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Staying Focused and Getting Things Done

June 8th, 2009 View Comments

You probably spend a lot of time online, right?

I know I do.  Although I enjoy interacting with my three other employees and talking to a few clients, most of my time is spent at the computer.  I market my businesses and e-commerce sites online, I network online, I learn online.

And that’s just work.  When I’m not working, I’m checking the news online, I shop online, etc.  (You get the point.)

Given this, I constantly ask myself: “Am I actually getting things done?”

Is it just me?  Or do you ask yourself that too?  Before you answer that, imagine this…

When I was at a recent conference in Atlanta, one of the speakers asked the audience:  “How much time do you actually spend each day building and growing your business?  Be honest.”

(Now keep in mind that the audience was filled with hundreds of online marketers and business people.  They even admitted that they tend to work 10 to 12 hours per day.)

The answer?  Only about one-third said 1–2 hours or more!  And only two people in the entire audience said 4 hours or more each day.

I was one of those people.

So, when I noticed that only one other person had their hand up, I was tempted to take mine down.  After all, there were HUNDREDS of people in the room.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I am pretty strict with how I use my time.

So what do you think?  I’d love to hear your comments below.  Am I that unusual?  With so many potential distractions online, how much time per day do you actually spend building and growing your business?

I really want to hear back from you about this.

(After all, I’m teaching SEO and other Internet marketing courses.  If my students can barely find an hour per day to use it, I should probably be including training on how to stay focused and get things done.)

Popularity: 32% [?]

  • When I think about what 'growing my business' means I immediately think about networking, online and off, and so my answer would be "I spend very little time per week building my business." I am am busy working with clients and learning the latest industry must-dos, and so I barely get in much time for anything else - what I need are employees to do that for me while I build my business! :)
  • boockit
    Maybe one hour,who knows? I really want to focus,but too many things happening distract me,you know,death of MJ,twiter,friendfeed, i want to catch up with everything,maybe I AM LOST.
    feeling bad.
  • Don't worry Fiona. Help is on the way. Stay tuned. I have some ideas.
  • HELP!

    I've usually been good at prioritizing and managing my time, but I've just spent an entire 10-hour day GETTING NOTHING DONE!

    Phone. Email. Phone again. Halfway through reading a report. Phone again. Buy business supplies I can't put off anymore. More email. Phone again.

    Any readers here have any practical advice - even if it's "go stick your head in a bucket of cold water" - when you have days like this?

    Fiona
  • Braxton
    The biggest challenge I face is implementing the things I learn. When there are 30 things your could do, how do you determine which ones are the most relevant? Because of that I end up spending all day reading about what I should do and never actually doing anything.
  • I know what you mean. The question would then become "Is the reading I am doing actually helping my business?" I'm sure sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. But is it 80/20 or 20/80? There is no end to information. So being choosy is important, right?
  • I'd be doing much better if I wasn't being pulled away from work to read this blog! ;)
    Much of what I do is education so I don't mind being pulled away for educational reasons. However, I def get into some gray areas with how I categorize educational readings.
  • Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad to hear you are doing well, Kevin.
  • Corey,
    I spend a minimum of 20 hours a week marketing, promoting and growing our company. As the economic down turn has hurt many businesses, ours have actually grown to the point of 3 employees. I credit you and your guidance to our success.

    KJr
  • I admittedly spend most of my time handling urgent items, client calls and just "whatever". I work roughly 12 hours per day and definitely don't spend most of that working on my to-do list. That said, at least 11 of the 12 hours are "getting things done", its just stuff that I should probably be delegating or subordinating rather than processing as it comes it. The client service model is a tricky one though. I believe interacting with the client and serving their needs is the most important thing, so often that pulls me from what I have defined on my list each day.
  • I have been taking note of a series of things that I do. Perhaps.
  • Wes
    For those of us who still have a day job and are trying to get our online businesses off the ground at night, staying focused and getting things done is definitely something that I need help with. Also, prioritizing those things too. I would definitely include it in your training. Great added value! Corey - how about a podcast on that subject?
  • Interesting. Personally, I don't think cold calling is a good use of time. I seldom take clients anymore. But if I did, it would only be by referral. It works a lot better that way. (IMHO, that is.)
  • I am estimating I spend 2-3 hours per day 'growing my business' but my definition is very broad. It could include updating my own site, enhancing my skills & knowledge, communicating with associates and clients in such a way as to enhance my reputation, cred, & name recognition, using sites like Twitter (which I am very strict about, and try to use "only" for business), writing a blog post, replying on blogs :-) , financially investing in my business, teaching classes (and prepping educational materials), I am sure there's more.

    What I do NOT do enough of is cold-contacting potential clients, which I am sure is the biggest pitfall of just about all businesses!
  • Oh yes, I think all those things are building and growing your business. It's a question that each one has to answer personally. Really, using twitter could be growing your business or it could be a total waste of time. It depends on your point of view and how you are going about it. Right?
  • As far as getting things done, I guess it depends on what is meant by building and growing your business & what your actual business is. Does it mean learning techniques to do your job better, more efficiently? Working on things that will bring people to your site in the future and thus get more business- SEO, networking, etc.? Or if you have an ecommerce site improving the site to get more sales or adding more products?

    For instance, if I am adding products to our ecommerce site and get in a groove I'll work straight out 8-10 hrs and add a number of things. I feel this is growing the business because more products will hopefully mean more sales.

    Another day will be a number of hours researching new products and contacting potential manufacturers. While this is different it certainly falls under building and growing a business. And I'd work on this again 8+ hours in a normal workday.

    Sometimes I wonder what people actually spend the other 8 hrs out of a 10 hr day on if they are not doing things that add value to the business. Too many youtube videos or fantasy football? I think that would be work to spend that much time on time wasters. But I'm always amazed at how much time people who are working waste on things not related to work while at work.
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