Business Balance – Creating More Time

By John Whiteman February 8th, 2012 Enlightened Business, News No Comments

No matter what time you have at work it is always filled with endless tasks, meetings, emails, phone calls and to do lists. This is fine up to a point but is this effective use of your time? In the companies I have worked with I would estimate that all could work a 3 day week in hours and be just as effective as working a 5 day week. So my objective in January was to introduce a structured week within the companies incorporating the principles of The Enlightened Business, with the purpose of increasing performance and also finding more balance and time to enjoy life more.

I feel that there is an inherent need to be ‘doing’ all of the time. When you continually do and don’t have breaks to enjoy life more you miss out on what life is all about.

Creating time isn’t about cramming more things into your day or allowing yourself you complete more things on your to do list. It is about realizing what steps move you forwards in business and in life, taking those and then freeing yourself up to Live more, Be more and Do less.

The key to this is firstly to establish what one step can I take today to move my business forward and then what one step can I take to move my life forwards. Once this has been established take the steps as early in the day as possible. This could be getting an important piece of work done or exercising to improve your health. Whatever step you decide to do in a day to improve your whole life. Take it.

A business stays alive by generating revenue. A wise step therefore would be to do something that would increase revenue or at least improve revenue flow. A personal life that is happy, fulfilling and healthy is also a priority and so taking one step to improve your personal life in a day also needs to be taken.

It is with this Awareness and by practicing every day you will be able to look back and see how far you have come. It is point specific and in balance. You are doing something which improves your life and your business life every day that is tangible. In doing this you will move forwards in the areas in your life that matter most. Having a successful revenue generating business and having a personal life which is focused on happiness, fulfillment and fun.

The next step is to look at all of the typical things your need to do in a week. If you are an Entrepreneur dependent on the size of you company it could involve, Sales, Marketing, Admin, Finance, IT, Leadership, HR and so on. The list is long for most of us but once again if we make this list we increase our awareness..

Following this look at your list and mark what are revenue generating activities and what are not. The objective here is to isolate the activities in your week which create dragging and a heavy feeling inside of you and do not propel you forwards. Meetings about meetings, managing and responding to email flow, administrative, HR, Financial reporting are just a few areas which often take up time and put you in a different frame of mind than the one you  need to revenue generate and propel your business forwards.

Now take all of these heavier non-revenue generating  aspects to your work and create one day to do all of this. For me I choose a Monday as it frees up the rest of my week, to create, free up time and enjoy what I am better at for the rest of the week.

In compressing everything into one day and communicating this to your team instantly you will notice that you will have spare time. Your effectiveness will improve dramatically and your momentum and engagement in doing the things in life you want to do will be enhanced.

It can sometimes create little barriers where your team might feel the need to drag you away from what is going to move your life forwards but as long as this is non-essential you should stay focused on taking the two steps in each day, compressing the admin tasks into one day and become free to have more time, be more effective and enjoy life more.

When we go on holiday our work intensity often is heightened as we compress what needs to be done into the last days before we go. We work hard, efficiently and effectively. Operating and running a structured week is the same. Compress what needs to be done into one day and free yourself up.

Once you have got to this stage deploy this structured week to those around you and encourage them to do the same. You will find that although slightly different to how you might have been used to the free time will become yours to do as you please.

In the Enlightened companies I am working with. If someone hits their objectives and targets then they should be allowed to do less and not more. If they are effective in revenue creating activities in less time than others then they should be congratulated at being great at what they do.

When you create a structured week you create more balance within yoursef and your company. An increase in performance, more time, more effectiveness and most importantly you have more fun. Creating Flow in your company isn’t hard it is about being definite on your objectives, staying focused and then going with the flow.

What Do Children Dream of Doing?

By John Whiteman January 25th, 2012 Living Your Dreams, News, Schools Program No Comments

In January 2011 I successfully climbed the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. Every year I look to do something special, something that I have dreamed about doing. It lifts my Spirits and creates such an amazing feeling inside. Live your dreams and do the things in life that you had always wanted to do.

Dreams don’t have to be as large as this though, climbing Mt Kilimanjaro was a big one but so was seeing one of my son’s scoring his first goal in a school football match, learning to Kite surf (kitesurfthechannel.com). The Special Moments in life are often the ones that don’t cost a fortune; they are the ones that bring your life alive.

I have noticed that the older we get the more we place obstacles in the way of living our dreams and it made me wonder when do we actively stop looking to live our dreams, as well as when do we start to become aware of our dreams.

When I was kindly invited to take a group of 4 and 5 year olds on a Mock climb Mt Kilimanjaro afternoon I decided to find out.

What your child dreams about doing isn’t at all about what they want to become when they get older. I am in my 40’s and still struggle with this question myself! They dream about what they want to do Now. The primary objective of this was to learn and see if it was possible to help these children live their dreams. When you Live Your Dream, you create self-belief, confidence and wellbeing.

We set-off on an afternoon of discovery and fun, climbing the Mock Mt Kilimanjaro.

At the Summit of the Mountain having had all children successfully completed their adventure, each child chose a dream that they would love to experience…….

What I was delighted to find is that everyone’s dream was non-material and the majority extremely achievable. Cuddles from my Mother, to go camping overnight and fishing with my Father, were just some of the wonderful dreams, which were totally achievable.

So What Does A Child Dream and how can schools nurture and develop these dreams in conjunction with academic achievement? So that children cultivate the belief that living their dreams is possible and grow in confidence expanding the horizon. Something so simple often goes unnoticed in our striving for achievement.

What could be more special though than your child living their dreams?

If you would like to know more about my work creating happiness from the inside-out or running a schools talk or program please let me know.

Looking for Enlightened Service

By John Whiteman December 31st, 2011 Enlightened Business, Entrepreneurial Business, News, The Way in Business No Comments

As I am looking for companies who provide examples of Enlightened Service I returned to the Montage Resort, Laguna Beach CA. Am I looking for the Holy Grail? Over the next 3 days I would find out.

What strikes me first is in the effortless flow that is created upon my arrival. Eye contact and speaking to me and not at me, creates a difference to how I feel straight away. I do not need to search for where I need to go next as I am ushered there in a welcoming and friendly way.

The handover to the check-in desk effortlesly took place. They know that I am a returning guest and that my children are booked into the kids club in the afternoon. We are given lots of attention and welcomed back like old friends.

I am asked if I can be helped in any other way before being escorted to my room and asked if I would like a personal tour of the resort to refresh my memory. In our bedroom is a handmade banner featuring our children’s favourite cartoon characters to welcome them back from the girls at the kids club.

This might not be the sector of business that you are in but this level of service and attention can be applied in your business. It will create a stickyness which will bring you greater brand awareness, return customers and happier staff.

At lunch the choice on the menu does not over or underwhelm me, it is just right. The food perfectly cooked and the dressing on the side allows me to make my meal just the way I like it, which is sometimes not the way a chef intends me to like it. The food is placed on my plate like a painting of exquisitness that makes me pause for a moment to savour how it looks.

We are all blessed with choice. This choice allows us to be an individual. In our individuality I can be me. Yesterday’s business was all about conditioned service. The Mcdonalds model where one size fits all. Enlightened Service creates special moments that make you feel unique.

So back to the end of my lunch. I am asked how I like my coffee, not just a cappucino, latte or macchiato but exactly how do I prefer it to be.

This is Enlightened Service in action.

Bank Lending to Fuel Business Growth

By John Whiteman August 27th, 2011 Entrepreneurial Business, News, The Way in Business No Comments

The turmoil and instability of the banks over the last few years has struck fear into entrepreneurial business, leaving many stagnant and struggling for survival. But I feel that the time is right for it to start changing. When entrepreneurial fear subsides bank lending will help stimulate the much-needed growth in the UK economy.

Wise entrepreneurs are beginning to put into place their business growth ambitions for the coming years.

Calm balance is needed for a business to flow and that is where a successful entrepreneur should stay focused.

Whilst we are often taught to strive for what we have not got and often continuously push hard to achieve it. Small steps of change in an upward trending economy is often the easiest way in which to realise your commercial dreams.

The banks are ready to lend, but there is a lack of supply of good quality businesses looking for geared growth. If you are looking to develop a long-term relationship with a new bank now is a good time.

A cautionary note however must be advised, do not over gear and take into consideration the likelihood that interest rates will rise as growth occurs.

- John Whiteman