This week I want to discuss how imperative it is to take regular timeouts to stop, review and think. If you’re anything like the business owners that I know, you may find that you have a very varied and high-pressure job. 

As the business owner, you’ve got hundreds of different things competing for your time; you’ve got customers, suppliers, team members that all need something from you you’ve got big fires to put out, you’ve got little fires to put out, and if this resonates with you, it could be symptomatic of you not taking enough time out to stop and evaluate what’s going on. 

Look, I get it; when you’re under pressure, it feels like the last thing you should be doing is taking an hour or two to think when you’ve got so much to do. 

Completely get that, but in my experience, those business owners that achieve better results aren’t always the business owners that do more Look, doing is essential; you must be conscientious if you want to achieve great results. 

If you want to be successful but understand where to apply your enthusiasm to know where to use your energy, understanding where to apply your attention is perhaps more important than working hard. 

If you don’t take regular time out of your week to stop and think through what’s working and what’s not working, you will be solving the same old problems time after time. 

Business success is about what you do and how you do it as how hard you work, so where do you need to apply more thinking and less doing? What problems keep on resurfacing in your business because you aren’t thinking through, what’s going on? Where do you need to prioritise your attention and your team’s attention? What do you need to do differently to make thinking time more of a priority than doing time? 

If you’re looking for more small business tips, then we’d like to see you every week on “Mind Your Own Business,”

If you’d like help implementing these tactics, then contact Marco Soares for professional coaching for business.