Biz Coach Steve

Tag: time management

  • 1 Percent Rule

    1 Percent Rule

    The 1% rule is simple: improve just 1% each day. The idea is that if you do this, the good habits you develop stack over time. You can’t be a master in one day. You have to improve a little every day. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you won’t be either.

    Stop focusing on the end result and start paying attention to the process.

    It doesn’t take much to do every day, but it also doesn’t take much to NOT do it. The difference is a slippery slope. Are you going to be the person who improves 1% each day or the one who gets worse each day? If you think staying the same is an option – it’s not. Every day you don’t get better, you simply get worse.

    So when it’s nighttime and you’re winding down for bed, ask yourself:

    “What have I done today to improve by 1 tiny percent?”

    Improve a little each day. It compounds. When 1% compounds every day, it doubles every 72 days, not every 100 days. Compounding tiny excellence is what creates big excellence.”

    72 days later you might be twice the person you are today. Think you can’t manage that? Let’s do some math. Compounding creates fast results.

    Assuming you get roughly 8 hours of sleep a night, that’s 16 waking hours for you to do something to improve. 16 x 60 minutes = 960 minutes. 1% of 960 is 9.6. If you add just 10 minutes of something positive into your life each day, you’ll become unstoppable.

    One of the most important discoveries in the field of psychology and success is that fully 95% of what you think, feel, do and achieve is the result of habit.  Since childhood, you have developed conditioned responses that lead you to react, often unthinkingly to situations in life.  The exciting thing is that all habits and skills are learned. New, good habits and skills can be learned through conscious practice and repetition.  Likewise, old, poor habits can be un-learned.

    The 1% Formula is based on the Law of Incremental Improvement…basically, that by the yard it is hard, but inch by inch it’s a cinch?

    Do you believe it is possible to improve your overall productivity, performance, and output by 1 percent in the next 24 hours? Will you commit to increasing your productivity and performance by 1% each day?

    My answer is YES…If you continually learn, study, and upgrade your skills, clarify and re-clarify your goals, set better and clearer priorities and focus on progressively more valuable tasks…You can increase your productivity and performance by 1 percent each working day…day after day…indefinitely!

    How can you improve by 1% each day?

    Every day, try to wake up and think, “how can I be a little better?” If you forget in the morning, that’s OK. You have 16 other hours in the day to remember.

    If you read 5 pages a day from non-fiction books, then in a year you will have read 1830 pages of knowledge. And each page you read will build upon the pages you’ve read before.

    And it’s 1830 pages 99% of people won’t read. Most people don’t pick up a book after age 20.

    If you write 1000 words a day, then in one day that’s nothing. In one year that’s the equivalent of 6-8 novels.

    Every day matters.

    The 1% Rule can be applied to everything. If you spend 1 less minute feeling regret and use that to feel gratitude, how much better will your stress levels will that be in one year.

    Stress is 100% reverse correlated with a longer healthier happier life. With more money. With more love. With more creativity.

    Every habit can be built using this technique.

    Actions are outside of the head or body. Take 1% action per day.

    It doesn’t happen in one day. There are no goals. There’s only practice. Practice never makes perfect. Practice makes you happy. Practice makes habits.

    What is something you can do 1% of to grow your business today?

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, Author, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops, and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • So many sites, so little time! How to prioritize social media efforts

    So many sites, so little time! How to prioritize social media efforts

    Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Snap, and on and on.

    In today’s business environment you MUST have some social media presence.  Your organization leader(s) are open and primed for social media, and they understand the need to stand out, and to be competitive you must have a presence on social media. Now, you’re ready to dive into the social media scene … but, into which pool?

    Navigating the online social media waters can be tricky. With choices galore, it can be difficult to distinguish where your organization should have a presence. Do you become the industry Facebook king or the region’s Twitter authority? Or maybe LinkedIn is the way to go, mixed in with some notable blog posts? Rather than playing guess-and-click with valuable resources, we’ve outlined five easy-to-follow steps to streamline your social media prioritization efforts!

    Step 1: Consider the time investment
    First, take stock of soft resources. How much time do you or your staff have to devote to social media activities? This number of hours will delineate how many tools your team can strategically take on without running the risk of being spread too thin and not making an impact.

    Take a close look at the hours worked each day by individuals whom you plan on being social strategists or implementers. Is there time available in their schedules, or can some things be shifted around? Also, gather their feedback on the commitment they would like to give to the effort. You may be surprised by their feedback.

    Step 2: Compare the platforms to match your goals
    Now that you know how much time you’re working with, compare each platform to align with your company’s marketing goals. Does the one or two social media platforms you select accomplish the goals in your annual & monthly strategic plans.  If “Yes” get posting. If “No” move on and don’t waste your time on that platform.

    If you are in a creative industry (bakery for example), Pinterest and Instagram may be your primary platforms and Facebook your secondary.  B2B organizations may be on LinkedIn and Twitter as their primary, with Facebook as their secondary.  Every organization must find out which platform serves their purpose the best.

    Step 3: Go where your target audience hangs out
    Many businesses think if they build it everyone will come.  Not in social media.  The platforms have been built and each platform attracts certain audiences.  Now, can your business be on all the social media platforms available?  Yes, but why would you do that to yourself?  If you have a large organization and a large social media team that is a different story. 

    However (as you likely know from personal experience), you need to be on the social media platforms where your target market is already congregating.

    Hop online, do some research to find out where your target market resides. The best research you can do to find out where your target market hangs out is to just simply ask your current and prospective clients.

    Step 4: Get a feel for the community
    Once you’ve determined which platform has the greatest potential for your business, it’s time to “lurk.” Lurking is a common term in the social sphere, used to describe the online behavior of feeling out a community’s inner workings before actively participating and engaging with its members. Observing a community and its influential members will give your organization an even more solidified idea of where its social media priorities should stand. This step is all about finding your perfect fit.  Think of this as doing detailed research within the platform.

    Step 5: Create and execute a solid marketing plan
    Now’s the moment you’ve been waiting for – setting your business’s social media priorities! You have done your research; know which platform you are going to start on then which platform you are going to go to next.  Take it in steps unless you have a team or dedicated staff members to handle all the social media efforts. Remember, this IS marketing.  You need to have a solid plan in place on the platforms.  Don’t post just to be posting.  Post items that capture your audience’s attention, engages them to act and connect with you.  Create a detailed social medial marketing plan that states what you are going to post, on which platform, on what date, at a specific time.  Provided great content. Define who create the graphics and text for the post.  Who will actually post it? Who will stay engages with others when they respond to your post? 

    If you have staff, then you need to share your strategy with them and have them engaged on the platform you are on.  One business has their staff take turns for 1 hour a day to post and respond on social media.  The staff loves it and it keeps their social media presence fresh and alive. 

    Once you’ve set your social media priorities, it’s time to dive in. Consistently keep your long-term goals in mind, while setting and reaching short-term goals to get there. Keep gauging success along the way, and never stop spreading the word. Before you know it, your organization will be the master of its online domains (pun intended)!

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, Author, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday

  • Time Management is Painful Real leaders do it anyway

    We all want to feel good, and not feel bad. So, we prefer that change be comfortable. Sometimes it is. Most of the time it’s not. If you have ever wanted to “get in shape,” “lose weight,” etc. You think it may be easy. But as is it so often said in the fitness world, “No pain, no gain.” You want to slim your waistline? Bigger muscles? You earn that progress through discomfort. You’re going to sweat, and it’s going to burn. Sure, you’ll feel great afterward, but the process is going to hurt. That’s how you know it’s working. That, and seeing the results when you stick with it over time. Many people really believe that if they go to the gym, look at the machines, not put any effort into the workout, some how will see miraculous results in their body. That is avoiding the discomfort and your results will reflect your input. But, if you schedule time in your day to workout, train with other or a trainer, really push yourself-feel the burn. Your results will be directly related to all that hard work.  Stick with your workout and really see the difference in your body and life.

    Business change works exactly the same way. In my experience as a coach, it’s your relationship to discomfort that makes all the difference. Leadership is a challenge, so working on yourself as a leader should feel like a workout. You are intentionally (stressing intentional) doing things that make you uncomfortable to improve yourself and your business. It’s not easy. But it doesn’t have to lead to burnout. In fitness, it’s called over-training. In business, it’s called overwhelm. Over time, what was uncomfortable in the past is easy and something new will be uncomfortable-that is how you will grow as a leader.

    Having more time in your day is right there for the taking, but you have to accept some discomfort to get there. Over the years, the most successful clients I’ve had are the ones willing to accept this short-term ‘pain’ for the long-term benefit. They live by their calendar and their calendar is filled with revenue generating activities, and activities that are moving the business and their team forward.

    Can you wake up, get ready and leave the house every morning in sixty minutes flat? Can you cut your lunches to thirty minutes for a while instead of an hour? Can you say “No” to some brilliant and fun projects that you know you can’t really focus on and are not moving your business forward? Can you train someone on your staff today to handle three things that you know you shouldn’t be dealing with as the business leader? Are you willing to post office hours for the only times of the day where employees can interrupt you? Having an open-door policy is highly encouraged, but you need to be productive. Having set hours on specific days, where your staff can come and talk to you will increase your productivity. You then put lower level tasks on your calendar during those open-door times. This way if someone wants to speak with you, they are not derailing your thought progress on something bigger. You will be able to hop back on replying to emails or making a few outbound calls.

    It’s your relationship to discomfort that makes all the difference.

    Some of these things may sound easy but putting it into practice is another story. Going out of your normal routine can be very uncomfortable. Just remember why you’re doing this – it’s in the best interest of the business and you as the owner. Most business owner I speak with are filling their day with non-revenue producing activities and are busy being busy.

    In the end, you’ll realize that “I don’t have time” is almost never true, it’s just that you haven’t yet made the difficult choices about how you use your time. And making those choices is the first step to creating a business that works.

    Not enough sales, people problems, cash flow issues, etc. – are all symptoms – they’re all a call to face the discomfort directly and solve it first by making the time. Then you’ll have your strength to be able to lift the real weights of finance or management systems or whatever your business needs next. Just like working out. You need to schedule the time, go to the gym, have a workout routine (so you’re not just wasting time), be committed to a result you are working to achieve.

    It all begins with you.

    What are you going to do today to get more time back to move your business forward?

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, Author, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday