How Budding Entrepreneurs Can Change Their Schedule to Unlock Their Brain

I shared a post recently about the evolution of my daily schedule as I transitioned from working full-time for my employer to full-time for myself as an entrepreneur. I went to work for myself to control my schedule, yet I felt like I was trading 40 hours a week for 60+ hours a week. Can you budding business owners relate?

Summary: It went from out of my control ➡️ nonstop work ➡️ wonderful.

Let's start as Jamie, the employee, shall we?

When I was working for more than a decade as a retail pharmacist, my schedule felt like this:

• Long shifts, precise hours
• Laughable breaks
• Working major holidays
• Late nights
• Out of my control

Can you relate? The biggest reason I wanted a change in my career was so that I could have control over my schedule. I was tired of working holidays, missing important life events, and being unable to put my young kids in community sports/activities because my schedule threw a wrench in everything. The siren songs entrepreneurs were singing about flexibility and freedom enticed me to join them.

Now Jamie, the naive entrepreneur, feels squeezed for time.

My first 12-18 months in business were incredible....... and busy. So busy! In fact, I was working far more for myself than I was working for my employer. Part of me loved it because it was work of my choosing.

Part of me was weighed down because I couldn't just 'turn off' my brain and clock out of my job for the day.

Here are some activities that (in hindsight) kept me necessarily busy:

• Prioritizing urgent (email) vs. important (creation)
• Meeting with everyone who wanted my time
• Spray and pray approach to all my efforts
• Working nonstop, no precise hours

As an entrepreneur, your time is your most valuable commodity. Treat it as such! Don't give it away freely to urgent tasks and everyone who wants your time. You are not getting paid by the hour anymore, so if that exact task isn't ultimately growing your business and getting you paid, then it is a waste of time. Just stop doing it right now.

I wish I could go back and tell myself that, but alas, you live and learn. It is a hard lesson to learn, especially if you are a people-pleaser and never want to disappoint anyone. However, if you are serious about being a successful business owner, the only thing that matters is your business's growth. Everything else is irrelevant, so put on those blinders and go forward with a single purpose during your working hours.

Some specific examples of things to cut until you are well-established: unnecessary meetings, volunteering for committees, helping colleagues on unrelated projects, and scrolling social media.

I know you want to be a nice human and help others. The biggest help you can give is to have your business thrive and help people. Everything else keeps you busy and sucks your energy, so you have less to put into your beautiful baby business. Don't worry, this selfish phase doesn't last forever. Once your business grows and gets stable, you'll have more than enough time, energy, and money to devote to causes and professional people that matter to you.

Finally, Jamie, the mature creator has learned some lessons

Now I value my time above all. Time is wealth. Time is our only non-renewable resource. I love to use my time doing what I love and learning. That's it. I've delegated, automated or eliminated everything else that was previously in my day. Here is how my schedule priorities have shifted:

• Prioritizing important (creation) vs. urgent (email)
• Focusing on one thing. Deleting everything else
• Valuing thinking over doing
• Take few, if any, meetings
• Working clear hours with boundaries

I am still a work in progress, but I feel so free. I feel like I have achieved schedule freedom, and I want that for more budding entrepreneurs.

Change is awkward, but it doesn't have to stay that way. You control your life. Spend your time wisely. Those who can master their time and work on what matters most (rather than what is screaming the loudest) win.

Jamie