What’s Your One Thing?

Do you ever feel so overwhelmed by your to do list, feeling that everything is a priority, wondering how on earth you will get it all done, and also feeling panicked or nauseous because some of those “to-do’s” by now need to be “have dones”?

I completely understand. As entrepreneurs we wear many hats, and we can often find ourselves shorthanded, with many deadlines and deliverables and to let any one of them slip can feel like we are saying “goodbye” to cash.

And just having that long list, drains your energy, blocks your creativity, and hinders decision making.

And it’s not like it ends, there is always something else to add to grab our attention, distract us, and inevitably add to that “to-do” list.

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So where do you begin?

I want to share a question with you, that one of my mentors asked me, and it totally change my life, and it likely will change yours.

“What is the one thing, that by doing that first, everything else becomes easier?”

When she asked me that I remember thinking “That’s crazy, everything needs to be done first, not just one thing!” – Can you relate?

So we broke it down, and I encourage you to do the same. I listed out everything that I had going on at the time, and all the things I wanted to accomplish. I was getting overwhelmed just writing it out, and one of my “to-do’s” was to hire an assistant.

I had been putting it off because, well, quite frankly if you have ever hired anyone, you KNOW how much work goes into recruiting, interviewing, selecting, figuring out the job duties, training etc. It felt like is was just easier “to do it all myself until I get caught up”.

How crazy was that thinking? If I could get caught up, I wouldn’t need help! So we established that my “ONE THING” was to put everything else aside and prioritize finding the perfect assistant.

And you know what, within days of making that decision, the perfect person fell right into my lap! And needless to say, as soon as she joined our team, suddenly so many of those to-do’s got taken care of immediately by her, and much better than I could have handled it myself.

The New Formula

I now apply this to everything I approach, and when my clients are feeling overwhelmed we do the same thing. For example one of my clients was launching a new business, and was overwhelmed with all of her “to-do”s:

• Pricing
• Website design & copy
• Marketing Plan
• Networking
• Generating Discovery Sessions
• Mastering enrollment conversations
• Finalizing the design and structure of her packages
• Branding
• Setting up banking and ability to accept payments
• Etc

As you can imagine there was a lot to do. And while they are all important, her ultimate goal in all of this is to generate sales and income. So while we certainly were going to work on all of that, it was not possible to do it all at once? Even though at first she resisted and thought she needed to!

What was her one thing?

So while yes, her priority was cash in the bank – as it should be- quite honestly most of that list was not actually “doable” (not even sales conversations) until she had something to sell. So guess where we focused. Yes it felt scary to put the rest on hold and devote almost a whole week just to finalizing her packages, by doing just this one thing, with in days she was able to accelerate her results, as she now had something to sell, so she could easily price it, and have sales conversations as her potential clients now had an easy “yes”.

What’s yours?

No matter what it is you have on your plate right now, I encourage you to just brain dump it all onto a piece of paper, and then when you have it all in front of you, look at each item and ask yourself:

“What is the one thing, that by doing it first, everything else becomes easier?”

Let me know yours in the comments below!

Nafissa Shireen

Nafissa Shireen is an award winning Master Coach, International Speaker and Business Mentor She has a gift for empowering and propelling people to their highest potential.

With 25 years' experience leading 6-figure to 9-figure companies, she strategically partners with entrepreneurs to help them focus on sustainable & scalable business growth, so they can create a highly profitable and luxurious business and life.

Passionate about helping women earn what they are worth and build their wealth, so that they can realize all of their dreams and desires. She brings together her vast business knowledge with the deep inner work needed to help entrepreneurs identify blocks, step out of fear and overwhelm, raise their wealth consciousness, and move forward towards their goals with measurable, tangible results.

She is a featured Expert and regular contributing author for Today’s Innovative Woman Magazine, and is profiled in Canada’s 2014/2015 Distinctive Women Magazine

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