yourself some time. So here are a few things to do this year to help you get to the important stuff:

- Set up time frames to do things (1 to 2 hours blocks at the most) inside of an actual schedule, not just a "to do" list. Lists are a good start but a schedule actually makes things happens. We humans like deadlines and tend to stick to them when they're in our faces.

- Curb the emails (biggest time killer out there). If you have to run your business with you being the emergency contact for your clients or employees, don't do it via email. It's unnecessary and is actually slower than the good old phone. You should really only check your email 2 or 3 times a day unless you're expecting something important. In that case, you should have informed the sender that you need it by a specific time and that's when you check. I get arguments about this but there are ways around being "always on" for everyone especially through email. Too many non-essential and non-work emails are usually present and knock you completely off track. Being too easily accessible as a business owner is a kiss of death that many fall into the trap of.

- Do yourself a favor and schedule something to do as soon as you start your day and then check your email. Again, unless you are expecting something specific to be in that inbox AND are disciplined enough not to answer or start deleting the other 150 emails, don't even bother starting your day on the wrong foot by going right to your inbox. I know I lack that discipline and avoid this very bad idea.

These are a small few things to do that will surely make you more productive this year. Nobody can afford to waste time nowadays so do what you can to do the important stuff and not be disturbed in the process.

If you think you're ready for some more on time management, grab my book here. It will be a well spent $20 or grab the pdf version for a discount. You can't lose.

Have a very productive week. Feel free to comment back here on your results if you try anything out.


To Your Business Success-


George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach