Hello Doug,

This has been an interesting week for our country! The government shutdown and political bickering has been unbelieveable! People we elect to represent us are carrying on like spoiled children on a playground. This was a combination of "reality TV" and "Deal or no Deal". Anyway, after all of the fighting, mudslinging and "non-negotiating", it looks as though we have a slight reprieve until January. Hopefully, America can get back on it's feet (despite these elected officials) and prosper in the future.

All of this got me to thinking as to why Capitol Hill and many entrepreneurs wait until the last minute to try to get things done, only to become paralyzed with overwhelm to the point that everything falls through the cracks. Hopefully there are some tips that you may find beneficial. By the way, if you want to send this article to your favorite elected official on Capitol Hill, you have my permission!

Get More Done In Your Business By Doing Less

by Doug Mattice

When I am talking to business owners, I am intrigued by the amazing ideas and cool things that they want to do. There are so many opportunities that they want to take advantage of and so few things that they want to actually let go of in order to make room for them.

The problem with this thinking, is that they end up with too much. It gets to a point that they no longer know what they have, or where they have it. They lose all sense of priority and don't know what's really important. They stop doing what they enjoy the most and definately lose sight of what is the best return for their investment of time and energy. They lose sight of what will bring them closest to their goal.

Service-based entrepreneurs are very creative. This creativity produces more ideas which leads to trying to do more in order to achieve everything that they want. But in many cases, it becomes confusing and overwhelming to them and their customers.

The only way to create a thriving and sustainable business is to first evaluate your options. Second, decide which things you will do and which you won't, and finally, get into ACTION and do it!

Letting go of these "creative" ideas can be challenging, so here's a three step process that I recommend you follow.

I. Evaluate: Gather all of your ideas. Your to-do lists, scraps of paper and notes and the ideas floating around in your mind. Create two lists, one for the quick and "easy" ideas that you can implement in less than two hours, or have someone else do, and a second list with your bigger ideas that require multiple steps, and will require significant time and energy to complete.

II. Decide: Review and consider the questions below so you can identify the top five quick things and one (at most two) bigger ideas to become involved with.

• What results do you expect by doing this? Will doing this increase your revenue or client base? Is it an idea to save you time, energy or improve the quality of your life?
• Does the idea or project fit into what you are already doing and into your larger goals?
• Does doing this project eliminate the need to do something else?
• Does the idea sound like fun? Are you excited about putting your time and energy into it?

III. Act: Decide when and how you will do these few projects. For the quick things you can either block out blocks of time on your calendar or simply keep your short list handy for those times when you have an hour or two between things. For the bigger project I suggest taking a few moments to identify the first few steps of the project and plan to do at least one step every single day so it continues to progress.

ACTION TIP: It's not about doing it all, it's about continually moving something forward! 

I hope you have a great and productive day! As always, I welcome your feedback. Please email me at dougmattice@o2ecoaching.com

Doug Mattice

Business Strategist and Coach

www.o2ecoaching.com