Building a business can be an exciting time in your life. It can also be one of the most stressful and frustrating times for you. Any time that you start to do something to move forward, things will come up that stand in your way… threatening your success.
These conflicts can arise in many different areas and they can affect the level of productivity that you have. Learn to recognize these opportunities and how you can successfully keep on track when (not if) they do appear.
The problems overlap between your personal and professional lives. For example, problems within your business can cause hostility at home, and vice versa. You need to become a master at handling obstacles with ease.
Being Overwhelmed Can Impact Productivity
There are what seem to be a million tasks to get done every day in a business. You have to keep up with the day-to-day tasks while trying to juggle the new things that pop up.
Trying to grow your business while maintaining what you already have can quickly become overwhelming. This is why you need to have a schedule and process for when tasks need to be completed.
You can’t control when the unexpected happens, but by sticking to a schedule, you have a better chance at getting things done. If an obstacle arises that tanks a days’ worth of productivity, you need to map out a plan to double up on other days until you’re back on schedule. See my previous post on Standard Operating Procedures.
You need a task list. Every single thing that you have to accomplish each day for your business should be on this list. Whatever impacts your business the most should be at the top of this list.
By doing this, you can prioritize the tasks in order of importance. The first few tasks on your list should be whatever it is that you have to get done in order to keep the business functioning.
You have to keep the doors open or the site operational, keep the sales coming in and the payroll going, and keep the customers happy for positive word of mouth and steady growth.
Figure out what tasks you have to do that will profit or benefit your company today. If the task is something that will provide you with a profit in the same week, make that task a priority.
However, if it’s something that won’t make a difference immediately, you can choose to put that off until a later date and time. Some business owners find it helpful to use one of the “year at a glance” calendars to keep track of the tasks that have to be done in the future for their business. Others find online tools work best for them. Use a tool and process that you are most comfortable with.
If you’re dealing with feeling overwhelmed, then it’s highly possible that you’ve taken on too much responsibility. In order to stay on track with productivity, you’ll need to find a way to delegate or outsource what can be passed on for someone else to do. See my previous post on Standard Operating Procedures.
It can be easy in any business to take on too much. The shiny new object syndrome can make you feel a need to try something different in the hopes of improving your business.
Then before you know it, you have twenty different things going on that, instead of helping your business, it is slowly grinding it to a halt. If any task manager or any organizational tool takes you longer to actually use it than the benefit it offers, get rid of it.
This could be contributing to the obstacle of being overwhelmed. Simplify anything you can to keep productivity moving along when you’re struggling. That means if you spent money on a software tool that is too confusing to use and has a steep learning, stop using it.
Chalk it up to a lesson learned. If you have to simplify things by turning to a spiral notebook and a pen or pencil, then do that – if you find that you make more progress that way.
Some business owners find it helpful to seek a mentor when they’re feeling overwhelmed, while others turn the services of a coach to help them clearly see their goals and how things are fitting into their lives.
One of the biggest issues in a business that can trigger being overwhelmed to the point that it slows productivity is clutter. If you have a cluttered office or a cluttered system online, it can make it difficult for you to find what you need when you need it.
Keep everything organized as you go along to prevent this from being an obstacle. Sometimes that means letting go of projects you once thought were viable, but never have time for.