"Failure is a part of life. Failure is a part of achievement. Straight up." - Rachel Hollis
Happy 2021.
With a new year, comes new goals - right? Usually. But this year is different. To me, and maybe for many others who struggle with yearly goals, this year feels more like a re-adjustment of last year's vision. Now with a better lens, a better sense of who we are, and a better idea of where we really want to go. 2020 has allowed us to refocus on the things that really matter and how we can work more efficiently towards our goals, our values and the person we want to be - both professionally as a small biz owner and personally too. So...same goals, new me? Kind of.
Last week, as I was confronting the realization of a reinvigoration of my old goals, I stumbled on Rachel Hollis' podcast, "How To Make Your 2021 Different From Your 2020", where Rachel talks about building efficiencies for success through a calendar audit, acknowledging failure as a path to growth, and what is called the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule. If you don't know this rule, which I can NOT stop thinking about, it basically says that 20% of your effort should give you 80% of results. Simple.
In a nutshell, it's about achieving more by working less. It's about focusing on heavy, difficult, money-making things on your to-do list and leaving the easier, low-hanging fruit items for last. So less binging and scrolling and more scheduling and monotasking.
To me, 80/20'ing it means being your most efficient, fine-tuned, eating, living clean self. But being efficient is not ignoring the things you need, it's knowing what you need at the time you need it. To that end, I created a list of 6 things I WILL STOP DOING in 2021 to be more 80/20. (I invite you to join me!)
Waisting time worrying about things I can't change. Ugh. Can we please stop doing this in 2021. Is it possible? I'm not sure. But I'd like to find a way to meditate away the anxiety, hold my head up high to imposter syndrome, and tell failure to: BRING IT ON. As Rachel says, “Your fear of failure will keep you from ever doing anything of worth for the rest of your life. So figure it out now. Because it’s controlling you.” I'll work to circle myself with supportive people who help to drive my business toward success. I will not question my own capabilities, instead I will celebrate and draw focus on my abilities.
Rabbit Hole scrolling. You know what it is, you've been doing it and we all need to stop. When one post, brings you to another post and you just can't stop. You waste hours mindlessly scrolling when you could have been reading, writing, SLEEPING - preparing to crush tomorrow.
Leaving white space on my calendar. It's proven that when you block out your day with the important tasks that bring in positive results, you are more productive. Calendar white space is simply an invitation to waste time. Also, as Rachel mentions in her podcast, doing a calendar audit of previous months will help you determine what tasks are actually giving you the most positive results.
Being tempted by ads. Oh you know those Ads of EXACTLY what you what you want. So tempting. But if you are working on a task, don't be tempted, because you know that the click, will lead to a whole feed of clicks then to a website, you get the idea. So instead of clicking, I'll just bookmark it. Come back when my important stuff is done.
Finishing what I started. Don't stop unless there's a real life emergency. Let the tag, the DM, the text, the phone, the door all go unanswered. And just finish the task you started before allowing yourself to be distracted. I like to set a timer with 30 minute intervals of complete uninterrupted time. Try it.
Keeping it simple, stupid. Finally, a favorite of anyone over 45: K.I.S.S. or Keep It Simple Stupid. A professional victim of bureaucracy and paperwork, I constantly need to remind myself that one of the reasons why I went into business for myself was to NOT overcomplicate things. It will give me time to focus my efforts on the things that matter and on growing my business.
Now your list may be different but either way, like a resolution, in order for anything to stick it needs to resonate with your own goals, values, beliefs and why. Ok, now let's start crushing 2021.
Stay positive,
