As a small business owner you are regularly juggling everything life has to throw at you, so how do you determine what needs to be done right away versus being able to put something on hold? Understanding what your priorities are, and how they play a part in running your business, could be what results in your success or failure!

Let's take a look at why you pursued starting your own business. Were you driven by providing something you believed couldn't be found anywhere else? Or maybe you are able to perform a job more thoroughly and successfully than anyone you've worked with in the past and you wanted to share that success with others. Whatever your reason for tackling such an invigorating task, you are most likely faced with figuring out every second of every day; and you must have a clear understanding of your priorities every step of the way in order to fulfill that purpose and dream.

I've mentioned in a previous blog post [Being Organized] that one of the best ways to remove the stress of trying to keep everything organized is to give the responsibility of maintaining record of your to-do list to someone (or something) else. Think about it: How can you possibly keep up with everything you need to do if you're not able to actually see and understand what that is? This might seem a bit daunting at first, but it will become much easier once you find a tool that fits your needs. Whether you opt to use some kind of online platform that syncs to your mobile devices or you choose to go with an old school planner, you will find relief in knowing that you can see and organize your daily to-do list a bit easier once it's out of your head and in front of your eyes. Personally, I'm a proponent of an online option as it can sync with all of my devices for access wherever I am, while giving me the easy ability to adjust (and readjust) tasks as things change throughout the day.

Once you have a starting point, focus on what your end goal is. More specifically, what do you absolutely need to have completed by the end of the day...possibly even by the end of the hour. By adding a time frame to you list of things to do, it become more clear what items on your list are a top priority. The key to this step is to never lose sight of your Bigger Picture. Knowing where you want to end as a result will provide you with the direction and understanding you need to comb through your list and weed out what's not 100% necessary. This approach will give you the base you need to focus on the task that will drive the growth and success of your business.

This next step might seem like a huge undertaking, especially when you have so much to do: Make a day of it! Let's assume that you will work a regular 8 hour shift on a lighter day at work as a small business owner (a person can dream, right?). Pick a day on your planner and designate and dedicate that day to an 8 hour shift of organizing and planning your next month. Focus on Big Picture items such as launching a social media campaign, organizing a fundraiser for your non-profit startup, or locking down three new investors for you up-and-coming mobile development company. As you hone in on the Bigger Picture items (end results) you are able to start developing a plan of action to accomplish them. Take these items and break them down into daily actions that you can plan and actively understand how each step supports the next (similar to a planning wall). If the proposed task doesn't support your more prominent efforts, then it shouldn't be included in the process (or at the very least, the task should be delegated so you can focus your attention to those Bigger Picture items.

Lastly, you will want to implement a personal and proper approach to your planning and prioritizing. Take on the tasks that you will personally find the most enjoyable and fulfilling. Make sure that you aren't only working as you plan your day-to-day calendar. Block of time for yourself to do something that allows you to break away from being the hungry business owner that you are, but make sure that it's listed on your calendar and that you make yourself as realistically unavailable as possible (this will help keep you away from burning out). It's easy to get caught up in the "work, work, work" mantra of running a successful small business; but if you expend all your energy during the first day, how can you possibly expect to be successful for the next 10, 20, or even 30+ years?

Knowing what matters most and supports your Bigger Picture will help to focus your energy instead of diverting it on tasks that won't amount to much at the end of the day. Take the time to organize your thoughts and objectives, and definitely make it a point to find a tool that you can use every day to keep those ideas organized and in front of you at all times. Always remember to remain flexible with daily changes, and utilize and exhaust all of your resources before you exhaust yourself. It takes a little practice and fine tuning, but once you have your prioritizing processes in place everything becomes crystal clear and a world of possibility opens to you!

I've heard this statement a few times in my life: "Doing nothing is still doing something"; and it wasn't until recently that I started to understand what that meant to me. Have you ever been off work on a beautiful Saturday with a list of projects in mind, but at the end of the day you've somehow managed to finish none of them? That is my personal definition of inaction is still action.

We need to be mindful of the times when we could be accomplishing so much, yet doing nothing instead. This is one of the key points of procrastinating and avoiding tasks at hand. I've narrowed this down to two reason we might choose to do nothing during those times: Either we feel overwhelmed by the list of projects in our head, or the projects simply aren't important to us. The good news is that both of these can be managed so that we turn unnecessary down time into a productive part of our day.

Let's start with feeling overwhelmed by what we want to do. A typical obstacle that people tend to put in from of themselves is attempting to keep everything they need or want to do in their lives organized in their heads. I realized this about myself when I lived in Kansas City. During that time, I worked two full-time jobs, was going to college, my mother was living with me after a car accident, and I was interested in starting a relationship; and that's not including day-to-day responsibilities. I learned then that I needed to remove the responsibility of remembering all of this from myself, and give it to someone (or something) else. It's take a number of years to evolve, but I've gone from a color-coded dry-erase board to keeping all of my appointments and to-do lists online through a platform I can access on any of my electronic devices. I'm able to set notifications and reminders of events, and can keep myself moving forward with a list of daily projects I need or want to accomplish. Now, instead of using a boat load of energy to remember everything I'm suppose to do, I can use that energy to actually do them!

Next is what I believe to be the bigger obstacle of the two: the task or project that you could be working on simply isn't important to you. There's an easy way of dealing with this; however, it may not be the best way: If it's not important to you, don't do it! To say, "Don't go to work if it's not important to you, " could result in your electric bill not getting paid and your electric being turned off. Before you get to that point of not doing the task, start by looking to understand the actual importance of what you could be doing.

Could waking up early and writing for 45 minutes be important to establishing a routine in your day? Maybe putting new shelves in your bathroom is important to your spouse to help organize all the clutter on the counter. I could even be that going outside to clean up trash that has blown into your flower garden might be important to lifting the spirits of someone who happens to walk by. There's a list of ways for our daily tasks and projects to become important enough for us to actually work on them.

This isn't to say that 100% of the projects will need you to complete them, even if they are important. Instead, we need to be able to prioritize what needs to be done today versus what can wait for another day. Again, trying to do this mentally will most likely lead to inaction. Us an organization tool as suggested before, and plan your day in advance so that you know what needs done simply by looking at your list. If there is a project that absolutely needs completed today, but is tipping the scales at whether or not it can be done, re-prioritize your list as your list could change many times throughout the day. Lastly, assess your resources to see if you might be able to delegate or ask for help (look into utilizing the 10-80-10 rule...it's quite helpful).

At the end of the day, your level of accomplishment is entirely up to you. Find a method to help organize your thoughts so that you can use that energy for something more contributing to you life or the lives of others; and remember to take the time to think about why a project could be important before taking the easy path of not doing it at all. When you end your day before going to sleep, isn't it nicer to think about all the items you've checked off your list than to stress about everything you should have been doing instead of sitting on the couch?

I've heard that organization is the key to success, so I'm starting today with a new approach to that understanding. Will things get better? I honestly don't know, but they definitely couldn't get any worse...right?

So, what am I wanting to accomplish from this? To have  a pretty calendar in my email? To have bragging rights about how "organized" I am? As I work to organized my life a bit better, I sit in front of news headlines that read of nothing short of chaos. There's fear and concern throughout every city in the US, right now, due to the Coronavirus pandemic; and I'm sure it's very similar around the world. What will organizing daily  tasks and projects do to help with all of this? Well, my primary hope is that this will provide a strong habit of changing behavior...that it will not so much "force" me to change my approach to my life, but instead provide me with the knowledge that (with a bit of focused energy) I do, in fact, have the time to do the things I want while accomplishing the goals I've set for myself.

If I had to write a list of 10 line items that I look to achieve through being better orgnized, they would focus on the following growth:
- Personal                                 - Spiritual
- Professional                          - Mental
- Creative                                  - Communal
- Educational                           - Environmental
- Interpersonal                        - Physiological

With these 10 areas in mind, below are ten points of interest (possibly more like objectives) I look to achieve through becoming better organized.

     1) Personal
         - I want to give myself the opportunity to focus on a happier, healthier "Me"
     2)Professional
         - Organizing my professional affairs will put myself, the team I'm on, and the company where I                  work in a better position of success
     3) Creative
         - Being better organized will also better direct my time so I am able to learn more creative skills                that will support other aspects found in the these 10 items
     4) Educational
          - It's said that you never stop learning...I just want to make sure that's correct
     5) Interpersonal
          - Chaos in being organized removes patience from personal interactions, and I want to be as                       patient and calm with others as I can be
     6) Spiritual
           - An organized life will objectively provide me with a peace of mind I'd otherwise not have
     7) Mental
           - Instead of focusing on what is on my to-do list, I want to be able to focus on the task at hand                   with a clear mind that is not being interrupted by things that shouldn't be given a ton of energy
      8) Communal
            - A lot of time is devoted to myself, and I want to be more active with my family, friends,                               coworkers, and community
      9) Environmental
            - I mean, can't we all do with a little more focused attention dedicated to our environment in                       which we live
       10) Physiological
            - As I grow older, I obviously move further away from my youth; and while my mind does well                  with growing and maturing, I think the "treat your body as a temple" approach will help me                     hold on to my youth for just a little while longer...and what's so bad about that?

Being organized goes beyond making things look pretty on a board or calendar. The ripple effects have the potential to stretch beyond ourselves; and during a time when our behavior has the strength to impact the masses, shouldn't we take this time to figure out how we can do that more positively than what we were doing prior to 2020?