If you could get your business down to 2-3 hours a day what exactly would you do with your time off?

A bit like money only coming for a purpose, if you want a lifestyle business you need to have a purpose for your time outside of work – otherwise, you have no incentive to be more effective with your time.

I achieve a lot more in less time when I have something fun planned for my time off. That’s usually enough to keep me super focused, head done, not getting distracted.  I don’t want to miss out on the fun thing because I didn’t get my work done.

So get specific, what would you do in your free time if you only had to work 2-3 hours a day??!  

This is important.  Without a purpose for your time off you end up working longer hours, and then when you’re at work feeling guilty for not being present with the family.

And when you’re with the family you feel guilty for not being at work!!

That’s why you need a time purpose!

It’s REALLY good for your productivity.

So for example after being on the other side of the world for 8 months I have been spending lots of time catching up with friends and family. When I knew I needed Friday off to go and visit my 95-year-old Nan, I got specific about what I needed to achieve in the week so that I could take the day off without feeling guilty about what hadn’t been done.

I also got invited to my favourite little people’s sports day this week so I knew I wanted all of Tuesday afternoon and evening off to be Auntie Jo Jo.

I had a purpose for my time out of the business which made me super focused in my working blocks.  No procrastinating happened. So interesting!

I’ve generally been working less hours in my business than I usually do which has meant I had to prioritise effectively so ensure my business kept momentum.

There was no working on the wrong tasks, procrastinating or wasting time going on.

Because I had such a strong and powerful reason to get everything done in the time I had, it made me stay super focused.

Yes I had to let some stuff go which is never easy for us entrepreneurs, but there will never be enough time to get everything we desire done so we will always have a choice about letting stuff go.

This is why it’s important to set monthly and weekly goals or focus areas, you really need to know what’s a priority in your business. When there is no time to mess around with the non-important stuff, you just don’t do it.

If I hadn’t had a nice juicy reason to get all that I needed done, I would have no doubt worked longer hours, and then still may not have achieved as much as I did.

(Don’t forget Parkinson’s Law; “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”).

So if you have something fun planned for the time when you are not working you are more likely to achieve more in the time you do have!

So, this time purpose thing – what EXACTLY would you do if your business could be run in 2-3 hours a day?

This is something I do with my clients…get them to work less and achieve more and it’s way easier to just ‘take the damn action’ if you have a purpose for your time off.

Booking activities for your time off will make you crazily effective IN your work hours so that everything is done in time!

Up for giving it a try this week to see if I’m right??

Love Jo x