One of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs is stepping back from the host of tasks involved in running their business and taking time to look at the big picture. When was the last time you stopped and reviewed your business plan? Do you have a business plan? What is the end goal of all this effort every day? What is your business strategy for getting there?

Here is a relatively quick and simple technique you can do today to help you to step back and work on your business instead of only in it. This is no substitute for a full business plan and more in depth strategic thinking, but it is great way to get you thinking more strategically, and can have a huge impact on your effectiveness and efficiency. This is an exercise I have my Women's Business Coaching clients go through on a regular basis, with remarkable results.

It's very simple:

Make a list of all of the individual activities which you perform on a daily to weekly basis in running your business. Don't include those things which you only do every few weeks or a few times a year, but include each individual activity which you do every day or at least once a week.

Examples might be: Checking email, responding to email, writing ad copy, talking with suppliers, answering phones, following up on leads, making cold calls/warm calls, mailing things, meetings, accounting/bookkeeping, checking inventory, updating website, working on designs, etc.

Please make this list now, before you read further. Most of you will probably have somewhere between 10 and 20 items on your list. Go ahead, please do it now, you really do have time for this!

Okay, now look at your list and ask yourself, if you could only do one thing on the list, what would it be? What one thing would have the biggest impact, make the most difference, if you had to choose? (It's usually pretty obvious!)
Now, pick the next two most important activities on your list. So now you have your top three most important tasks for running your business.

Now ask yourself, "What would be the impact on me and on my business if I spent 80% or more of my work time doing only those three things?"

Get specific - what kind of results would you be producing? What would it feel like?

Now ask yourself, why are you still doing all of those other things, none of which made it into the top three? And what would it take to have other people doing those things instead of you? (Perhaps someone who is actually better at them than you are, and who would enjoy doing them!) Imagine if you were free to focus on those three most important tasks that you and only you can do.

I urge you to take on this exercise as more than an exercise - use it! Take it on! It's energizing to even think about how much more you could accomplish, but don't be content just to be briefly energized, take this on and apply it now.