The battle for time

“Can you make more time? I haven’t enough time. It’s been on my to-do list since January.”

These are just some of the phrases I heard recently.

I was at a Networking event, chatting to attendees about their businesses and the topic of branding, and during conversation after conversation, an old friend that we all know popped up: the most common enemy of all entrepreneurs.

Time.

Chat after chat, a pattern emerged from the room. a pattern emerged from the room. People spoke of needing more time to accomplish everything that they really wanted to do.

It was disheartening to hear. So many people had clear goals and aspirations, but time, the relentless adversary, was standing in their way.

Time is treasure

Time is a funny thing. It's a precious commodity. You cannot see it. It cannot be banked or given away. It can only be used, sold or lost.

As entrepreneurs, we're constantly in a battle against the time demons, who seem to magically whisk away the minutes. We diligently time block, track our time, and devise intricate strategies to manage it, yet still we don’t have enough to accomplish certain tasks. What's even more disheartening is that these unfinished tasks often belong to our own business rather than those of our customers or clients. It's a struggle we all face.

Tasks like:

·The website you've been meaning to update, helping you attract new clients

· The new baby brother/sister brand to increase your revenue streams, but you don't have the bandwidth to take on the task.

· A full, evergreen marketing suite overflowing with on-brand blogs, emails and social media content so that you don't have to think about writing a thing.

These are all valid examples of tasks that not only consume time and passion but also have the potential to significantly enhance your current offering. They are not just tasks but opportunities to grow and thrive.

So why do we put off doing them?

Taking time to move forward

We're always looking for ways to move forward, and a key method to achieving that is to have the systems, platforms, and projects in place to support and progress that positive momentum.

We know that we need these ingredients to move forward, but instead, we self-sabotage, blaming a lack of time and higher-priority tasks for our failure to complete them.

In essence, we put tasks off that could move us forward in favour of not doing anything at all. Not doing it is a less stressful option than the task we should be doing. Common logic says we don't have to think about it if we're not doing it. Instead, we prioritise our customers and clients to do their tasks instead of our own wants and wishes that help them move forward, but don’t move our own needle.

This mindset and form of procrastination actually set us back. They prevent us from doing the top priority: looking after ourselves.

I'm guilty of it, too. Even writing this post today, I’ve had to consciously make an effort to complete it first, before I even glimpse any client work.

It's a common struggle we all face. Our tasks are often the most important, but we put them on the back burner, prioritising everyone else. For recovering people pleasers, this is a very hard lesson to learn. But you're not alone in this.

We all do it. We wait for a space of time to open up, for a lull or quiet block of time that never comes. Why?

Time knows.

It fills the gaps with tasks you didn't know you needed. How often have you done a task that has taken longer than expected? A quick job has transformed into a 3-hour marathon. Time often fills the space it's given, knocking you off course and adding to the task queue.

So, if time is an issue and the task list is still unresolved, what's the answer to this problem that every founder faces at some point or another?

Free up your time

We can’t create more time. We all have 1,440 minutes in a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year—not a minute more or a second less.

I’m not here to say you need to juggle your schedule again or work 12 hours a day. But a change is necessary if the ground is to be covered and momentum is to be gained, leading to hopeful progress.

(If you want to, of course)

The answer is to outsource, to call in help and reinforcements to not only relieve the pressure but also clear the path, tick off the tasks, and move you forward.

This option does have a snag, which is that time costs money, and money is time.

Time does cost money, especially in my line of work, but if we embrace that and understand that investment is often needed to leap forward and make things happen, what magic, opportunities and possibilities are on the other side?

A clear task list, that’s for sure. 😂