Finding Your Sweet Spot With Business Constraints
How do you find your sweet spots with business constraints? Last week, we had our three-day Master Your Money event – cheers to those of you who joined us! I am always honored to spend time teaching and talking with you all. Now that the event is over, it’s easy to focus on all of the incredible memories we made together – but I’ll admit that the month of May has been a whirlwind for the Revenue Breakthrough team! This week, as I regroup, I’ve been reflecting on the circumstances that get me through such insanely busy times – and I’d like to share one little story I think we can all learn from.
A couple weeks ago, in the thick of event prep, I had one of those days when everything seems to be going 100 miles an hour and all you want is for the train to stop.
And (as I am known to do…) I immediately started craving sugar and cream. Or better yet – sugar and cream together. Now, thankfully, there was no sugar or cream in my home because I’m not really supposed to be eating those items. So I had to get resourceful.
My husband keeps frozen bananas in the freezer for smoothies, so I grabbed one and threw it in the blender. I added some dates, cacao powder, and coconut milk, and I blended it all up – and made myself some frozen banana ice cream!
Had I ever made this before? No. Would I have made this if I had any kind of real ice cream or chocolate in the house? Absolutely not.
But when you have constraints – the constraints here being that there was no sugar or cream in the house – you adjust. And when I adjusted, I got delicious frozen banana ice cream.
I’ll admit it wasn’t exactly the same as a bowl of cookies and cream ice cream, but it hit the spot and it was a lot healthier for me, both mentally and physically.
The reason why I love this story is because constraints are really important when you’re going after your goals. One of the constraints that I think is really important for any entrepreneur is making sure to have constraints around when you start and end your business day.
For example, if you decide that you’re going to start working at 10 a.m. and you’re going to end at 6 p.m., then you are constrained to working only between those hours, no matter what.
Another example of a constraint might be deciding to take Fridays off. This way, you have to do more work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Whether your constraint is hours of the day or days of the week (or both), constraints force you to focus more, procrastinate less, and delegate more. You end up producing higher quality work in less time because you’re operating within your constraints.
I find that far too many business owners do not put constraints on their businesses – which means they end up working way longer hours than they need to.
If you know in your mind that you’re going to sit back down after dinner and keep working, you’re so much more likely to spend the entire afternoon writing a newsletter article that should only take you 45 minutes – because you’re allowing yourself to work without constraints.
We are taught to make goals – e.g. “I’m going to make $250,000 this year” – but we are not taught to put constraints on our goals – e.g. “I’m going to make $250,000 working between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.”
Putting constraints on your goals forces you to work more efficiently, hone your skills, ask for help, and delegate tasks.
When I first started my business, I never put constraints on my goals – I would just spend as much time as I needed working to hit them. It was exhausting, and it was taking a real toll on my body.
When I started putting constraints on my goals, everything changed – I learned how to effectively ask for help and avoid getting stuck on tasks that were taking me too long.
My invitation to you this week is to start with a very basic constraint. Maybe your constraint this week is to start working at 10 a.m. every day and stop working at 5 p.m. Ask yourself – what do you have to do in those seven hours to make sure that you finish by 5?
It won’t be easy for some of you. It might mean moving clients around or altering people’s expectations of when you’ll be available by phone or email. Learning to work with constraints may take time – but playing the game is incredibly powerful.
If you find clarity and get creative – if you make your own version of frozen banana ice cream – I promise you’ll find the sweet spot with your constraints – and hopefully without the brain freeze!
