Your New Year's Resolution: Become a Blockhead!

Susan Clements

Executive Director, E-Myth Benchmark

In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.  – Tony Robbins

I’m sure becoming a blockhead isn’t what you would normally aspire to when it comes to business!  However, in this case it’s a good thing.  Becoming a blockhead means that over the course of the next year (and beyond), you will commit to carving out time to focus on those activities and initiatives that your business needs you to make happen. Taking the initiative to “block” time out of your calendar for specific activities is a proactive strategy that designs your business for success. Leveraging blocked time is a habit that will provide your business what it needs from you in order to thrive and grow.

As an example, let’s take a look at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Cornell College has a unique way of engaging students in their course studies by focusing on one subject at a time. At Cornell College a “block” is a four-week block of time and students (often referred to as “blockheads”) engage in their courses on the “block plan”. Studying at Cornell on the block plan means students immerse themselves in a single course each three-and-a-half-week block, and then engage in a new subject after a four-day block break. The college maintains that this way of learning provides three distinctive academic benefits to blossom: focus, passion, and flexibility.

Being a blockhead in your business allows you to prioritize and protect your time, enabling you to work more effectively and efficiently. Let’s take a look at five areas where you and your business can benefit from blockhead behavior:

1. Strategic Time is time focused on designing strategies that will drive the success of your business. Your marketing, client acquisition, service, and financial strategies should all be clearly documented and have detailed action plans for executing them. These strategies will determine the day-to-day activities of your business and guide how you block time for other activities. If you don’t have them in writing, block out the time now to create strategies–put them on paper! Then set aside time once a month to review your progress in the executing these strategies.
2. Client and Prospect Meeting Time is the time you have blocked for regularly scheduled meetings for you and your team. For example, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:15-11:45 can be held open for client and prospect meetings. 
3. Team Time/Weekly Team meetings enable everyone in your office to review goals, share client stories, prioritize activities, communicate with, and be a resource for each other. Monday team meetings are an essential part of a successful office. 
4. Employee Growth includes one-on-one meetings with each individual under your leadership that help to maintain balanced and open relationships. A short 15-30 minute meeting identifying challenges, successes and growth goals will promote a successful working relationship with your employees.
5. Client Prospect Time involves blocking out enough time to prospect for new clients. Depending on the maturity of your business you can commit anywhere from 8-30 hours a week finding prospects and converting them to clients. Knowing the amount of time you intend to allocate for client prospecting will ensure your business is on a path to growth. This block is not carved in stone because you need to be able to leverage the opportunities of your community. Taking advantage of Chamber networking events, sporting activities, community events and other business activities means you need to plan your prospecting time in advance. Telephone prospecting should be blocked into your and your team’s weekly activities.

Being a blockhead in your business allows you to experience many of the same benefits as the Cornell College students do, as well as create a business activity plan that supports you in meeting your annual goals. Blocking time on your calendar ensures your team knows you should not to be interrupted and will enable you to execute a specific business activity without being drawn away from what the business needs you to focus on.  Blocking time ensures that your business is receiving focused time and attention on the activities that are essential to its success; it also results in a higher quality work product.

Too often the passionate side of business is quashed by the practical side of getting work done. By setting aside time to explore new concepts, technology or perhaps new products, you can focus on areas of the business you are passionate about and expand your areas of expertise. Being a blockhead by blocking time to follow a business passion will provide your business with essential knowledge while at the same time feed your passion! While having blocked time for set activities may seem at first to be a rigid way of doing business, it actually enables you to be more flexible. Instead of multitasking and running from one thing to another or never having enough time to slow down and enjoy what you are doing, you will get more done in fewer hours, freeing up more time to spend doing other activities you enjoy.

Do yourself and your business a favor this year–become a blockhead!

Susan Clements is Executive Director and co-owner of E-Myth Benchmark, a business coaching company specializing in coaching in the Financial Services industry and working with clients to create profitable turn-key business models. 

Susan and her team of business and executive coaches support clients to create results-oriented businesses through applying proven business best practices.  For more information contact Susan at sclements@e-mythcoaching.com or visit www.e-mythbenchmark.com.  Readers of this newsletter can contact Susan for a New Years "Blockhead Discount" of 10% off of a coaching program. Offer good through January 2010.