3 Reasons A Business Owner’s Workload Can Spiral Out Of Control

Lady Boss

When running a business, the need to effectively manage your schedule is incredibly important. For most, this means striking the right balance, ensuring that you have enough work to keep you busy, but not so much work that you find yourself stressed and rushing to keep up.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for business owners to struggle in finding this necessary balance – and in almost every case, workloads tend to tilt towards too much rather than not enough. If you have found that your workload seems to be increasing and you’re not sure why this is the case, then one of the following reasons – all of which are very common amongst entrepreneurs – may be the cause…

#1 – Incomplete delegation

Dlegation is incredibly important to small businesses, but sometimes, it’s easy to fall into a trap of incomplete delegation – i.e. when you have delegated a task, but still feel the need to check-in and monitor its progress regardless.

To prevent this from happening, and free up time for your own work, it’s usually best to allow yourself to check how a task is progressing at specific times. If you set a deadline of one week, then allow yourself to ask how things are going on day six, and not a moment before. In time, this method should allow you to build confidence and be assured that tasks will be completed without your input, so you should eventually be able to stop monitoring altogether.

#2 – Attempting to fix issues outside of existing experience

If your business is experiencing a problem, it’s natural to want to jump in and do all you can to help resolve the issue once and for all. However, business owners have to resist this impulse when it comes to finding fixes that are outside of their existing expertise, as they will likely spend longer than is necessarily trying to figure out a solution, derailing their existing work schedule in the process.

To prevent such a scenario, it’s advisable to be willing to simply step back from an issue and call in further assistance. If your SEO campaigns are suddenly not showing results, hire an SEO consultant; if the numbers aren’t adding up in your business’ finances, call an accountant – and so on and so forth. While your willingness to try and solve the issue yourself is entirely understandable, the fact remains that doing so could greatly hamper your ability to complete your own work and cause tasks and to-do lists to get out of control.

#3 – The temptation of new and innovative ideas

It seems that new products and services designed to make running a small business simpler are launched every day, but these innovations can actually be harmful to your workload. For every new idea or service you try, there will be an adjustment phase that can impact your ability to work as normal; if you are continually trying new things, then you’ll never have the chance to fully adjust and reach maximum productivity.

To prevent against such a scenario, limit yourself to trying new services or products every three months. If you spot any ideas you want to explore in between times, make a note and return to them at the designated time.

In conclusion

If your workload is threatening to spiral out of control, identifying the cause and then seeking a solution can help to achieve the perfect balance for both you and your company.

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