A 10-15 minute short read
The Problems:
- LACK OF SATISFACTION & RESULTS:
a. Need I say more? - NO CLEAR PATHWAY TO BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS
a. You can’t see a pathway to having a breakthrough in the future - THE VICIOUS CIRCLE:
a. This is a typical set of stages people go through with some of their projects:- Procrastinate to the point of the deadline
- They scurry to get it done
- They are not happy with the work / Panic
- They get paralyzed (freeze), avoid the situation (flight) or get frustrated (work harder/fight)
- Back to the start of the circle - they procrastinate
- OVERWHELM & PARALYSIS:
- Feeling stuck, overwhelmed and uninspired with your projects, team:
- Where do I start?
- How do I start?
- Just creating a list of things that I have to do is daunting.
- How do I keep momentum?
- How do I get more support, without having to spend too much time teaching the support how to support me?
- Won’t that be too expensive? Is it worth investing in a team/support?
- Feeling stuck, overwhelmed and uninspired with your projects, team:
- THINGS SLIPPING THROUGH THE CRACKS: Projects or Tasks Forgotten or Not Tracked
- LACK OF DIRECTION: Projects or Tasks not translating into cash flow or profits or joy or growth
- THE DENIAL OR RESISTANCE: “I sit and I stare at my list and then I watch puppy and kitten videos for two hours. I am still not happy.” - Recent New Client.
- “I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING!”: Systems or Technology do not help and seem to add to the problem
- NOT GETTING HELP: I don’t have the ability to think smartly about projects and tasks and I am afraid to ask for help, as I may seem stupid or incompetent
- BAD BRAIN HABITS LEADING TO BAD DECISIONS & MISTAKES:
a. When you have no well designed system, people tend to overwork and stress
b. This leads to ill thought through decisions and bad errors that need to be fixed - sometimes constantly - ADMINS UNDERUSED BECOMING LIABILITIES INSTEAD OF ASSETS:
a. With ill thought through designs for your management, tasks and projects tend to be doled out to your admins inefficiently: too little at a time to produce results and other inefficiencies.
The Deepening of the Problem:
1. THE UPSIDE DOWN APPROACH:
The approach to solving productivity usually taken involves
- a. Simplifying the problems/desired objectives/challenges AND
- b. Complicating the solutions
Shouldn’t it be the other way around? (see the point number 3 below for a clarification)
Using this unworkable upside down approach, people end up not having a true assessment or awareness of the problem and then creating complicated solutions (usually based on expensive or unusable technology or untrained or unclear admins) that do not really clearly solve the issues at hand.
In fact, the problem grows worse.
2. THROWING STUFF ON THE WALL, HOPING THEY WILL STICK:
In a fit of desperation, people try anything or a bunch of things including but not limited to:
- a. Hiring untrained or unclear admins
- b. Purchasing software or technology that does not fit
They throw these solutions up on the wall and watch them make a messy business just more messy.
3. HAVING NO CONCISE & CLEAR DESIGN OR THE WRONG DESIGN FOR THE PROBLEMS:
This is the root cause.
A failure to
- a. Understand the issues at hand (understand the complexity more deeply)
- b. Design or Solve for the issues at hand (simplify the solutions)
“The coaching program with Sunil has been an eye-opening one for me as an entrepreneur, visionary, creative, mom and wife! Not only did I get 8 more hours of free time per week, as promised, but I also had a 50% percent increase so far in income this year with a marked improvement in productivity.”
- Christi Williford, Founder and Creative Director, Elemental Studio Design Co.
The Solution & Steps in 3 months:
- MONTH ONE: VERY DEEP UNDERSTANDING & CLARITY: Understanding the Challenges. Understanding the Objectives. Understanding your styles, strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities. For some of you, this will be a combination of a spiritual and thoughtful/mindful journey coupled with a sharper intellect used to design things well. A sharper intellect can be discovered in you, once you understand the complexity of what you face. This sharper intellect (laser clarity) about the complexity you face will yield a simpler and more elegant solution.
When I first start working with a client in these cases, I spend a lot of time (sometimes in daily short conversations) to understand the situation. As I do that with the client, we achieve the following:
- REDUCE PROJECTS: We cut down the number of projects by only selecting the ones that matter in terms of profits and in terms of other results e.g. joy.
- SUPER CLARITY: We define the projects remaining with more laser-like clarity - so we are clear about the results and the deadline date to achieve them.
- START AN EFFICIENT & CLEAR DASHBOARD TO CUT DOWN YOUR WORK TIME & STRESS: I create a clear dashboard with low tech (cutting down tech issues to almost zero) to enable you or project admins (your own or ones I train) to manage all your projects.
- SPREAD THE JOY: We put projects that you want to do in the right or best timeline. Some of these projects will be realistically moved to a future month, giving it a way better chance of success. (e.g. Instead of having 44 projects that you can barely give any attention to, you will have 4 or less each month to focus on which will give a greater chance of success and accomplishment)
2. MONTH TWO Practice using the system, delegate more efficiently
a. Master the Art and Science of Delegation to Your Team
b. Reduce Your Management Time
Using the system daily (the dashboard) to track your admins and other team members i.e. to manage all your projects in one neat place.
At the click of a button, you will see what you need to do first, second, third, etc. and on what dates. This results in you spreading out the tasks and projects instead of having to do a lot at the same time.
I remain in a support role to make sure that things run smoothly.
Once you get past these last two months, you and your trained admins can run the whole system easily.
3.MONTH THREE: Optimize how your work comes to you: We make the manner in which you receive requests for work or time more efficient.
- a. E.g. your emails, your texts and other ways that people make requests of you or make promises to you.
- b. This can start happening in month one or month two.
- c. We start making these inputs (e.g. emails) less overwhelming with a system that can efficiently and effectively process these inputs and decide what to do with them. Some of that decision making may lie with you, some of the inputs can be taken off the plate easily.
- d. E.g. one result is to start having a smaller inbox of unresolved emails, an uncluttered desktop and more importantly an uncluttered mind
What to do next:
You can schedule a time (complimentary) to discuss what you need in terms of a breakthrough in your management of workflows, projects and calendar here:
Click here please.
What you will gain in the session:
- UNDERSTAND: For me to understand what you are struggling with and wish to achieve- with regards to your time and your work.
- SOLUTION: For me to present a plan to resolve the struggle and to achieve what you want with regards to your time and your work.
- NEXT STEPS: Suggested next steps.
Click here please to schedule a time with me.
“Sunil Bhaskaran is one of those rare mentors who truly understands the pressures and overwhelm caused by too many responsibilities and not enough time. His simple and practical strategies for time management have allowed me to run two businesses successfully and still have time for a personal life. I started with Sunil in a state of total ineffective overload and ended up calm, organized and about 30 percent more productive in my work week. So, that is a gain of 10-12 hours a week! Thanks!”
– Terri Taylor President and Creative Design Director
Since 1991, I’ve been reflecting on, designing, and implementing methodologies and systems for bringing a transcendent, creative and innovative approach to critical aspects of entrepreneurship.
