My kids bought me a Superwoman t-shirt a few years ago. I like wearing it, as most days I do feel like Superwoman with all the tasks I’m juggling. But I came to a stark conclusion recently: I am NOT Superwoman. This wasn’t an attempt to bring myself down and be negative, but rather it was a reality check that revealed I really couldn’t sustain effectively everything I was doing.
I am a typical business owner with entrepreneurial traits: that is, I cannot stop my mind from coming up with new ideas or new ways to do things. It can be hard to filter or prioritise those ideas and work out what to focus on. I am coming to the realisation that because I am not Superwoman and do have a finite number of hours in the day, I am not able to progress every idea I come up with, no matter how good it is!
The process of working out where to focus my time now involves asking myself questions such as:
- is this new idea going to impact negatively on my core business?
- am I prepared for the additional time and energy it will take to progress this idea?
- will my ‘outside work’ commitments (including family) be negatively affected? Will I be sacrificing time with those people and/or activities?
- is it important enough to make the commitments and changes that will be required?
Sometimes answering the above questions will result in a resounding ‘yes’ and a new idea will flourish. But other times, I know I need to be prepared to let other commitments take priority and let a good idea lay dormant for a while longer.
Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender