In my last post, What NOW?, I talked about building your foundation and scaffolding for your business future and using this time during the pandemic to work ON your business not just in your business. Working on your business means setting up your personal and business systems so that you are ready for growth.
My goal for you is that when we come off of pause in a meaningful and lasting way, you are not just ready to get your business back to where it was. But that you are ready to take your business to the next level because you’ve built a strong foundation and scaffolding that will support your present and your future goals.
So, what does that look like exactly?
Building the Foundational Systems
You are the foundation of your business. YOU.
- Your skills
- Your talents
- Your emotional intelligence
- Your ability to manage yourself and your life
- Your ability to envision, plan and execute your plan
In other words, your quality as the CEO of your career/business will determine your success. So, it may seem weird, but one of the most important things you can do to create success is to develop yourself. I talked about this in my blog post “What is Professional Development and Why Do You Need It?” at the beginning of the year.
In this post, I just want to give you an overview of what aspects of this are most critical for you to develop in order to create a strong, solid foundation for your success.
Time Management Systems
The first and absolutely most important system and structure to put into place in your foundation is Time Management. I call it the Meta System, because all other systems, structures, and activities live inside your time management system (or lack thereof). If your time management doesn’t work, it is likely that nothing else does either.
Time management is both a skill and a structure. And in order to be highly successful, you must have a strong handle on both.
Over the first 2 decades of my career, 95% of my clients have worked on time management at one point or another in our work together. It is that critical. AND it is that big of a challenge for most people. Because we’re not taught time management, and there is so much shame attached it. If you struggle with time management, you are NOT alone. You are NOT broken. And you CAN do this!
Organizational Systems
Your physical organization systems are so closely linked to your time management systems that it can be hard to separate the two. They’re almost of equal importance, in my mind. But it takes time to create your organizational systems, so it’s probably smart to work on Time Management first!
Organization affects everything both personal and professional. Obviously, it affects how long it takes you to find stuff and a lack of organization makes it easy to misplace things and let opportunities, projects and deadlines fall through the cracks.
Surprisingly, it also directly affects your emotions and mood. We are deeply affected by our environment – so creating a clear, aesthetically pleasing and highly functional environment will impact everything from your levels of anxiety and depression to your confidence in your ability to succeed.
And just as an aside, being organized doesn’t necessarily mean being neat. Some of the most efficient and effective leaders have a messy desk, but they KNOW where everything is. They have a system – even if it’s only apparent to them.
Emotional Intelligence
This is a big bucket term that includes understanding and managing your own emotions as well as understanding and having empathy for other people’s emotions. Emotional intelligence affects your ability
- To manage your stress,
- To manage other people’s stress,
- To communicate effectively and negotiate effectively,
- To create rapport and connection.
And most importantly, emotional intelligence is a set of skills that can be learned. You can improve your emotional intelligence at ANY age. If you want to accelerate that process, working with a coach is recommended.
Money Management Systems
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this, “I’ll create a system for my money when I have some!”
What a huge mistake. I’ve seen it over and over again with clients – when your money system is in order, more money flows in. Call it the Law of Attraction, if you want. I don’t know why it works. I only know that it absolutely does work!
Once you’ve got your time management, physical organization, emotional intelligence and money management handled, then on that strong foundation, you can build the scaffolding for your business.
What is missing from your Foundation? What are you working on now?
