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Now we want to extend that concept. We hear a lot about the right mix of assets when it comes to investing in our retirement portfolios. But we don’t often think of the activities we perform – how we invest our time – as a mix of assets.

Investing time like a venture capitalist allocates money

We should because the things we do should add value to our lives or we shouldn’t do them. So we want to approach our investment of time like it’s a portfolio … specifically, a venture capitalist’s portfolio.

A venture capitalist invests in a bunch of companies. Then they see how they perform and make decisions. If a company is hitting its marks, they keep funding it. If not, they don’t. They are constantly allocating money to the companies that look like they will generate the greatest return.

We can use this as a model for how we invest our time.

Find your highest value mix of activities

We’ve come up with a four-step process to determine those activities which deserve more of our investment of time and those tasks that should get less. So we can make more money without investing more time.

Step 1: List all the activities you perform.

Step 2: Place a dollar value on each of those activities.
It’s relatively easy to figure out the value of activities that make you money, but what do you do with those tasks that don’t? You want to look at two scenarios:

• How much would it cost to pay someone to do it for you?

• How much could you make in that time?

For example, spring is about here. It will be time to get out the lawn mower. For the sake of simplification, we’ll ignore the cost of owning and maintaining a mower. Say you could find someone to mow your yard for $50. In that time, you could earn $75 after-taxes. Under these assumptions, mowing your own yard costs you $25.

Step 3: Rank your activities from high to low.

Step 4: Create a portfolio of activities that generate the highest return.
Just like a venture capitalist, you want to invest more time in those activities at the top of your list. You want to “fund” the winners (i.e. invest more time in them).

To find the time for those activities, look at the bottom of your list and find ways to eliminate or delegate those tasks. One by one, you’ll find more time to invest in your higher value activities. 

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Limitations

Admittedly, there are limitations to this process. Some activities cannot be measured with money. Going back to our example about mowing the yard, you may really enjoy that task.

It also doesn’t account for the fact that you need some down time to recharge. This is definitely a quantitative, not a qualitative, process.

This was the set-up. Next time we’ll discuss an example so you see how powerful this process can be. You’ll see how to make 55 percent more money without investing any more time.

Thanks so much for stopping by our site today. Until next time, here’s to your bigg success!

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Moving Beyond Personal Productivity

Are You a Victim of Your Own Success?

(Image in today's post by bluegum)

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So a while back, he opened the first one. It said, “Blame your predecessor.” Obviously Tony Blair wasn’t the person who gave him these envelopes!

Before long, the situation worsened. So he opened the second envelope. It said, “Blame the statistics.”

Recently, as things continued to get worse, he finally succumbed and opened the third one. It said, “Start writing three envelopes to your successor.”

Fortunately, he was joking. But it raises a serious point – the way in which a lot of people respond in crisis. First, fix the blame. If that doesn’t work, run!

Bigg winners respond differently.

Bigg winners say blame, blame go away. They focus on fixing the problem, not the blame. So much energy is spent trying to find out who’s responsible. Leaders focus on what the problem is. Fix that. Then worry about who should be held accountable.

Also, when faced with a serious problem, bigg winners don’t worry about what happened yesterday. We get so focused on who did what to whom. Today is what matters. What are you doing today … right now … to find a solution to your problem? That solution lies in the present, not the past.

But finding a solution is just the beginning. Don’t stop there. You have to act to make your solution work – the sooner the better. But be prepared … you may not have found the right solution yet. That’s okay. Test your solution. See what happens. If it doesn’t work, test another one.

Which brings us to perhaps the most important thing bigg winners do when faced with a problem – they don’t ever give up. As long as you’re still trying, you’re not a failure. Press on! See that wall that lies before you? Climb over it, dig under it, go around it, or plow right through it!

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We really appreciate that you took time out of your busy day to spend a few minutes with us. Join us next time when we discuss how to be a career renegade. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00318-012809.mp3

Related posts

Have A Problem? SOLVE IT!

Battle Scarred vs. Battle Scared

Crisis Creates Opportunity for Great Leaders

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At a press conference, the President of Maple Leaf Foods, Michael McCain responded:

"Certainly knowing that there is a desire to assign blame, I want to reiterate that the buck stops right here. This week, it's our best efforts that failed, not the regulators or the Canadian food safety system. I emphasize: this is our accountability and it's ours to fix, which we are taking on fully. We have and we continue to improve on our action plans."

Honesty builds goodwill

It was so refreshing to see a leader step up and accept responsibility in an incredibly difficult situation. The report on the conference says you could see the pain in his face. He was completely honest. He took a hard stance and accepted full responsibility.

In today’s legal environment, it’s harder than ever for executives to accept this kind of responsibility. Lawyers often advise against it because it costs money. But it builds goodwill because people appreciate people who stand up and do what’s right without regard to the cost.

The 3 phases of a crisis

We found a great special report, Crisis – A Leadership Opportunity [pdf]. It discusses the three phases in the lifecycle of a crisis:

Preparation
During this phase, complacency has set in. As problems boil to the surface, leaders often ignore them to avoid any conflict. This failure to respond early leads to the crisis.

Emergency
Now the threat has been ascertained and the very existence of the organization may be threatened. Leaders direct all their energy to eliminate the immediate threat.

Adaptive
All possible attention has been given to crisis. There has been an urgency to get to the source and take corrective actions. With the crisis still at the top of everyone’s mind, now is the time to make the changes necessary to prevent the crisis from happening again. People are receptive and open.

However, many leaders fail to take advantage of this opportunity. Instead, they push the organization back to the status quo. The result? The crisis returns!

The report [pdf] goes on to discuss the seven essential success strategies for leaders in crisis. It also discusses two famous cases of leadership in crisis – Johnson & Johnson’s handling of the Tylenol poisonings and Rudy Giuliani’s response immediately after the events of September 11, 2001.

We highly recommend that you check out this fantastic resource. It will help you learn to adapt to little problems so they don’t become a major crisis. 

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Next time, we ask, “Are you solving the problem or the symptom?” Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Related posts

Have A Problem? SOLVE IT!

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00248-102208.mp3
ttp://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00248-102208.mp3

(Image by mapleleaf.com)