Stop Making 'One Day' Promises

Stop promising yourself and those around you "One day it will be different".There is always going to be another thing

Have you ever said "if I can just get [thing] done", "once [thing] is complete", "once [thing] is up and running", "once I've got [them] up to speed"...

What is it you are promising to yourself or your family which never quite happens?

Is it time, head space, holidays, less stress?

How about being a bit less exhausted? grumpy? distracted? A bit more your real self?

....."one day" promises don't work.

Confession. This blog should really be written by my wife. For most of my working life I have focused on each challenge as it came, always finding another area to make better, another problem to fix, another idea. I promised one day would be different for years, and that is a big part of why I took the decision to sell my business last year.

However, during the preparations to sell, I learnt the most important lessons in avoiding one day promises.

Hard truths

• You will never have enough time
• You will never stop being concerned about standards
• You will never stop finding things that can improve
• You will never stop having good ideas
• It will never be perfect
• They will never be perfect
• There will never be the "right" amount

Practical Solutions

It's not ok to keep making one day promises. You and those around you deserve better, work on it this week, make sure it happens. How? This is what I did:

• Delegate

You must get comfortable with delegation. Find a way to break tasks into simple explainable processes, identify the right person to do them and then provide training and support. Recruit if you need to (and can afford to).

• Take longer

Accept that some things will need to take longer. Do this thoughtfully, what could wait without significant negative consequence.

• Stop non-essential tasks

It sounds obvious but think about everything you do, even the seemingly small things, do you really need to do them? Get rid of everything non-essential, from unsubscribing to emails, to unproductive business relationships, quoting to clients who never commit to order, could the weekly meeting become monthly, quarterly or a phone call?...these small things build up. 

• Saying no

"No" is the route to having more time. Nothing keeps your diary clear like "no". Understand what helps you, or you feel really helps others in a meaningful way to you and say no to as much of the rest as possible.

• Book the "one day" time in your diary 

Whatever this is; holiday, family time, friends, exercise, relaxation, date nights... book it into your diary like a client meeting. Then follow client meeting rules, importantly:

• always reschedule rather than cancel it and only when truly unavoidable,
• don't check your emails during it,
• don't answer phone calls till after it.

An accountability mentor is an excellent way of making sure you commit to making this change, they should also support you in solving these challenges and help when making judgements on what should get your time .

Getting the balance right is really difficult but well worth the effort.

Thank you for reading. To read other blog posts click here: pivotaluk.co.uk/my-blog 

For a free consultation (business mentoring, advice or consultancy), please contact me at chansen@pivotaluk.co.uk

I have been lucky enough to successfully buy, grow, mature, sell and exit my own business. I now use this experience to help other business owners on their journey.

Retained Advisor // Mentor or Coach // Strategy // Business Health Check