How To Focus On Business When Life Gets In The Way
I’d been in business for myself for close to a half a dozen years when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a diagnosis I never anticipated. There was no history of breast cancer. I was thrown into chaos.
One of my first thoughts was, “Am I going to die?” One of my second thoughts was, “Will I have a business to come back to once all of my surgeries and treatments are done?” I was terrified of losing my life. I was terrified of losing my livelihood.
Life and death were front of mind from the day I was given the diagnosis. I struggled to get my work done for my clients in between doctor’s visits and planning for my treatments. I struggled to get my work done when all I wanted to do was crawl into a corner and cry myself hoarse.
I realized that if I came out the other side of cancer a survivor, but didn’t have a business to come back to, I would be devastated. I knew I had to focus as much of my energies on my business in the pockets of time I had between visits, treatment plans and treatments.
During that time I mastered working in snippets. I mastered incremental writing. I mastered the art of being a 30-minute solopreneur and I have honed and sharpened those skills every day since. I am now a six year breast cancer survivor and I have a thriving business.
How To Focus On Business When Life Gets In The Way
I’m not saying it was easy to keep mind, body, soul and business together during my breast cancer battle, but I did it. I was determined it would happen and I followed through on the promise I made to myself.
Even if life gets tricky I’ll bet you can set a timer for 30-minutes and focus on your business.
Don’t look for excuses
It is so easy to have an excuse. I could have used breast cancer as a way to shutter my business, take the easy way out and get a job. But I didn’t. I am a solopreneur through and through.
Whatever “disaster” or “excuse” is one you should work through, look for solutions to and focus on your business and its viability.
Here are ways to focus on your business no matter what life throws at you:
Making working on your business part of your daily routine. If you put to-dos and tasks into your calendar to assure you complete client work, why aren’t you putting your own business into your calendar. Set aside at least 30-minutes a day (I recommend first thing in the morning) and focus solely on your business. You can afford 30-minutes, can’t you?
Look for aspects of your business that you can make portable. If using Google Drive or Google Docs or Dropbox makes your tasks easily accessible and you can work on particular items no matter where you are, when you have a few minutes, what are you waiting for?
Commit to 30-minutes. If you’re trying to deal with life and keep your business running, thinking that you need to work on it for hours and hours a day is daunting and will freeze you in your tracks. Set a timer for 30-minutes and commit to working on one aspect of your business daily.
Give yourself grace on those days when you just didn’t find that 30=minutes. Pick up the next day. Don’t fret about having missed a day. In fact, if you’re fretting, schedule make up time to pick up that missing 30-minute block of time.
Is life getting in the way of your business? Take a stop back today and look for 30-minute pockets of time to focus on it.
