You may have heard of the list of business habits that we should change or the list of business habits that we should avoid. Various entrepreneurs and experts, such as Tim Ferriss, among others, recommend some "new" habits and methods that will help free up busy schedules and focus on things that are really important. But first, here are nine business habits that we need to change or eliminate.
1. Do not accept calls from an unknown number.
Tim Ferriss listed quite a few reasonable reasons to change this bad habit. First, a distraction in the form of a call from an unknown number will derail our concentration and take up much more time and energy than the conversation itself. And secondly, if it is important, we will easily find ourselves in a bad negotiating position, trying to form our thoughts while the caller is well prepared for this conversation. Instead, we prefer to use the services as is Google Voice, where we can review messages in peace.
2. Don't make emailing the first thing in the morning or the last thing at night.
According to Ferriss, emailing in the morning will mix up our priorities and plans for the day, and emailing at night will quickly leave us sleepless. Sending e-mail should wait until around 10 o'clock in the morning, or until we finish our morning chores.
3. Do not agree to meetings or calls without a clear purpose or a specific duration.
If the desired outcome of a meeting is clearly defined, then the meeting or call should not last more than half an hour. Therefore, it is best to clearly define the meeting in advance and to prepare well for it.
4. We don't let people mess with us.
It sounds cruel, but it is necessary. Chatting takes a lot of time, and once people start talking about how they spent the weekend, we can politely interrupt them with something like, "I'm in the middle of something right now, tell me why you're calling me?" But carefully. Not everyone will agree that gossip is not a part of business conversations, especially when traveling outside the borders of our country.
5. Let's avoid constantly checking email.
We only check e-mail occasionally, at certain times, e.g. twice a day. Our "inbox" can easily become addictive. And tools like the out-of-office message or Boomerang they will be of great help.
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6. Avoid excessive communication with low-profit and high-cost customers.
Let's analyze our 80-20 clients in two ways: Which 20 percent of my clients bring me 80 percent of my profit or more, and which 20 percent of my clients take up 80 percent of my time or more? Once we figure out which ones are the least productive and the loudest, it's time to change company policy. Ferriss suggests sending an email to problem customers with guidelines on the number of calls allowed and the expected response time. And if it's too much of a problem for our customers, we have to fire them.
7. Let's not work overtime because we think that this will "fix" the fact that we are overworked.
The cure for overwork is not overtime, but a calm consideration of priorities. So let's not make a mistake and rather sit down and think about what we actually need to do first. If that means apologizing for a few minutes of delay in the call or paying a lower price for it, that's fine - the important thing is that we've done all the important things.
If we don't have time, we don't have priorities - so rather than working more, let's think more.
8. Let's not be "digital" 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Leave your smartphone or other smart device alone at least one day a week. If this seems impossible to us, we are the type of person who needs to change this habit most urgently.
9. Let's not expect work to fill the void that should be time spent with loved ones and time for our activities.
"Work is not the only thing in life," says Ferriss. This seems obvious, but the sad truth is that while we all agree to this, things quickly get out of hand and our actions no longer align with our values. The time we intend to spend with beloved and popular activities is time worth fighting for with the same fervor as we use for an important meeting in our company.
Adapted and adapted from:
time.com
