Core Concept #2 – Time, Technology (and Stress)
Posted by kboon on October 13, 2010 under Business Building Strategies | 
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What is our most precious resource? I’m guessing you would say time. When I talk to most people, the biggest complaint I hear is there is not enough time. Today everyone appears to be in a rush whether working for a company, running your own business, taking care of your family or even trying to stay connected with your social network.
Stress, Technology and a little History
I remember watching a Rat Pack movie from the 60’s or 70’s. (Note: Can’t remember the episode and I’m not telling anyone if I actually was old enough to have seen the original) They would show a man in his office (usually smoking away at his desk) totally stressed out. At night he would go home and have a brandy alexander… or maybe two… or six.
The 70’s were the early days when psychologists and society began to realize that our jobs were stressful.
Then the 80’s and 90’s technology and computers were introduced. The stress got crazier. Instead of inputing 10 orders a day, my boss gave me a computer and now I could process 100.
And I thought technology was supposed to make my life easier?
Email Spam, Information Overload & Social Media
In the early part of this decade (2000 – 2004) email spam hit big time and people were introduced to what was called information overload. Inboxes became overflowing… people had difficulty keeping up. And over the past 5 years it’s been social media. There was a recent study that said, in 2008 more information was produced in that one year than in the entire history of civilization!
I’ll let that one sit with you for a minute.
Too Many Choices, Not Enough Time
There is so much information. We have so many choices and our computers, smart phones keep us connected all the time. Distractions are now a way of life. During a typical working day, we are bombarded with emails, text messages, phone calls, tweets, invitations, groups to join, sales pitches, offers or someone wanting to be my friend… it’s crazy!!
Technology has a way of either taking over your life by making you busier than ever or it can help your life (or business) by allowing you to reach more people, automate complex tasks and provide more efficient ways to earn money. Although we are embracing technology and reaping the benefits there is still an overwhelm we feel. We work hard to stay connected… and we try to do all the things that my workaholic boss or that social media guru tells me.
Unfortunately peace never comes and the to do list never ends. In our technology driven society the choices (and our distractions) keep getting bigger. Yesterday it was iPhones and Blackberry’s… today it’s iPads, Kindles, and Playbooks… tomorrow? Who knows? But I guarantee that you will want to stay in the game and keep up… it’s like keeping up with the Joneses… we feel bad if we think we’re missing out somehow.
How to Make the Right Choices
Technology and time break down at some point because there are only so many hours in the day and we are limited in the number of interactions we can have.
What technologies to choose and where to focus time are major obstacles affecting many small business owners.
Business owners don’t have the time or the bandwidth to be on every social media platform… to have every gadget. Twitter and Facebook pages start with good intentions and then they fizzle out. People get fatigued. They get real busy, or confused with all the choices. And they burn out!
So what’s the solution?
Time
Learn to focus and prioritize. Find time for the important work for your business rather than getting distracted by the noise and chatter. Plan smartly… learn to stay focused… on project critical tasks or customer initiatives. But at the same time give yourself time to connect socially. If you are engaged in social media it should feel good… it should be fun. If it’s not fun or it feels stressful then you’re doing it wrong… step back and re-think your approach.
Ask yourself am I trying to be in too many places?
Technology
Technology is another topic where I help people understand that if you are wanting to stay connected to your business 24/7 (and it’s wearing you out) then it’s time to find a different approach.
Technology should be used as a way to reach your audience and build fans or followers, stay connected and build better relationships. At the same time you can use technology to automate and improve how your business runs. There are many excellent tools. A newsletter is so simple and yet it’s something we often overlook. Running a Facebook page might take some time to plan and set up, but the actual running of the site is not that difficult. For some tasks there are benefits to Outsourcing, especially those that feel difficult. There are call centers that can help take your calls outside of business hours, or Virtual Assistants who can help with a variety of projects and make a big difference to your business.
So I will end this today… how do you feel about the time you spend on your business? How stressed to you feel? Is your time balanced? How do you decide which technologies to use? Do you feel technology helps, or hinders you?
