I’ve just got back from running my quarterly financial Mastermind Retreat for business owners, which as you may know is one of my absolute favourite things to do!
And my clients were working through the regular exercise they do each quarter looking at the financial performance of their business, when one of them piped up, ever so quietly ….
“ it feels so counter-intuitive to take this time out, but I can’t help noticing that the more time I spend working ON my business, the more profitable the business becomes. And every quarter I can see the net worth of my business going up and up”
He’d just finished his financial year and had smashed the year end net profit target he’d set just last quarter by 17%. And he’d noticed looking back over the last couple of years that at the point when he’d starting taking regular time out of his business his profit had started increasing from exactly that point.
And even more brilliantly, he and his wife have spent the last year reducing the time they spend at work, prioritising health, exercise, holidays and treats!
And he’s not alone. Reflecting on my other retreat clients, all of them are systematically increasing their profits and cash on a quarter by quarter basis.
So, what’s going on?
As he said, it does still feel really counter-intuitive to take that time out each quarter.
There’s something about modern business culture that has us believing that success is about working stupid hours, not taking breaks, and that the way to succeed is never leaving your desk. Long hours are still a misguided badge of honour.
But the problem with that is this. If you never lift your head from the daily email deluge and operational details of running your business, you never get a clear perspective on what’s really going on, and what you want from your business and your life.
It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut with your foot on the gas!
I’m not advocating that everyone necessarily goes away once a quarter, but there’s no doubt in my mind that creating space between you and your business on a regular basis has FAR more value than never leaving your desk.
What’s the connection between time out and profit?
Your financial results are the net cumulative result of everything that you and your team do and don’t do.
So, it’s obviously important that you’re working on the things that make the most difference. But much of what we get sucked into on a daily basis isn’t necessarily moving us forward and once we’re “in it”, it can be difficult to see the wood for the trees.
Taking a step back on a regular basis gives you a different perspective
And I realised this week that since I started running my retreats back in 2016, this was the 9th retreat I’ve run. And we’re seeing some pretty interesting, hard core, bottom line results that can’t be argued with, especially with clients who’ve been taking time out regularly.
I say this not by way of promoting what I do, you know I don’t like that salesy stuff, but to offer you some evidence that it’s ok for you to take time out. Take the time to work on your business, and I know it’s a cliché that gets trotted out oh so often “work ON your business not IN it”
But doing less often means you achieve more. More of the right things and less overwhelm and stress. More perspective on what matters, on what’s working and what isn’t, where you need to spend your time, what you need to delegate or stop doing altogether, and clarity on what your most important priorities are and scheduling the time to actually get them done!