Was watching Gizmo try to get his fat self behind the filter intake tube this morning. Sorry the light was not great as it was early. He kept going and going until he had moved enough stuff around that he could just get through there.

I have absolutely no idea why he had to go through there but that was his goal and he decided he would. Now when I saw him start I was laughing because he is twice the width of the space between the glass and the spout and it would be impossible for him to fit.

Because turtles are not the smartest creatures I have ever seen he didn’t know that and didn’t care. 25 minutes later the impossible was done to my surprise.

Now I wasn’t really happy about it because the intake almost came out of the tank but he kept trying one thing after another until he finished what he started. Now I still don’t know why he wanted to go through there and have no idea what the payoff was for him but he wanted to and he did.

How much better would your business be if you had the same single minded purpose in accomplishing what you needed in your business.

Focusing on a single task to completion is one of the takeaways I got from Time Management On Crack. All too often we start 10 things and do a bit of all of them but complete none.

While the turtles are not the smartest animals I have ever had they do have a focus when they are going after what they want. Nothing gets in the way and once they have achieved it then they go sun themselves. No half done things all go or all rest.

Think doing this in your business might help?

The Turtle Dad

Technorati Tags: business, focus, time management, time management on crack

Every so often one of the turtles will start trying to swim against the glass. Here is a perfect example.

Gizmo kept trying to swim through the glass. He was really going at it and not accomplishing anything at all except to push his face against the glass harder.

The lack of results did not stop him and he probably tried this for 10 minutes without stopping.

Ever feel like that is your normal day in trying to build your business. You paddle like hell but seem to just be pushing your face against the glass and accomplishing nada?

I know the feeling. Been there, done that, even got the t-shirt.

There are so many things to learn when you are starting out and it seems like each project has so many pieces.

Add in the latest bright shiny object that catches your attention and you start off down a new rabbit trail. All these new things to learn to grab this new shiny object.

So what ends up happening is that you have 14 different partially done things.

The problem in this business is that unlike a job you don’t get paid for partial completion. If I am creating a blog I don’t make anything until there is content that is drawing traffic who are clicking through and buying what I recommended. Then I get paid.

This is why it is important to focus on one thing and finish it so it will either succeed or fail. (Oh yes didn’t you know some things will fail. All the time you invested you won’t get paid for.)

That is one of the reasons I have become a proponent of Robert Plank’s Time Management On Crack. He shows you how to focus on one item, get it done and launched. Now you find out if it works.

If it does you can expand it, make it better, but better to know right away if you are going the wrong way and people don’t want what you are creating. Spend 6 months on a project and be wrong and it is a killer.

Spend a couple days and it does not work not a major hit.

So the turtles and I both say stop hitting your head against the glass, use your time wisely and effectively. Go get Time Management On Crack and apply the lessons to your business.

The Turtle Dad

Technorati Tags: Robert Plank, time management, time management on crack

This was taken at 1:45 this afternoon. The turtles had done all that they needed and were now doing what they like to do the most – lay out and stack up. The problem is that I was still in the middle of my work flow with no end in sight. Grrrr.

One of the things I really need to do better is manage my time so I can do what I like more. Now I don’t want to just stack on other people and lay around like the turtles. It will soon be warm enough and the white junk will disappear (I surely hope so) and then I can go chase the little white ball into all kinds of hard to find places like any tree or bush that is anywhere near the course.

At White Birch, where I usually play (if you can all it that) I know every tree all too well. My ball just loves to come to rest under them as much as possible but that is a whole other lesson.

It will also soon be trout season here in PA another thing I like to do but…

If I don’t get my work done and start managing my time better then there won’t be enough time for the things I like.

I did just go out and invest in two things this week to get a better handle on my time and allow me to get more done faster so that I can have more time for me.

The first I recommend for everyone was Robert Plank’s Time Management On Crack. It has helped me get a lot more done today (and I just started with it this am) and it will be applied regularly. Some habits will be hard to break but they need to be done. As for the title Planky just has this thing about things on crack and uses it regularly for product titles. No crack needed to use these techniques. Check it out.

The second thing is Replace Myself. Now this is about outsourcing, how to find people and how to train them and may not be for everyone. This is the key though if you are looking to grow your business and move towards the 4 hour work week. (Even if you don’t want a 4 hour work week you should read the book by Tim Ferris. A good read with lots of ideas.)

So Time Management and Outsourcing are what I need so I can chase the white ball and fish for trout so I am not jealous of the lazy turtles. What about you?

The Turtle Dad

Technorati Tags: 4 hour work week, outsourcing, time management, time management on crack