Your Business
Getting things done is causing a lot of depression among people today. Productivity is the new buzzword that has everyone driving themselves mad trying to do more things at once than is humanly possible. Some people call it multitasking but the truth is, it’s a myth that multitasking is effective. If anything, multitasking is costing you big time. By some studies, multitasking is showing a decrease in productivity by 50% or more.
Multitasking Make You Lose IQ Points
When you try to do more than one thing at a time it actually makes you perform about as well as you would if you were drunk, using drugs, or lost some of your smarts. This is the worst thing that you can do if you want to be a top performer in anything. Whether it’s parenting, business, or something else, you get about as much from it as you put into it. So, if you focus 100 percent, you’ll get a 100 percent back.
Multitasking Makes You Less Creative
When you can let go of the noise around you, you can also become much more creative. It’s very hard to get into a flow if the phone is ringing, the kids are interrupting you, or the beeps and the dings of social media are interrupting your train of thought. You not only need time to truly focus on a project, but you also need time to focus elsewhere between projects to kind of cleanse your brain a bit before moving on to the next thing.
Multitasking Is Dangerous
Not only is multitasking dangerous for your health in that it can make you ill, but it’s also dangerous to your safety. If you are driving and talking on the phone (or as is popular with some YouTube stars, making videos while driving), you are putting yourself in grave danger. You would not get behind a wheel drunk, so don’t get behind it and do anything but drive. Likewise when it comes to doing anything, focus on the task at hand and you’ll be less stressed, which will translate into being healthier.
Your Brain Doesn’t Work That Way
No matter how you want it to work, no one’s brain can really focus on more than one thing at a time. Yes, of course you can talk and walk at the same time, but texting and talking is not something you should do. Writing a letter, spending time with your kids, focusing on data entry, making sales calls… all should be done one thing at a time. If you learn to make your to-do list with this in mind, you’ll get more done faster and your work quality will go through the roof.
You Need 15 Minutes to Adjust to a New Task
A Microsoft study showed that when you’re interrupted by something like an email message, a beep from a phone, or by someone physically interrupting you, it can take 15 minutes to get back on task – meaning to get back into flow where you’re doing the task at the highest level that you can do it. It’s important to keep this in mind as you plan your day if you want to perform at your highest capability.
Don’t fall for the idea that multitasking is an ability that you should strive for. It’s not a good idea for anyone to multitask. It’s bad for your brain, it’s bad for your work, and it just isn’t really possible to start with.
Your Business
A joint venture partnership is made between two or more individuals or business owners to work together on a particular project, product, or event. The companies do not become one; instead they maintain their separate individual entities while working on a particular goal together. The purpose of a joint venture is to combine resources to maximize efficiencies of each entity for the particular project.
Limited Time Span
While some JVs do last a long time, most of them are temporary until the completion of the project. Many businesses find themselves entering into several consecutive JVs due to the success of others.
Clearly Defined Objective
Another thing that denotes a JV partnership is that they usually have a very clearly defined objective or reason for being put into place. Each entity involved knows their place and what is expected, as well as the goal.
Degree of Involvement Is Obviously Defined
Each part of the JV alliance has a particular thing that they are supposed to do, and this is clearly spelled out in an obvious manner. Each partner knows what is expected, what to do and when to do their part.
Spelled-Out Financial Contributions
Since the business entity isn’t going to be formed in a JV, the financial responsibilities of each member must be expressed. Sometimes one person is responsible for the finances, will deduct expenses from income and then distribute the profits as spelled out in the contract.
Plans Spelled Out for Problems or Disputes
In a JV that is temporary in nature, there can still be issues and disputes that arise. The contract usually spells out what to do and who will be the final say in any dispute – typically an unbiased arbitrator or in some cases the person with the main financial input gets the final say.
Termination of JV Arrangement Detailed
Since a JV agreement is not permanent, usually the contract spells out exactly when and how the arrangement will end and what will happen to the intellectual property when the arrangement is complete.
Non-Disclosure Information
Most of the time both parties require some sort of non-disclosure information to keep trade secrets, contact lists, financial and other information private, since some of them will necessarily be revealed during the JV partnership.
Other Legal Information
It’s important to check with your state and country about various terms and issues that should be covered in your JV agreement. Together with your JV partners, you may want to determine which of your locations will have the final say on any legal issues that should arise.
A joint venture partnership is a great way to expand your reach because you get to use each other’s contacts, resources, and skill set. But, it’s important to understand what a JV is and what it’s not. It’s not combining two businesses permanently and it’s usually a temporary joining of forces.
Your Business
One way to cure procrastination is to simply outsource what you hate. Instead of setting deadlines for yourself, set deadlines for other people. There are few things that you can’t outsource today. So, the first clue you have that you should outsource something is that you dislike it. But there is more to it than that.
Does It Make Sense Monetarily?
Often the things you hate doing are considered (at least by you) to be menial tasks. Tasks like bookkeeping, data entry, posting blog posts, and so forth. These are tasks that are ripe for outsourcing because they are boring (to you) and more than likely you can earn more money outsourcing it and turning your focus to your main money maker.
For example, if you earn $100.00 per hour doing your main business, why would you do tasks that can be outsourced for $20.00 per hour? You’re missing out on $80.00 per hour if you don’t outsource.
Are You Skilled At Doing It?
Many things that you hate doing are likely simply because you’re not good at doing them. It’s okay not to be good at doing everything. This doesn’t mean you’re deficient. It just means that you can’t do a good job doing something you weren’t trained for and have no talent for. It’s okay and not a sign of weakness on your part.
A good example is graphic design or website building. If this is not your core function for your business, then it probably takes you ten times as long to do it, and it looks poorly executed to boot. While hiring an expert of this caliber may cost you more than 100.00 dollars per hour, the time savings will make up for the discrepancy.
You’d Rather Be Swimming (Golfing, Fishing, etc…)
Sometimes you hate doing something just because it’s taking away from the things you really want to do. When your business gets to a certain point, it makes sense to start outsourcing various activities so that you can do other things you consider fun to do.
The rule of thumb is that if it’s not your main line of work, that outsourcing it is perfectly fine. The other thing is, if you can outsource it for less than you can earn from the project then you’re ahead of the game too. Of course, you want the outsourcers to do as well as you would for the job, so pick your outsourcers carefully and pay them a fair wage.
Find Outsourcers
To find outsourcers and contractors, look on Upwork.com, or even in your local classified section. Conduct a thorough investigation about the people you are going to trust with this work to ensure that there aren’t any problems. Check testimonials and references to ensure that the people are legitimate. If they are people you plan to bring into your home, do a criminal back ground check, or ensure that they are bonded and insured. You can find out how to do background checks at your local police department as well as online.
Link to online check – http://www.intelius.com/background-check.html
Putting all this together, if you hate doing certain tasks, it’s preferable to outsource. In fact, if you’re not outsourcing these tasks, you’re doing yourself and your business a disservice. Even if you can’t bring yourself to outsource some things in your business, consider outsourcing some domestic tasks such as lawn care and house cleaning to help you lessen the pressure on your life as you build your business.
