Sorting Out Your To-do's

Lately, I have been becoming quite obsessed with changing the direction of my life & everything in it, including my finances, my health, my business & the processes that make it function.

I’m not sure if this momentum has come from the podcasts I have been listening to the last year, rapidly approaching 50 & being an empty nester within a few years or maybe I’ve got to a stage in my life where I now have a little more time to put myself first!

Of course, being the creative that I am, my head is constantly overflowing with ideas- usually at 3am, when I’m lying awake, looking at the ceiling!

So I’ve now got the problem of all these amazing life altering, earth rearranging ideas & the feeling of being totally overwhelmed. How to proceed with the first step? How do I even work out what the first step should be?

I was mulling over this for a couple of days until I read a paragraph in the book I am currently reading- Rich Woman by Kim Kiyosaki.

In this book, Kiyosaki explains the concept of BE- DO- HAVE. This principle is used when you are overwhelmed with all the to-do’s that need to be done & not knowing where to start.

By focusing on the HAVE, you can work backwards to work out the BE & the DO.

For example… part of my business goals this year is to automate & streamline as many processes as possible. With a handmade business, so much of my time is trading hours for dollars. That is, I get paid for each garment I make & as fast as I can sew, there will always be a cap on how much I can earn. There are only 24 hours in a day. So, my goal is to make as many of the mundane chores easier, such as bookwork etc.

So, my HAVE is having a business that flows smoothly. In this case, I needed a system that made invoicing & payments quicker, saving me time to do the thing I love most- sewing!

Working backwards, my BE would be that I need to be aware & open to new & emerging software that can help me achieve this result. When I did this, I found the solution I needed for this problem.

That left the DO….. I spent a morning setting up a function (the doing) in my accounting software (MYOB) that allowed customers to access their invoices online, along with easy payment methods, there in the same portal. Although setting this up took me a while, it will save me plenty of time in the future. Instead of checking bank records for paid invoices, a notification is emailed to me. Instead of wasting energy wondering if such & such customer has read their invoice, I can access all this info via the portal. Instead of using up my brainwidth, trying to keep on top of who’s paid what, reminders are given when an invoice hasn’t been paid.

Has this method of sorting out my to-do’s solved all my problems? No, but it has sure has given me a great foundation to know where to start. Starting with the most important goal, I have been able to work out what I want to HAVE & work backwards, working on manageable steps that is actually giving me some results!

I would love to know what goals you have planned, both personally & in your business. Let me know in the comments below.