Guest Post - Are You a Time Junkie? by Andrea Feinberg

You know what I'm talking about:

- You find yourself running around, with never enough time to get everything done

- Your to-do list is a mile long and seemingly getting longer by the minute

- You end each day wondering why almost everything you planned to do still needs your attention and you wonder 'what the heck did I accomplish today?'

Well - you're far from alone. In fact, over the past 11 years, I've coached hundreds of entrepreneurs and long-time business owners who have found themselves in the same exhausting position. Some were stuck in a rut, unable to achieve their goals because just maintaining the status quo was taking everything they had. Others wanted to sell their business and move on but found themselves unable to break free and wondering 'who'd ever want to buy this headache?' Over the years, a number of powerful strategies revealed themselves. Through experimentation, I discovered they have universal power to heal the Time Junkie business owner and turn her into a visionary, well-balanced master of her universe (her business). In fact, they became the basis for my newly published, first book: "Time Junkie - 101 Ways for Business Owners to Break the Habit and Get More Free Time NOW!"

Here are 6 of those strategies that, while initially freeing up hours in a week, will lead to a far more valuable result: a well-run business without the owner's ongoing presence. And this is a prerequisite for the owner to focus on her/his primary task: building the business as his primary product and asset. Think you might want to sell your business one day? Don't pass by these important tips.

Tip #1: Stop taking on so much responsibility that your time is no longer yours. Empower employees to have confidence and relevant levels of authority to make smart decisions. Once this is achieved you can delegate at will and focus on the work only you can do.

Tip #2: Learn to move forward without becoming bogged down by the past (you know you are!) We all have a tendency to wonder 'what if' or 'I wish I'd done x' over past events. The problem with this ongoing looped conversation is its power to take hold and prevent us from focusing on the very real opportunities we have now, directly in front or ahead of us; we lose track and we lose time. Best way to deal with this is to discover the lesson in the past and apply it to the present, improving performance or possibilities. Learn now to forgive - yourself or others - and you'll gain insight as well as time.

Tip #3: "Knowledge is power" is actually very far from the truth. Here's an old adage I'd love to see modified: knowledge is power only if it leads to action and change! The reason the personal development industry continues to grow so fast is because people are willing to continually open their wallets - to cd's, events, workshops, retreats, books and more - and think that's the important step that will change their lives and business. It ain't so! Only when you apply these investments to changed behaviors, attitudes, expectations and assumptions will knowledge truly become the powerful force for change you sought. Otherwise, you're wasting time with investments that are not giving you the return you expected and you're missing the opportunities (and time savings) they could provide if you apply the lessons.

Tip #4: Schedule your day so you can handle unexpected situations without throwing your whole day out of whack. Here's a bit of irony: people tend to think that by packing their day full of tasks and activities they'll get more done. So what happens when the unexpected comes along? It throws everything out the window and you do little else except worry about how to handle the prior commitments AND the new attention-getter. If you schedule just 65% of your day not only can you comfortably attend to what you've identified as important, you can also easily be responsive to the unexpected events, opportunities or emergencies that you know will arise.

Tip #5: Hire a top-flight team that can handle most of your daily operations, leaving you free to do what you do best. If you believe I AM the business or believe that only you can get work done the way it's 'supposed' to get done, you're travelling down a path of diminishing returns. You'll get trapped by less important tasks that are below your pay grade while you're not developing the team that can add value to your business and free up your time to envision the bigger picture, strategize plans, nurture relationships and alliances or just relax once in a while (remember relaxing?)

Tip #6: Ask for help without feeling like a failure or that you're letting yourself down by not knowing how to do it all. This is a lesson I learned a long time ago: if we ask help of someone who's in a position to provide it without feeling pressure or resentment, not only do we get the assistance we need (and the time we would have spent struggling with a difficult task), we also give another person a gift of pride and acknowledgment for their skills and ability to contribute. A win-win if I ever heard one! While implementing the changes I recommend, you'll be adding value to your business AND finding ways to make more money with every hour you gain!

Want more tips like these? For a limited time a special report: '5 Ways to Get More Free Time and Super Productivity from Well-Run Meetings' is available along with the Time Junkie Book. http://www.timejunkiebook.com/

Andrea Feinberg is the President and Founder of Coaching Insight. She helps businesses discover and leverage the many intangible and hidden treasures you and your business possess in order to expand your effectiveness. Andrea can be reached at 631.642.7434 or andrea@coachinginsight.com