Last week, during one of my coaching calls, my client proclaimed, “I want to write about things I’m passionate about, not spend time marketing!”. Marketing, answering emails, drafting contracts, tinkering with your website (again), those are all tasks that many business owners would rather skip.
While you can’t avoid the necessary (albeit,boring) items on your to do list that help you run a successful business, you can make them fun! Yes, every single aspect of running your business can be fun. Want to learn how to ensure you never are faced with a boring business task again? You’re about to learn the secret!
I LOVE chatting with business owners about improving their businesses, and making the life they dream of having their reality. My calls are typically done as video calls, and I absolutely adore seeing my clients shining faces! We laugh, we cry, we kick some serious ass. It’s my dream come true.
That being said, that aspect of my business, the part I’m passionate about, only accounts for about half of the time I spend on my business. The other half of my time is spent writing blog posts, brainstorming new ways to make the lives of business owners a little easier, drafting contracts, and marketing.
While those tasks don’t make my heart go pitter-patter, I look forward to each and every one of them. My eyes never glaze over while double checking contracts, and I don’t get my panties in a bunch when Tuesday rolls around and I sit down to write a new blog post.
And here’s why.
I know that if it weren’t for all those ho-hum tasks, I wouldn’t have any clients to work with in the first place. Those tasks are the ones that make my passion a business!
I could tell you that changing the way you think about the tasks you’d rather run down your street naked singing Cher’s greatest hits than complete is enough. That all it takes to nix boredom in the butt is to look at the tasks from a different perspective.
Because that does make a difference. A big one. Changing the way you think about the items on your to do list will make them bearable, in an ends justifying the means type of way. But we don’t want bearable.
We want FUN!
And fun is what you’ll get, when you use some of my favorite tricks for making everything you do feel like a party!
I’m always more productive, and enjoy myself more, when I’m surrounded by pretty things. This includes (but is certainly not limited to), pens, stationary, notebooks, and planners. Sometimes just upgrading your office supplies makes boring tasks exciting! I LOVE creating a schedule for the upcoming week on Sundays, because I’m absolutely obsessed with my Day Designer. I enjoy brainstorming new ideas because I get to use my fabulous gold dipped feather pen. Hand writing notes to send to clients is thrilling because I can use some swanky stationary.
Try revamping your work space a little and I bet you’ll start to instantly feel better while you’re doing those not so fab tasks!
Perhaps you can’t stand writing blog posts. Writing is not your strong suit (remember, practice makes perfect!), and you find the topics that best suit your business a little dull. You’d rather be outside training Fido than inside writing a blog post about how to get a dog to stop eating shoes.
This is where branding comes in, and freakin’ dominates your dreaded tasks.
I’m a big fan of infusing yourself into your branding, and when you’re doing that, the boring tasks suddenly become enjoyable.
Maybe you’re a dog trainer that is all up in Perez Hilton’s business whenever you have a free moment. You host Oscar viewing parties, and your dirty little secret is that you hide Nordstrom bags in the trunk until your husband comes home from work because he’d flip if he saw that you bought another pair of shoes.
Use your passion for fashion and celebrity dirt to make your blog posts drip with personality, while delivering information that will make your target audience adore you.
“If getting your pooch to listen to you feels about as hopeless as convincing Jared Leto to get a haircut, you’re going to LOVE todays post!”
“Imagine how fierce you’ll look in your Sam Edelman leopard print flats, with your furry friend calmly walking by your side.”
Pssttt! If you haven’t narrowed down your ideal clients yet, and have no clue how to infuse your personality into your branding, I can help! Drop me a line on my contact page and let’s chat about it!
Who doesn’t enjoy reveling in a little victory? By making yawn-inducing tasks into games, your competitive side will make an appearance, and suddenly answering emails becomes something else entirely.
Here are a few ways I make the necessary (but super boring) tasks for my business into games:
- Set a timer for a reasonable amount of time and try to clear your inbox before the clock runs out. Don’t get sloppy with your emails, but don’t you dare sign into Facebook between responses, or you’ll surely get sidetracked and will lose the race!
- Grab a die, or a spinning wheel from a board game, and brainstorm new services and products you could add to your bag of tricks. Whatever number you get, is the number of ideas you need to come up with.
- Create a game board, and fill it with your least favorite tasks. When it’s time to tackle them, toss a small object on the board and whichever task it lands on, is the one you tackle!
I use this board for deciding which tasks to do, and then I set a timer for each one and try to beat the clock!
When you complete a task, reward yourself for it! When you beat the clock, give yourself five minutes to read a blog you love, or take your dog for a walk around the block.
If you check all the tasks off your list, treat yourself to a manicure or coffee date with a girlfriend.
Knowing that there is something exciting waiting for us if we get through the things we don’t particularly enjoy makes the task feel exciting!
Don’t just celebrate the big tasks, get excited about the small stuff! If you hate scheduling out your social media posts, do it and then have a dance party! Throw on some Uptown Funk and get down with your bad self!
Here are a few more tips for making your workday fly by:
- Listen to something you love. Perhaps you can turn on a show in the background, or jam out to your favorite songs. Me? I get easily distracted, but I can’t stand silence. I love Coffitivity, it brings the sounds of your local coffee house right to your workspace, and it’s totally free!
- You’re the boss, so own it, woman! I’m a skincare junkie, so you can often find me hammering out a blog post while indulging in a face mask. Take advantage of the perks that come along with being in charge!
- Get social. If you have another friend who runs a business, get together once a week for a few hours and chat while you work! Google Hangouts are great ways to get your work done while someone else is on the line. Seriously, just start a video call and dish about the killer dress J-Lo wore to the Oscars while you work on your marketing!
- Take lots of breaks. Sitting at your desk for 9 hours is just plain unhealthy, plus it’s boring as heck. I force myself to get up every hour, and it really helps. Breaking up your workday is a great way to avoid burnouts.
As my dear Grandma would say, “onward and upward”! Go tackle those boring business tasks with renewed energy, and never bang your head against your desk again!
What are your favorite ways to make ho-hum tasks feel fun? Shout it out in the comments!
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