We want to grow our revenues, however, we focus on working harder, grinding out our continuous task list and pushing to the max.
I believe money making and entrepreneurship is tied towards having clear vision. Knowing what needs to get done and aligning ourselves towards the right thing to do is not a given. You have to make space and time to think clearly about what matters.
For clarity to happen, we can’t be frenetically working on lots of tasks, though they must get done. Furthermore, the decision fatigue which happens from lots of activity and projects can wear down our mental sharpness as owners and executives on the bigger picture.
I have coached many owners and executives to pursue freedom of time first. This creates space for a clear, unhurried and visionary mindset.
What gets in the way? Well, if you believe your value of grinding, hustling and always being busy is a virtue, then you will never get to freedom of time.
Also, if you think of having administrative help as a cost versus ROI, then you will simply be the grinder in the business you are seeking to grow.
I believe in this modern era that execution is required, expected and to a large extent, a commodity. The tasks need to get done for a business to grow, but there are people that excel at and execute far better than the owner. They are hard wired for execution and support the entrepreneur, owner or executive.
If you want to make more money and grow, then you have to value freedom of time. You have to move your identity from being a grinder to knowing that being relaxed and creative is the better signal.
It gets old listening to someone who is the owner talk about how hard they are working. That is an old script that should be shed. Winning has to be redefined from grinding it out to having little to do.
This is why the very first priority for the executive is to free up their time. And to do this, hire an executive administrator. This should be a supportive, high detail person who executes consistently and keeps the executive’s mind and task list clear. By having this person in place, the executive is no longer the grinder. They are the one setting vision, doing dealmaking and growing the business.
As the executive frees up time, their mind gets freed towards vision. As they get better and clearer vision, money-making happens. Clarity is not a given. It has to be fostered. Thinking about what opportunities to pursue, who can help on bigger goals and what goals are worthwhile has to come from the executive.
Free up time first and make the supply/demand for increasing money happen from the relaxed state of being relaxed, not stressed out over tasks, inboxes and the daily urgent.
If you are an executive, do you struggle with having nothing to do? Do you see it as a bad thing? Why won’t you let go?
Don, thank you for not just teaching me this lesson but leading by example and showing me. There are so many creative minds being wasted by grinding. Imagine what this world could be if we slow down, get clarity and take action on what truly matters. What truly energizes us and hire brilliant minds that love the tasks that drain us. We all have different strengths, if we try to do it all it is a disservice to our clients and to ourselves!