One of the most critical skills that a startup founder should have is to decide whether to spend time or how much time should be spent on one particular thing.
If you should work on your product or come up with a new marketing campaign, do fundraising, talk to users, go to a networking event, or hire employees; among the other options, it isn't so obvious about how should we decide.
Moreover, a key assumption that still rules the supreme in the modern world is that the long hours equal success. This is particularly evident in some of the industries that leaving work on time is considered as leaving work early.
In fact: many of us would have felt the shame of leaving work on time. The insanity that everyone is now thinking- Oh look at him, he is leaving early, he is not good at his job and so on. Thet eventually, it makes us feel guilty when we think the same about someone else who leaves office on time.
Ultimately, why we don't or why we can't start thinking about "Oh, great! I am leaving on time and I have been productive today!" Moreover, everyone else knows it since they only stay late when they don't manage their tasks for the day; it seems more logical. Doesn't it?
So, why don't you achieve the target even if you try harder? Many of us transition out of physical activities where this mentality on the surface makes sense. It is not that easy as we think! A transition to the professional world. We have a new muscle that we have to primarily exert- our creative mind.
Inserting Focused Effort!
In the world of business, the effort is useless if it is without focus. If you are working harder and don't have a purpose and a 'why' behind your attack, your physical effort would be rendered useless. So, do you have any scheme of how you like immediately attack your days with focused effort? These three simple steps could help:
Planning
By spending an allotted amount of time on each thing and creating plans for the upcoming day. Reviewing that plan each morning will keep it fresh in your mind enabling you to make necessary modifications.
Segmenting the day
If you'll get burdened with your day by considering it as an 8-hour shift; you'll probably find it challenging. For overcoming this, you can easily break it down into smaller pieces of executable time frames. This gives you a greater sense of urgency in a limited amount of time. Subconsciously, you'll start acting as if you have so much of time and when they are compounded throughout the day you would have stockpiled focused effort hours.
Adapt
However, your plan A is never going to work; moreover, the plan that works may grow old and suddenly stops working. Ultimately, it is up to you to take care of what is working and when if it needs to be changed. Be self-aware and try recognizing when it needs to happen.
Now, if you are capable enough to increase your focused effort; there is absolutely still a place for a pure physical exertion of effort. Match this anxious effort on your day with focused effort and you'll probably become the cream that rises to the top and leaves people wondering about what's there in your coffee.