What Do You Want More of in 2024?
The last week of the year is (rightly, I think) a time to reflect on the previous year and think about the coming one. The current year is dying so the new one can take its place.
Maybe that sounds a bit morbid (sorrynotsorry). But what do you want to let go in 2023 and welcome in 2024?
Consider that when old people are asked about what they regret at the end of their lives, they often wish they’d spent more time with family (whether blood-related or chosen.) They wish they’d spent more time on what they loved and less living up to other people’s expectations. They wish they’d done more of their favorite activities.
What you won’t see when you read (or listen) to these stories is a desire to have worked more. To have spent more 12-14 hour days in the office. To have given more time to their employers and less to their families.
What do you want in 2024? Obviously, there are no guarantees. But if you want to spend more time with your family or on the activities you enjoy, you need to cut back on work.
It’s not like love, where the more you have the more you have to give. Time is finite, at least for living beings.
Money, money, money
I think a lot of us (including me) want more money. I don’t need all the money on the planet, and I don’t need to hoard it like male billionaires do. However, I would like to see my business bringing in more money, so I’ll be adding a new offer in 2024 and writing a book. Stay tuned!
As a former financial planner, I think it’s important to see money as a tool. Wealth isn’t a panacea, nor is it something to hoard. It’s not “the number” that’s important, but what “the number” brings you: financial independence so you can live where you want and work when you want – while you can.
Collaborative relationships
Too often, it seems like when people talk about collaboration, it ends up being a sort of referral arrangement. If someone talks about a need they have and you remember that there’s someone in your network who might be able to help, you refer them.
That’s not a bad thing. But I’m talking about something deeper, where the two parties actively collaborate on a shared project. Like maybe a webinar that addresses a problem with different aspects, and each person can address it from their expertise.
With collaboration, I think you have to trust the person more. You don’t want to partner up with someone who isn’t that great at what they do, because then it makes you look bad. It requires more coordination and more work, but the results can be more impressive.
I find it’s also important to partner with people whose values you share. As you might know, I’m against toxic productivity and the idea that every single minute of your day should be filled with something, no matter how meaningless.
We probably won’t work well together if you believe that being busy is truly a badge of honor. (And if you and I have had a conversation and you have an idea for collaboration, feel free to schedule a call with me so we can discuss.)
Better scheduling for improving your productivity
If you own your own business, you probably know when the best time during the day is for important work that requires your focus. Why are you scheduling meetings or responding to emails during this time? Block those hours off on your calendar and don’t accept interruptions.
Do you write or shoot a lot of content? You can be more productive when you batch it all together. If you do a lot of videos, you can batch a lot of them on the same day, just change out your shirt and jewelry. You can still do spontaneous ones too, but batching most of them enables you to be a lot more productive.
I plan out my content calendar twice a year, six months each time. I know the topic for every week, but sometimes I do something different or talk about a new trend or whatever. That way, when I sit down to write or shoot, I know what I’m talking about and can get right to it.
I also schedule out which days I accept calls. Tuesday-Thursday is my time for Zooms and networking, and Mondays and Fridays are reserved for content and planning (mostly).
Creating more time for life outside work
There are 24 hours in everyone’s day. You need 7-8 hours of sleep to be productive and keep your brain and body in good shape. Unless you’re doing some really strenuous physical activity, in which case you need more.
You also need to set aside time for exercise, whatever that looks like for you, and a minimum of half an hour a day.
Also, time to eat. Wolfing down a meal in five minutes isn’t great for your digestive system, plus if you’re eating that fast the food probably isn’t particularly nutritious either. You can combine eating with spending time with friends and family, which is both fun and productive. But not with work, which is actually anti-productive.
If you spend just a half hour on exercise and each meal (more is better for both exercise and meal times), that’s two hours. So now you’ve got ten hours of time that are necessary for your basic functioning and health.
That leaves fourteen hours that you can divvy up. Do you really want to lead your entire life doing the basics of functioning and working the rest? I think every business owner does have to put in the occasional 12 or 14 hour day, that’s just how it goes.
But it shouldn’t be every day. Or you’ll end up being one of those people regretting that they didn’t spend more time with friends, family, and doing other activities they love.
But of course, as a business owner, you don’t want to lose profitability either. But here’s the thing: being at the office 14 hours instead of 8 hours day after day does not result in proportionally more profitability. It’s not a linear equation where every additional hour worked results in $x more dollars.
At a certain point, if you’re working more hours, you’re just busy, not accomplishing the tasks that will really move your business forward. If you know what tasks you need to accomplish – and could get them done in a reasonable amount of time – you’d have more hours in your day with the other people and things you love.
That’s where I come in. What tasks do you need to accomplish each day and how do you get them done without getting swamped in busywork? The biggest answer is found in your brain, and I can help you learn to work with it.
Recap (tl;dr)
This week is a good one for reflecting on what you want more of in 2024. If you want to be profitable and productive and still have time for other interests, schedule a free consultation call with me.