As an entrepreneur, how do you prioritize investing in personal development or caring for yourself? One easy way to assess your performance in this area is to take a look at the chart below and estimate what percentage of your time is spent in each column.
If you are like most of the entrepreneurs I work with, you probably spend WAY more time focusing on the left side of the chart than the right.
In fact, I’ve often found that there is an underlying belief among many entrepreneurs that spending time on developing and caring for themselves and their leadership is a waste of time. Sure, most won’t say it outright, but their lack of investment of time and resources to the activities on the right side of the chart is a clear indicator of their priorities.
One of my goals is to help you flip that script and come to understand that the time you spend developing the areas on the right will have a significant positive impact on the key business areas on the left.
Investing in yourself needs to be a necessary use of your time!
And speaking of your time…
Let’s dive into time management, because if there is one thing I hear entrepreneurs say over and over again, it’s “I don’t have enough time.”
In reality, whether you feel that you have an abundance of time or no time at all, it all comes down to your mindset. Maximizing your time will help create the space you need to invest in strategic activities on both sides of the chart above.
I’m often tempted to have a scarcity mindset when it comes to time - “I don’t have enough time to do X, Y, and Z.” When I’m trapped in that way of thinking, it kills my productivity and opens the door to fear & anxiety and burnout.
Instead, I want to cultivate a mindset of abundance and engage in activities that will help me to work within a state of flow so that I can accomplish more with my day. Does that sound appealing? Let’s get started.
The Cost of Time Drainers
To maximize our time, it’s vital to realize our weak spots. When you look at your workday, what things present the biggest drain your time?
Career Builder and Ask.com asked thousands of people that question and here’s what they found:
We have so many things that compete for our attention. If we are not intentional, we will spend very little time on the meaningful work that we pictured when we started on our entrepreneurship journey.
Not only that, but distractions are incredibly costly. Microsoft commissioned a study to find the true cost that time drainers have on our productivity and economy. Here is what they found:
We are losing an incredible amount of time and it is costing us a lot of money. So what’s the answer? How can we reclaim that time?
Before we talk about what does work, let’s take a look at what doesn’t.
The Myth of Multitasking
I’ve found that many entrepreneurs believe they are great at multitasking. It’s understandable, entrepreneurship often requires wearing a lot of different hats and it’s tempting to wear them more than one of them at a time.
There is only one problem with that. Multitasking is not a thing. We talk about it, and even value it, but our brains are not wired to do more than one thing at once.
The neuroscience on this is super clear, when we try to do more than one thing at a time, it is a productivity killer! One study from Cornell University tested recall between a single-focus group and a multitasking group. They found the single-focus had 2X the recall memory when compared to the multitasking group. They also had a 12% boost in recognition memory and were 20% more effective at tasks.
On average, when we respond to interruptions, every task takes us 5 minutes to respond and 10 minutes to get fully back on task. That is 15 minutes to respond to every interruption!
Our minds are optimized to work best in states of focus and flow! Let’s dive into both of those ideas in a bit more detail.
FOCUS - Follow One Course Until Successful
How can we amplify our focus?
- Honor a personal commitment to single-task focus
- Practice mindfulness on the task at hand; mind wanders, return to the task
- No social media during time lock
- Most critical single tasks before high volume minor tasks
Most people are familiar with the idea of a time-lock. A couple of popular methods include the Pomodoro Technique or the practices detailed in Deep Work by Cal Newport.
Personally, I find that Newport’s method works best for me. If you haven’t explored these before, I suggest that you research both and experiment to see what works best for you.
Either way, the end result is the same: Focus on a single, complex task for a set amount of time, ruthlessly eliminate distractions during that time, and enjoy the reward of seeing your productivity exponentially multiplied.
States of Flow
When we engaged in focused work, we optimize our brains to enter a State of Flow, which is a huge buzzword in productivity circles.
What does it really mean? In a 2002 study by Nakamura & Csikszentmihali, when people enter a state of flow, they become completely absorbed and “at one” with the task. When this happens, our experience extends beyond productivity and begins to impact our mental wellness. We feel better, are more inspired, and feel less drained. Time and anxiety dissipate.
For example, public speakers can often be on stage for an hour and afterwards report that they cannot remember what they just said. Artists are known to disappear for hours or days when they enter states of flow.
To get to this state, scientists show us that we need a combination of high skill and high challenge. Think about people like Michael Jordan. Yes, he certainly had plenty of skill, but he was also challenged by the people around him, resulting in states of flow that were very evident to the generation that grew up watching him completely dominate his sport.
If that is flow, what does the opposite look like? For me, if I’m completing tasks in an area where I don’t have a lot of skill and experience, like creating a marketing plan, I experience anxiety.
As you can see in the chart below, a combination of tasks that require low skill and low challenge lead to apathy. This is why a lot of entrepreneurs burn out, because we are frequently required to operate and do things we could have never anticipated, so we experience anxiety and eventually burnout.
If we want to enhance wellbeing, cultivate creativity, and expand our time, we must learn to capitalize on flow states and zones of genius. This will help us to reduce burnout as we maximize feeling of effectiveness and minimize exhaustion.
Where do we start? Let’s look at the four zones of flow, but let’s look at them in reverse order
Zone 4: Burnout Zone - “Don’t like, not great at it”
- When we’re working in this zone, time drags, distraction is common, and it leads to feeling ineffective, frustrated, anxious, and cynical.
- Like I said before, Zone 4 is creating a marketing plan for me. This will always be the first thing I hire or contract someone else to do.
Zone 3: Zone of Competence - “Don’t really like it, but great at it”
- Although we may be good at it, tasks in this zone lead to boredom and emotional exhaustion.
- Zone 3 for me is definitely accounting. I’m pretty good with numbers and I can keep my own books, but I HATE to do it. Sometimes growing a business requires that I do this on my own, but I work to minimize the time I spend here.
Zone 2: Zone of Growth - “Love it, but not great at it (yet).”
- We can feel some intermittent anxiety as we conquer tasks that we aren’t great at, but that the explosion of growth and challenge overshadow the negative emotions we face.
- For me this is speaking at workshops and conferences. While I really enjoy it, there is much room for improvement.
Zone 1: Zone of Genius - “Love it, and great at it.”
- Here is where we experience the harmonious passion, flow, optimal performance, and timelessness that characterize being in the flow.
- For me, this is training, coaching, and consulting with entrepreneurs and businesses. I’ve done it for years, enjoy it, and feel very comfortable in those situations.
This is what we are shooting for! We want to spend as much time as possible in our zones of genius! To do that, we need to be crystal clear on what activities put us in Zone 1.
Let’s get practical. Take a few minutes and write down all of the tasks that have to happen for you to be successful in your role. Once you have finished, I want you to put each task into one of the zones below.
Let’s do one final thing. Take a look at the tasks in Zone 4 - I want you to write down a couple of strategies for how you can do less of that thing. Now, look at Zone 1 and identify 2 to 3 ways that you can do more of those things over the next few days.
As you implement the strategies above, you will experience the positive impact eliminating Burnout Zone activities has on your mental wellbeing.
Also, working in your Zone of Genius will lead to feelings of passion and timelessness. By simply implementing these key strategies, you can start to combat burnout and promote your mental wellbeing.