Thursday, July 17, 2008

[Copyblogger] Battle Productivity Brain Drain With an Idea Budget

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Battle Productivity Brain Drain With an Idea Budget

Brain Drain

I recently gave you 10 quick tips for building a business online. One tip in particular resonated with readers:

#4 - Work on one idea at a time. Never splatter out with many ideas. It's overwhelming.

Easier said than done. We have too many great ideas, too many things to do, and only two hands and one brain.

Which idea is best to follow? This one? That one? All of them? What about time? There’s not enough. It all needs to be done now! But where to start? Here? There?

You know the feeling… Indecision, an exhausted brain, and zero productivity.

Seven Ways to Battle Productivity Brain Drain

Too many ideas at once dig into your mental and physical energy resources just as credit cards dig into your money. Too much mental spending creates debt, leaving you with a mess and feeling overwhelmed trying to stay afloat.

Financial advisors have the perfect solution. These number-crunching pros have strategies that reduce conventional debt, and these can also help reduce and eliminate idea debt and brain drain. You'll restore some balance in your life and actually get things done with these seven adapted strategies.

1. Cut up your mental credit cards. People who want to reduce debt cut up the tools that let them accumulate more debt. The same applies to entrepreneurs – cut off new, incoming ideas. Write those ideas on a list you can set aside (you don’t want to forget them, after all.) Come back to the list when life is back in order.

2. Uncover the real expense. You probably have a ton of great ideas. When you put those ideas into words on a list, it can be surprising to realize just how much work might be involved. Make a list of each project, all related tasks and subtasks, and get the big picture of just how much your ideas cost you.

3. Budget your mental spending. With the big picture and the (long) list of everything each project requires, it’s easier to see where you need to cut back the unnecessary expenses that cost you time. Cut the spending, and apply the savings to your mental debts.

4. Pay more than the minimum. If the bill comes in and you only pay what’s necessary to stay in good credit, it takes a long, long time to eliminate the debts – and you also rack up interest, making the debt harder to pay off. When you work a little on multiple projects, their progress is slow and you become more tired plugging away.

5. Reduce one debt at a time. Financial experts suggest tackling one debt fiercely (usually the one with the highest interest) to eliminate it before working on eliminating the next debt. Do the same with your focus and time – pick one project and work on eliminating all the tasks to reach the goal. Then move on.

6. Don’t spend what you don’t have. People wake up when families are a mess, partners are complaining and kids are neglected. These people suddenly realize they didn’t have the available time to commit to their ideas the first place. Know how much time you have, and don’t commit more than you can invest safely.

7. Pay yourself first. If all your time goes to your business, you never have a moment to just relax and do something else. Rest your brain and set aside a chunk of time for something besides business.

About the Author: Want more bookkeeping tips for your online business? Well, James can’t help you – he’s a writer, not an accountant. But if you like this post and want more great tips to have a better online business, visit James’ blog, Men with Pens. Better yet, be frugal. Save time and grab the Men with Pens RSS feed here.


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