143. 3 Biggest Time Wasters for Business Owners

Time is one of the most precious resources we have. When I think about successful people, sometimes I’ll ask, “do they have a couple of extra hours each day?” As business owners, there are days when you feel hyper-productive, and so much gets done! But we can also get really tripped, and there are some activities that feel important but are just time wasters.  I do want to highlight two very important considers before we get into those, though:  1) You already know which activities you’re good at. Recognize what those are and let go of the other tasks. Delegate them. 2) Remember your revenue-producing tasks must come first. On the daily, it can be easy to get distracted. Today, I want to get those top three business time wasters out of the way, so you can focus on the revenue-generating tasks. Let’s break down the top three time wasters in business: 1. Social media is not free I know this won't come as a shock to anyone, but social media is not free. It can take up so much of your time. Ask yourself if you’re spending more time on social media as a consumer or as someone who produces content. Social media is addictive. Be aware of where your attention and awareness are going. I'm going to ask you: if you are working on social media and you don't yet have a team who can support you with posting, schedule the time. Set a timer.  2. Comparison despairing game It feels horrible to compare your business to other people's businesses, especially if we are comparing ourselves to other people's social media feeds. We all know that's not real.  Some people will even ask me how I manage all my social posts. I’m not doing that. I write the posts, and sometimes I help choose the graphics, but I have a team. I’m very grateful for them. I delegate. We know what people are posting is gorgeous to look at. But if you're going to see that and consume it as if you're not enough because of the way your life looks or business looks, that is a waste of your time and energy. As I've shared with you guys so many times, 80% of success is your headspace. Only 20% of success is strategy. If you are going to spend time on a platform consuming content to the point that you feel bad about yourself, that is a double whammy. Now you've lost the time; you can't get it back, and your head's not in the right space.  3. Redoing things The biggest time waster for most business owners is redoing things that have already been done, and there are a couple of ways this manifests.  You might be a productive procrastinator. If you’re worried about something new that you’re going to launch, you might be nervous. When we’re nervous, we distract ourselves. Redoing things is a fantastic way to make us feel like we’re being productive when we’re just avoiding what needs to be done. I’m talking about rewriting your About page. Renaming your programs. Changing your brand colors.  If something no longer fits or you've really advanced your business and it's time for a complete overhaul, please don't do it once a year. Once every five is enough, maybe three. There's so much that we could be doing with our time, but we spend so much energy being concerned that we're not “doing it right.” If we do something different in our business, if we talk about our brand differently, or if we take on new strategies, we're not “doing business right.” That is a lie. The only people who've been truly successful at business are the people who break the mold, the people who say, “Oh yeah, I see everybody doing that thing over there. I'm not doing that.” They are the ones who win, so do not be afraid of having to “do things right.” Trust yourself. Other Game On Girlfriend podcast episodes you might want to check out:  Are You a Productive Procrastinator? https://sarahwalton.com/amber/ 6 Tools I’d Use If I Started My Business Today: https://sarahwalton.com/6-business-tools/  How to Create Before You Compare and Despair: https://sarahwalton.com/create/  Must-Have Tools To Show Up Online And Feel Good Doing It: https://sarahwalton.com/trish/  You can check out our podcast interviews on YouTube, too! http://bit.ly/YouTubeSWalton   Learn more about your host by visiting www.sarahwalton.com  Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honored that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts. Then we’ll get to inspire even more people!