Rob Hatch

Coaching and Consulting

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Attention

You Will Find The Time

People talk about time a lot. They never seem to have enough. They’re too busy. They’re stressed. And of course, they are quick to tell you, “You have no idea.”

I do have an idea. I’ve felt this. I may have even said that.

But trust me when I say, you will find the time when it matters.

Years ago I was talking to a friend about feeling overwhelmed. I had a lot going on, and I was worried I wasn’t spending enough time with my four kids. She called me out on this and told me to track my time for two weeks.

The point of the exercise was to move me from how I was feeling to looking at what was actually happening.

As it turned out, I was spending more time with my children than I thought. I had been prioritizing them all along. And that’s what we do; we make time for the things that matter.

Yes or No

How we spend time is a choice.

We choose our family. We choose work because it provides income for our family.

No matter what you want to do, the time is there. It’s a matter of saying yes to one thing and no to something else.

When I was actively training for triathlons and marathons, I managed to find time to swim, bike, and run for 15-20 hours every week.

But It worked because I prioritized it. It worked because I said, no to lots of other things. This also happened around the time I was worried I wasn’t making time for my family.

We can find the time.

I’m not saying it’s easy, but it is pretty simple.

Everyone is Busy. You Can Still Find The Time.

Somehow we manage to find the time whenever something important happens.

When a friend is in the hospital, we find time to visit. When neighbors need help, we find time to support them. When a parent calls, we find time to talk. When a new season of House of Cards comes out, we find time to watch every episode.

The real question is never, “where will I find the time?” The question is, “what is important to me?” But we don’t always ask this question.

As you say yes to one thing, you say no to another. And that’s a good thing.

Here are four ways to find time for what’s important.

  1. Re-write your “To-Do” list every day. – When you write out “rebuild landing page” ten times, you’ll do it, or you’ll decide it’s not all that important and drop it from the list.
  2. Get specific and assign everything an amount of time – If you decide that rebuilding your landing page is important, figure out how long it will take you. Hint: add ten minutes for every 30 you think it will take. We always underestimate.
  3. Schedule it – If the page is going to take an hour, put it on your schedule. Don’t try to fit to-do list items around other things. You’ll never get anything important done that way.
  4. Protect it – Once the clock is running on a project, try to avoid interruptions. Stop checking email. Don’t look at your phone. Don’t check Instagram. Give the project what it needs.

And take the advice my friend gave me. Track your time for two weeks. Write down what you do every day in 20-minute increments.

When you do, you’ll get real data rather than just how you feel. It will show you a few things very quickly. Time is limited. We waste a lot of it. You probably can’t do everything you think you can. BUT….

You will find the time for what matters. We always do.

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More is not a number

Are you someone who measures your steps?

Specifically, do you use a device to track your fitness efforts?

There are loads of gadgets out there. Depending on your goals, you can measure everything from steps to calories burned, from miles biked to swim strokes, from how long to how far.

We’ve been told for years that we need to move more, but people still didn’t do it. That’s the primary purpose of these devices, to get you to move more.

What I love about this technology is that it took the idea of moving more and gave people daily targets and a way to measure progress. Quite literally, it breaks down your larger goals into steps.

More is not a enough

For most people it was not enough to know that moving more was a good thing.

That’s because more is not a number. In fact, more is so lacking in definition, pursuing it clouds your vision. More rarely motivates us and our efforts are often flailing and inconsistent.

To be successful, we need to define what more is. 

We need to give it a number and pursue and measure our progress towards it.

Starting can be as simple as asking three questions:

Where are you now?

Where do you want to be?

How many _______s will it take to get there?

With fitness trackers, most people choose a daily goal of 10,000 steps. This sounds like a lot unless of course, you are already walking 9,000 steps.

You need to know where you’re starting.

10,000 steps also sounds like a lot until you figure out that to lose five pounds this month, you need to hit 15,000 steps per day.

You need to know what it takes to get there.

Know your numbers

As we find more ways to measure every aspect of our lives, I’m always surprised by how many people don’t apply the same methods to their businesses.

Several months ago my wife did two things that changed her business dramatically.

Megin is a photographer. In her first few years, she set and managed to achieve many of her goals. But recently she’s been operating with a clearer purpose and the results to match.

The first thing Megin did was to identify a larger financial goal for her business.

After taking into consideration the needs of a growing business. She then identified three areas from our personal finances that the revenue from her business would cover. That total was the goal.

The second thing she did was to break down how much revenue she would need to generate each month to meet that goal. She figured out how many sessions it would take.

She looked at the past year’s performance and noted the trends.

There were some months where there was no room for growth. Of course, Megin would still have to fill those slots, but she knew those months were maxed out in terms of her time.

This narrowed her focus on months where there was greater opportunity for growth.

Larger goal. Monthly targets.

Since that time, she uses her numbers to drive her decision making, her marketing, and her daily actions.

It changed everything because the number enables her to measure her success.

Rather than simply pursuing more and hoping for the best, each month is directly tied to a goal, a contribution, and a purpose.

What’s interesting to me is not the financial results, although that’s wonderful, too.

What I find most interesting is how it has fueled her creativity. By being focused on meeting a defined goal, she looks for new ways to serve her clients to hit her goal.

People do the same thing with their step counters. If they haven’t hit their steps by mid-day, they start looking for opportunities to get there. They get creative.

Pursuing more just doesn’t do that for us. And knowing your number makes it easier to get more of whatever it is you’re after. You simply have to define it.

 

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Are you solving the wrong problem?

I was speaking with a coaching client who helps companies put the right person into the right job.

However, many of her clients first come to her with the challenge of “motivating employees.”

Her response is always, “You don’t motivate people after you hire them. You hire people who are already motivated.”

The Wrong Problem

If you sell cars, the target most likely to increase sales would be test drives.

The more people you can bring in to test drive your cars, the more likely you are to get a sale. People coming to the dealership to take a test drive are more motivated to buy a vehicle.

So, rather than simply putting all your attention on more sales, the goal is to get more test drives.

This Changes Everything

For a House Painter, the target is “estimates.” For a Realtor, the target is “showings.”

Figuring out this target, the number before the number changes the way we approach the problem of sales and marketing.

The challenge goes from being either overly broad, “how do I reach more people?” or myopically focused on transactions, “how do we sell more?” to the one thing most likely to drive the result we ultimately need.

If you can identify One Number that is likely to increase sales, then your focus, energy, and actions will shift to driving those results.

When you know that more test drives get more sales, your efforts should focus on getting more test drives. The sales will come.

Do you know your number?

What is your target? What activity drives more sales for you?

Even when you’re running a non-profit or you’re serving on the board of your church, there is a sale involved. There is also a point just before they become a donor or join your church that increases the likelihood of their commitment.

It’s critical to identify the target action most likely to make that happen.

What is your number before the number?

Are you solving the right problem?

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