I’m not looking to buy a new car, I’m perfectly happy with my Civic SI. What I do need is a way to get more than 24 hours out of a day, so I was thinking of getting a time machine (since they must be real - I see them on TV all the time!).
I find I am not getting enough done during the day. My small business is based at home, so it seems I’m constantly distracted. Walk into the kitchen to get myself a cup of coffee to drink while I blog/Tweet/Facebook, need to stop and load the dishwasher. As I go about my business, I see little things that need done around the house. So I stop to fix them.
At the beginning of the day, I will have a long list of tasks I want to get done for my business. By the end of the day, only a few things are done. Is this because I’m not working? No, it’s just hard splitting my time between my house, my pets, and my business.
I’ve also quickly learned that running my business is not just about making pretty jewelry. I spend a lot of time networking, marketing, reading how-to blogs, blogging myself, etcetera, etcetera. I yearn for the days where I could go out to the studio, stare at my pretty gemstones, let them speak to me, and create unique jewelry from there. It’s been weeks since I made something in sterling silver and it’s driving me mad. I begin each day with the intent of going out there to design and end up doing other things.
I’ve never been big on making to-do lists. I have never really had to in the past. I think I may have to get in the habit of starting each day by prioritizing what needs to get done, putting it on a list, and sticking to it. Otherwise I am going to continue to run around all day like a chicken with my head cut off. Which does no good, trust me.
On the flip side of all of this is I am going to have to start to make days where I don’t work on my business. Where I focus on housekeeping (it’s gotten somewhat lax lately) or doing something with my husband. When your business is at home, it’s hard to “walk” away, especially when you are trying to get it established. You feel like all your time should be spent working toward making it successful. I now realize it’s not helping my business and it’s just driving me crazy.
Clearly, I know what I need to do. I know what the problem is. Knowing the problem isn’t the hard part…the next hurdle is putting it into practice. Daily. That will take a lot of discipline, something I’m also not great at. I think it would be so much easier to locate a DeLorean with a flux capacitor and just give myself more hours in the day…or use it to go to the future and find out the winning lottery numbers. Just a small jackpot….ah to dream…
Until tomorrow - Melissa
Working at home really is tough! I have a theory that there's actually a magical vacuum that lives in my closet that sucks time away. ;)
ReplyDeleteOne thing I've heard a lot of people say is that it helps to set business hours and not break out of them, no matter what. I've never tried this, but it sounds like it could work! Especially of you have hours for working and "breaks" where you have lunch, take care of house chores, and socialize with "co-workers."