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You may have already read Atomic Habits by James Clear. One of my favorite takeaways was his stance on continuous improvement.
“If you get one percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. This is why small choices don’t make much of a difference at the time, but add up over the long term.”
I spoke about the one percent concept during a webinar, and an attendee asked a good question.
“How can we measure getting one percent better?”
My response wasn’t worth repeating and it was so bad it wasn’t worth remembering either. That, or I’m just trying to block it out.
Either way, after I got back on track I told her about another method that has worked for me and is much easier to measure.
Start, Stop, Change and Continue is an activity that can be used to continually improve performance in your personal or professional life.
I’ll provide you with a few high-level examples and then get specific by sharing my own experience.
Start:
- Anything that would benefit your company
- A new skill to add to the set
- A new experience to add breadth
Stop:
- Anything that wastes time
- A task that is mastered and can be handed off
- Anything that isn’t working
Change:
- Anything that works but could benefit from a minor change
- Anything that needs to be updated in light of new processes, information or technology
Continue:
- Something that works well and benefits the person, team or organization
- Positive experiences and habits
- Specific tasks and activities that are aligned with your zone of genius
I go through this exercise on a weekly basis and I’m surprised at how many low-value, time-wasting tasks I’ve stopped doing. On a brighter note, it’s a good opportunity to realize the benefit of continually looking for areas of improvement and optimization.
Here are the outcomes of my recent experience with the model.
Stop taking sales calls
This one was tough because I love talking to other entrepreneurs, especially those that discover me through social media or my podcast.
Unfortunately, these calls are time-consuming and pull me away from other activities that are more meaningful. This includes helping clients who I’ve already partnered with, creating content, hitting the gym, or spending time with my wife before the kids get home.
As a result, I recruited Shandel Shand to join my team and handle all discovery calls. You can book a time with her here to learn more about how I may be able to help you grow your business.
Start going live on Instagram
I enjoy hosting LinkedIn Live events but it’s challenging to do so in a way that feels spontaneous and less structured. Unlike Instagram you can’t just whip out your phone and start chatting. So, I decided to start going live on Instagram.
My audience there isn’t as large but the feedback I got from my first live was enough to tell me I’m on the right track. 🙂
Continue scheduling my week
I’ve been telling everyone to put their to-do list on their calendar for years. If it’s not important enough for you to block off time, it’s not that important. But recently I kicked it up a notch by identifying how much time I need per week for my most important activities.
- Creating content
- Personal development training
- Nurturing professional network
- Interacting with online communities
I discovered that I need to spend ten hours per week creating various forms of content, so I now have that time proactively blocked off. I’ll then include information on the specific content that needs to be created during my weekly planning session. Oh, and I schedule my weekly planning session as well.
Change how I attract clients
It can be frustrating when you want to help someone, they want to work with you as well, but they just can’t afford your rates. I accidentally stumbled across a solution to this problem while speaking at a mastermind event in Florida.
After getting off stage, I was immediately approached by several people who were interested in partnering with me. This happens after most speaking engagements but here’s what made this experience so different, it cost a minimum of $25k to be in the mastermind.
And, some people were paying up to $100k. As a result, they were more concerned with how I could help them, not the associated cost.
So what happened next? I was able to sign $35k in new business within a week of speaking on stage. I’m now actively pursuing additional opportunities to speak at mastermind events that charge members a significant amount.
I hired someone on Fiverr to make a list of 200 masterminds that fit my criteria and have already started pitching the organizers. I’ll provide an additional update by next month.
Your Turn
Block off 15 minutes this week to complete the Start, Stop, Continue and Change activity for your business. Then, continue doing so on a weekly basis going forward.
Terry’s Recommendation Zone
Blocking off time for content creation allows me to consistently share information that helps you build your revenue, reputation and resilience. And as an entrepreneur, you know how important it is to have a robust and active email list to share your guidance.
Unfortunately, growing your list can be time-consuming and confusing. ConvertKit has solved that problem with their Creator Network. By joining the Creator Network, you’ll recommend creators who are worth checking out to your subscribers and get recommended in turn.
I gained over 1,000 subscribers through this program last month and helped out other creators along the way.
To get started, sign up for a ConvertKit account and join the Creator Network. Let me know when you do, I’ll pass along some additional guidance and share how I’ve been able to grow my list
That’s it for now!
I hope you found this valuable (please let me know) and if you did please consider sharing it with a friend.
Have a great week!
