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Cut Your Problems Down to Size Jonathan Raymond
Jonathan Raymond wrote this on April 22, 2015
One of the easiest habits to fall into as a business owner is to group inpidual problems into big buckets like ‘I can’t get my team on board’. That might be true, but by thinking about it in this way, you've advertently put the problem in a frame that you can’t really work on. Instead, get in the habit of turning those buckets upside down, by pulling apart and dealing with the inpidual frustrations that are at the root. You'll start seeing opportunities to make small but definitive changes throughout the day, changes that will add up to big results over time.
Here’s a way to ‘un-bucket’ the three most common problems you have so you can work on them a little bit every day (if you think about it, you might only have these three problems). People Problems: If you have a pattern of personnel issues, the sensible part of you might know you’re contributing to them because of your blind spots (they’re not called that by accident). You can’t discover and change all problems overnight. But you can start by challenging them in inpidual relationships.
For example, you can resist the urge to jump in and save someone on your staff who has a tough task to complete right away. Or you could start a personal conversation with someone you’ve kept at a distance for some reason.
Money Problems: The easiest way to start turning your money problems around is to find one expense—right now—that you don’t really need. I guarantee there are 10 of them, but you can’t—and shouldn’t—cancel all 10 at once. Cancel one. Prove to yourself that you don’t need it. Next week, cancel another. Imagine how much money you’ll be saving 10 weeks from now.
There’s Not Enough Time: The problem isn’t the a lack of time. It’s that you have too many ideas—which results in a lack of head space to execute the right ideas. The unchecked entrepreneur in you is more comfortable coming up with a new idea than confronting a real issue. Delete one project (and I mean delete it from your task list—including all the emails, notes, etc.). Make an announcement telling everyone to do the same. Imagine what it would feel like if everyone in your business was working on one, and only one, goal right now. You’ll quickly discover how liberating it can be to do just one of these each week. Your team will be grateful, your profitability will improve, and you’ll drive home feeling like you really got something done each day. After a few weeks like that, you’ll be hooked.