Give yourself a Gift this Christmas ...

... Time is your most precious asset and here's why:

Here is a conversation I have heard a few times (Paraphrased of course …)

“I only have limited amount of time which is split between running my business and everything else in my life, my partner, my children, my wider family and oh yes myself. Everybody wants something from me either inside or outside my business. All the decisions and responsibility rest on my shoulders. Who else is going to make this happen? So, I can’t even get the time to stop and think about where this business could be or how I am going to get there? Having that time would be nice, but I just can’t afford to …”

Does that sound familiar?

If it does then in the spirit of Christmas I am going to ask you to give yourself the best gift of all. Time.

Get out your diary, online calendar or phone. Select a time this week. Don’t put it off. Block out a meeting with your most important client. Yourself. When the time comes, take a piece of paper and a pen. Go somewhere where you cannot be contacted and unlikely to be distracted. Take 5 minutes, an hour even half a day. Sit down and just look at that paper and write down whatever comes into your mind. Don’t do anything with it. Write it down and continue writing until you are empty or until the coffee is finished.

You are your business’s most important asset and giving yourself time to stop and think is the most important thing you can do. Make it a discipline. Make it more important than any customer. Unless you are clear in visions, clear in what will be delivered and clear in how you can move forward you will constantly jump from next to next rather than achieving the things that make your business grow and make best use of your time.

If you still think that this sounds frivolous, that you have a million other things to do and you cannot afford the time, I’ll ask you one last question:

For the growth of your business, for the clarity of thought and direction and for you and those important to you – can you really afford not to?