"Well, of course." You might say. "If it were that easy, no one would be stalled. But it's never that easy. Building a business is just hard work. There's NO way around it."

That's the conventional wisdom and perhaps it's your belief about it too. Yet this 'wisdom' has resulted in business owners and professionals feeling buried by all they need to accomplish.

My client, Brian, needed 15 minutes to review his To Do List. It had all the things Conventional Wisdom told him were the activities he 'must' get done to build his business. When I asked him to estimate the time it would take to achieve them, it totaled 357% of the hours in a week.

His business was getting accomplished but his attention was constantly pulled back to that list. Like a huge layer of fat, the weight of the list was dragging on him every hour of the day, every step he took.

If your list looks like Brian's, then Conventional Wisdom on building a business has failed you for one simple reason...

You're Working Too Hard At Building Your Business!

What's probably going on? You've got a mind full of chatter about all the tasks that need doing, solving, adding to, judging, distracting you from honing in on the few High Payoff Activities that WILL move your business forward NOW!

Maybe, just maybe, there's a simpler, better way to build your business. The better way I'm referring to is easy to achieve if you'll treat your business like your metabolism and burn off the fat.

Follow the High Payoff Processes that burn off the fat and get you focused exactly where you need to be. Here are the steps:

List everything, just once Grab a fresh piece of paper and clear out the looooong long list that's been hanging on your mind. You'll find a really useful form for it HERE. It's the first step I use with all my Platinum Coaching Clients to get them focused. When you use it daily you'll see the list shrink and the weight starts to drop right off your shoulders.

Divide that list into the FEW top To Dos you'll achieve today The quickest way to do it is using the 4-in-1 form you'll find here. My coaching clients love it as they use it to get a handle on exactly what they'll put in action and accomplish. Brian commented that at first it felt like his list was 'too short'. Now it feels like a cheer for what he knows he's going to get done that day!

Plan every action and every meeting before you step into it I know one of the habits we get into is lugging all the extra weight of our To Dos with us into meetings. If any of them are hanging on you, you need to burn them off before you walk into any meeting. Focus your attention on the purpose of the meeting, your preparation for it, and exactly what you want to accomplish ' 100% of your attention on it before you take the meeting.

Limit every meeting to 20 minutes Open every meeting by stating the purpose. You'll find all the wandering conversations melt away. Is there a goal to be set? Set it. An obstacle to remove? Focus the entire conversation on defining the issue clearly so that an action plan can be set. Note Any additional ideas that come up on a Parking Lot sheet and assign it to another discussion.

Delegate everything else! As you go through your day, new ideas and issues will crop up. Don't let them hang on you and weigh you down. Put them on our 4-in-1 sheet so you'll know that you'll get them solved today or tomorrow, or delegate them now to someone else. Otherwise they're a wish and a hope and need to be moved onto your brainstorming list and out of your attention.

Peel off the To Dos you were never going to get to. Get your attention trimmed and in focus on what really needs doing. Loose the fat flip the switch and light a fire inside you and your business!

Just like Brian, if you follow these simple steps, you'll turn into a business building machine.

Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Feinholz