Now look, I’m not a big fan of bringing corporate jargon into my day-to-day and I have a funny relationship with the word “bandwidth”. I had never heard this word before I entered the world of hedge funds and it use to make cringe every time I heard it. Which was at least ten times a day!
But I’ve been listening to Denise Duffield Thomas this week and she’s been talking a bit about decluttering as a way to open up more bandwidth for abundance to come in.
Bandwidth for abundance is a great topic but not what we’re going to talk about today!
Let's talk YOUR bandwidth
Instead, I want to talk to you about your own personal bandwidth in your business. Are you so overwhelmed trying to do everything that you’re getting nothing done? Or worse, are you using that busy work as a way to avoid the work that will help you progress your business?
This week, I had an onboarding call with a fab new client. She runs a beautiful lifestyle boutique and has reached a point where everything is getting on top of her. On the call, it became apparent that she’s got no bandwidth for her everyday work let alone for the growth she wants for her brand.
She’s getting buried in the weeds. Partly because she doesn’t feel like she should delegate to her staff, partly because of some ancestral stories.
I suspect she’s also staying in those weeds to avoid working on her business. A few mindset gremlins at play, telling her she’s not capable of taking the business to the next level.
What she’s definitely not doing is prioritising the work that needs to be done. Creating social media posts right now has the same priority as setting a budget for next year.
Are you in those weeds?
Sound familiar? Of course it does, we all do it when we're starting out.
Being buried down there in the weeds stops you finding time to develop and grow your business. When you get so focused on the day-to-day busy work, you keep your gaze down. You need to look up and out to the horizon to be able to plan where you and your business is going.
Yes, we’re always going to have busy work to do. But we also need to prioritise our work. Updating your website for the second time this month is not as important as spending two hours a week planning and working on your business.
So how do we easily prioritise our activities for the week?
Step 1
I'm definitely a pen and paper kinda gal. I use ClickUp but just as a brain dump area. Everything else goes on paper.
I’ve just bought a new planner that I’m absolutely loving (here’s a link https://amzn.to/3ne5Jmn). When I say I'm loving this planner, I mean I AM FREAKING LOVING IT. Every day I prioritise my work, keep tabs on what I've got to get done that week, refer back to my goals, track some habits. It's so easy to use and makes my uber-productive.
Not big on planners? Let's make it super easy. Once a week, you can also try an Eisenhower Matrix which looks like this:
The first thing to prioritise? Your personal time. Exercise, family time, relaxation. Then prioritise working on your business – aim for two hours a week. Finally, you fill in the busy work you need to do.
Step 2
Then put it into your calendar. I have blocks of time in my calendar for:
· Working on my business (right now I’ve started working on plans and budget for 2022)
· Social media content creation
· Newsletter/blog creation
· Education – reading, masterclasses, doing courses I’ve signed up to
· Lead generation
· Offers
Putting these blocks in my diary ensures the work gets done every week. Even if it’s just 30 minutes a day. As my diary is connected to my Acuity, it means I don’t lose the time by clients booking it out.
Prioritise your business every single week
I prioritise my business every week. I ensure that every week I have time to work on it and to work on the specific components that I feel are essential to its day-to-day running and also to growth. I ringfence that time and protect it because I know that if I don’t, I will struggle to try and squeeze it in.
In other words, I create bandwidth every week for my business.
How’s your bandwidth looking? Are you stuck down there in the weeds or are you looking at that horizon?
Need some help planning for your business. Let's chat and see how I can help you!