Less Than Busy

To-do lists are wonderful. Especially when they are connected to a calendar in real time. They help me organize my months, weeks, days, and hours. I need to organize a new product launch with a deadline for March 15th? Break the project down into many individual tasks:

• build the prototypes

• build out the new website

  • home page

  • delivery

  • products

• figure out how to package the product

• do photoshoot

• create assembly manual

The above list represents a project that potentially can take up a month or more. Assigning some tasks to each week and then down to the day allows me to check whether I am on track or not, and helps me double down on the tasks that are falling behind.

As wonderful as these to-do lists with calendar integrations are, they do not create work out of thin air when work is slow. In our business, we experience seasonal sales, with winter months being the slowest. While it is nice to have a little pause after the crazy fall rush, I feel a little frustrated when my daily to-do list isn't a little too long. Perhaps I am addicted to action, but the feeling of being less than productive does set in when I find myself wondering what I should be tackling next.

Here are several strategies to do work that adds value in the long term when I feel like my to-do list is too short:

• Work on getting systems and processes in place ahead of when those will be needed. This may be one of the best ways to effectively make good use of those slower weeks or months. This only works if the need for the systems and processes can we predicted accurately.

• Work on new products or product variations. This helps keep employees busy and helps minimize other more cash intensive production of inventory (if you are in a manufacturing business where inventory is required to operate).

• Go outside of my daily norm of tasks and work on new opportunities. This may include brainstorming possible new business relations and making some cold calls to see if there are holes in our coverage of the market that we may be able to fill.

• Work shorter days, where I work as efficiently as possible to get the necessary tasks done and then go home to relax or work on projects that have been waiting.

Personally, I still prefer being a little "too busy". There is nothing like being the middle of intense action, where we work towards tackling BHAGS (big hairy audacious goals). You agree?

When My Head Hurts

Today, at the 10 A.M. coffee break, I commented that my head hurts. One of my guys responded with, "that's what most people call a headache." I just about never have headaches. But my head does ache – probably at the rate of several times per week.

I find that certain conditions need to be met for my head to be in a stressed state. Some contributing factors are:

• Multiple tasks piling up at the same time

• Time pressure on at least one of the tasks

• Trying to figure out a complex set of problems (such as learning to manage a new set of books as part of managing a company for an external owner)

• An external stressor (such as personal finances or health, etc.)

• An emergency situation (a semi truck getting stuck on the road side 4 hours away from headquarters)

Usually it will take a combination of at least two or three of these to trigger that feeling in my head. I can still function effectively. But it does signal to me that I am burning more calories than normal, and I will likely feel more tired than usual at the end of the day. Also, I realize that this sort of stress affects the quantity of grey hair on my head and may also effect my overall health.

Here are several tips to help manage stress in a stressful and busy business environment:

• Create a weekly to-do list.

• Break down the weekly to-do list into daily tasks.

• If tasks emerge that were not anticipated, jot them down immediately into your master to-do list, instead of trying to hold that to-do in your memory. Your stressed mind is bound to forget and feel even more taxed trying to remember what you're supposed to remember...

• Taking a break does wonders for clearing my mind. After today's stressful morning, I spent more than half the day arranging 9 miniSheds in preparation for a photoshoot. A creative outlet like that puts me in my "happy zone", helping me destress.

• Stepping outside for fresh air. Kick that up a notch, and do a little jog under God's open sky.

• Take natural supplements that support your adrenals and/or your cognitive function.

• Go home. This holds true when it's quitting time and my head hurts, but I want to get my project done. Sometimes pushing through is the way to go. Often, the better choice is to go home to my dear family for supper and wrap up that project the following day when I'm well rested.

If you work for an employer and don't carry a big load of responsibility, be blessed. Sometimes, I dream of a work arrangement like this.

If you are in a management position with two tons of responsibility, manage your stress, and realize that the degree of fulfillment you experience at work tends to be tied to the responsibility that is the cause of the mental load you carry. This responsibility turns into a stressed blessing.

If you own and operate a business, be very stressed and very blessed. Somehow, this has been my experience. The interactions with my team, customers, and other business owners in the community are wonderful. Knowing that I get to directly contribute to putting food on the table and building a local, Christian community – this is the mileage I get from the many gallons of stress.

At the moment, this seems like a good trade.

Becoming an Entrepreneur

Let me tell you a tale from my life. When I was approximately 12 years old, I single handedly made the yeast dough, braided the Challah bread, baked it, and then packaged it into large brown paper bags. Then I walked down our southern Manitoban paved village street and knocked on doors. I remember selling a large, fresh loaf for $9.00 – and this is 16 years ago. There, I've dated myself. I even sold half loaves to folks that didn't need a whole loaf. Our village was small. The village several miles west of us had way more people. So I enlisted one of my older siblings to give me a car ride over where I employed the same sales pitch: "Fresh bread that my mother taught me to make."

Would you buy bread from a 12 year old boy?

The following summer, we signed up for the farmer's market in the small city of Winkler, MB. I baked and sold many loaves of bread that summer.

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I wonder if the making of an entrepreneur begins early in life. For the sake of this article, an entrepreneur is simply a person who organizes and operates a business.

My parents could have stopped me from trying. They didn't. Would they have purchased bread from a 12 year old neighbour kid peddling it on the street? Probably not. But I never heard them knock my entrepreneurial idea. This, I think, is impressive.

I learned that I can act on an idea, "market" it to people who need what I create, and trade my creation for money. Ideas are worth a dime a dozen. I still produce a ton of them. But actually acting on an entrepreneurial idea. As a twelve year old boy. How does that experience not impact a person for life?

How I will respond to the entrepreneurial whims of my growing boy – that test is in the making.

On Creativity

What exactly is creativity? We notice children play with things that aren't toys and say: "Boy, he's being creative." Trevor, our 2.5 year old boy is happy to haul a spent thread spool on his John Deere tractor and trailer. Why this combination? To his credit, the spool does sort-of resemble a hay bale. Just sort-of though. And we (adults) think: "Thats neat, the spool fits inside the trailer really well." Likely though, we would not think of said combo. What is it that children tend to have and adults tend to lack?

Is it perhaps simply the willingness to try things without the fear of being different or criticized or even critiqued? Children simply are. They live in their mostly carefree world, happy to follow the happy whims of their productive minds.

You may counter with: "Well, that's childish". It is, but does being a grown-up require us to lose our sense of exploration to the mundane pursuits of "what adults do"? Perhaps this world would benefit from us relooking at things from a vantage point of fresh childlike curiosity.

I, certainly, would benefit.

Hello

Hello, and welcome. My name is Simon. This is a brand new blog where I share little tidbits of my thoughts and experiences. My brain tends to be full of thoughts and ideas that come as a result of my experiences from being a husband, father, and growing a business. I feel like putting things in writing in through a venue like this will help me clarify my thinking, document the journey, and hopefully be of use to some of you. Things will be up and running here shortly. In the meantime, you can subscribe if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails when new content is published!

Till next time, stay safe and keep learning.