Hey there ,
Sometimes I find myself BUSY all day long...but when I get to the end of the day I have NO idea what I actually accomplished.
I did stuff...but not the stuff that really mattered.
Can you relate?
One of the things I find - for myself, and for my clients - is that sometimes this BUSY is caused by solving problems... that aren't actually problems.
These are things that come up and seem like things that need to be figured out, solved, fixed, adjusted, but in reality they're just things that could be put aside so that we can FOCUS on the things that really do matter most right now.
Often these problems we work so hard to solve are POTENTIAL problems rather than ACTUAL current problems - they're problems we might have, someday rather than ones in our way right this moment.
This week I was talking a client through exactly this issue, and she said, '...but how do I decide which one is which?'
And we came up with (a much less pretty version!) of this:
What we discovered as we worked through her issue was that right off the bat the problem she was thinking about solving was NOT clear.
So step one is to clearly and carefully identify the problem.
I know it sounds silly - we think, 'of course I know what the problem is' - but often times when we go to state it in super specific, clear language, we find that we weren't as sure as we thought... it has 100% happened to me, and was absolutely the case for my client this week.
Once you're clear on the problem, THEN you can jump into the flow here to decide if it's a PROBLEM, a TO-DO, or just NOT anything that needs to be done at all.
In the end, taking the time to pause and decide if a problem is really a problem matters for a could of reasons:
- It saves TIME. If it's NOT a pressing problem, then you don't need to spend your time on it right now (or maybe ever!).
- It creates FOCUS. There's a difference between a problem that's stopping progress today and a problem you'll have to deal with eventually. Not being distracted by the 'eventuallies' means more time and energy on what matters NOW.
- It saves ENERGY. Taking a moment to decide if a problem is, in fact, a problem saves you from running down every rabbit hole between you and your goal...all those trips take energy!
Happy problem-solving (and NOT problem-solving!) :)
Warmly,
Sara
P.S. If you ARE stuck? Or if you just can't make heads or tails of which problems matter and which ones don't?
My jam is helping my clients sort the important from the noise, and simplifying the process that is growing a business.
If you need less noise, fewer problems, and more growth, that's what I do.
To set up a free, absolutely no pressure to say yes 1 hour call to talk about what you're up to and if coaching together would be a good fit, hit reply, or book a time here.
No matter what you decide, you'll walk away knowing what matters and what doesn't for you right NOW.
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