Have you ever been in such a rush to get somewhere that you ended up dropping something out of pure hurry and frantic? And then, because of that, you were even more late and even more frustrated?
This is a bit like what we do in our small business. We prioritize the urgent—those pop-up tasks that are on our never-ending to-do lists. All the things that come flying at our heads. We constantly put those urgent tasks first, over the important tasks.
The Difference Between Urgent and Important
What are the important tasks? Things like updating that page on our website. Or fixing a broken link. Or working on our customer offboarding sequence.
I see this prioritization of the urgent over the important every single week as a business coach to female small business owners. They are so busy and frantic dealing with the urgent, they never can get on top of their business and deal with the important—the stuff that truly matters in their small business.
When we learn to rise above the urgent and work on what matters most, not only do we feel calmer and more focused, but we actually can save a lot of time to boot!
I’m going to teach you a strategy for investing one hour today to save 10 hours next week.
Does this sound too good to be true? I used this a lot when I was a Director of Operations, and the business owners who implemented this consistently saw huge gains in winning a lot of time back in the upcoming week. The key word is consistently.
Now, I will warn you, while this will save you about 10 hours next week, it’s going to be the easiest thing to skip out on every week. It’s wild. We would rather skip it and pay the price next week more often than not. Because we typically operate from a place of chaos and not a place of strategy.
So here is what we are going to do: we are going to learn about my “Friday Fortify.” The word fortify means to strengthen or to undergird or beef up. So the goal of this exercise is to strengthen or beef up our upcoming week. It takes exactly 1 hour.
Setting Up Your Friday Fortify
What you want to do to make this work is digitally block this out on your calendar. This is a meeting you are going to keep with yourself. Every week. So write down Friday Fortify right now.
This is a weekly date with yourself on Friday at whatever time works best for you. Pour yourself your favorite drink, put on your favorite playlist, and make this a ritual you never miss.
You’ll want to use a timer for this exercise. You are going to set it six different times for 10 minutes each time. One hour.
The Six-Step Friday Fortify Process
Step One: Review and Reschedule
Look back over the previous week’s meetings that didn’t happen or events that need to get rescheduled for your small business. Spend 10 minutes looking backward and then scheduling these things onto the new upcoming week.
Step Two: Schedule Your Big Rocks
Put in your big rocks for next week. Big rocks are the most important parts of your life. This means things that have nothing to do with work. Digitally block your date night, lunch with a friend, your child’s soccer game, etc. Spend 10 minutes focusing on the most important things in your life and literally block out time for them next week.
Step Three: Confirm Appointments
Confirm all meetings and appointments for next week. This can save upwards of five hours. How many times have you waited on Zoom for someone who didn’t show up? What’s worse is when you rearranged your day for a meeting and the person no-shows!
How many times have you driven to an appointment only to find out that the person had the wrong day written down on their planner? Confirm every appointment and meeting you have for next week.
Step Four: Transfer Unfinished Tasks
Review what tasks didn’t get done this past week and transfer them to next week.
Step Five: Plan for Gift Giving
Gift giving! Did this one surprise you? You’re going to feel so on top of your life as an entrepreneur if you add this in each week. Look ahead over the upcoming couple of weeks. Are there any birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, etc., that you need to buy a gift for? Consider sending flowers or a digital gift card. Take care of these now in the 10 minutes that you have.
Step Six: Create Your Monday Focus List
Finally, quickly write your Monday focus/to-do list in order of importance. Then put your office to bed for the weekend. I talk about this on Fridays in my Instagram stories. I like to leave my Full Focus Planner with my Monday to-do list on my office chair, so that when I go to sit down Monday morning, everything is ready to go.
The Benefits of Friday Fortify
This weekly ritual saves me so much time in the upcoming week! I don’t have to think about what needs to be done or whether or not that one meeting is going to hold. I have Amazon gift cards on their way to people’s houses. I’ve blocked time for the things that I say are the most important.
I’m telling you, the Friday Fortify will change your entire week. You will no longer be reactive as a female entrepreneur. Oh no, not you. You’ll be proactive and in control of your small business (and your personal life!).
If you are struggling in your business or flying by the seat of your pants all the time, this will bring more peace and calm than you can possibly imagine.
PS: Join The Success Squad VIP List
One more thing! If you haven’t joined the VIP list for early access to the next round of The Success Squad, I hope you’ll do that now. If you like practical, step-by-step teaching to help you grow your biz, it will be your new favorite thing. Join us!
Disclaimer: While Kelly is a certified business coach this post is for informational purposes only and may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as financial advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace legal or financial advice. Always check with your own legal or financial team before trying or implementing any information read here. As an Amazon Associate Kelly also earns from qualifying purchases.
