Ten Secrets to Small Business Success - Write Everything Down

If you are like most small business owners and entrepreneurs, you are a thinker. Your mind is overwhelmed with things to do, ideas to implement, and dreams to accomplish. When your mind is overloaded with task lists and new ideas, often the most important tasks and the most valuable ideas are missed or lost. Here's a simple way to solve this all too common problem. Write everything down.

You will be amazed at the great ideas you will discover reading through your previous notes. When you stick an idea with a pen you have created a physical tie to a mental thought. You are far more likely to act on an idea when you have written it down. It is as if we have an accountability factor to the note.

We've all had a great idea that we let escape the momentary place in our minds. Writing ideas down gives us a place to store them and opens new areas for ideas and problem solving in our minds. With a limited capacity for current ideas and information, our mind will store ideas that we are currently not acting on deep in our brain. While we may be able to remember that great idea we had last week, we can ensure access to the idea by writing it down. Each of us should have a journal or at least a consistent location for written notes that is easily accessed.

Another reason to write things down is to have a historical record of who, what, where, when and why things happen. This will be an invaluable resource when you need to resolve disputes, verify comments, or clarify commitments made by you and those you work with. This will ensure better management of vendor, employee, and customer relations.

One of the best uses of written notes can be found when you wish to examine the process of an event that you wish to repeat. Landing a client may involve several steps. Often those steps happen without planning however there was a process that was unknowingly developed and followed with the client. Writing the process down allows you to measure the future success of the process and to make adjustments to ensure greater success.

Keep a small notebook with you at all times and write down all new ideas and things you need to accomplish. Summarize your notes in one journal at the end of the day and transfer the things you need to accomplish to a list that you will prioritize for the next day. Date the notes in the journal and the small notebook for future reference and file the small notebook when filled. When you read through your journal you can easily reference the notebook to mentally return to the thought process you had when developing the idea you are referencing.

Write your ideas down throughout the day and be certain to summarize your day at the end of the day. You will be more effective and efficient, and you will be more open to new ideas.

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Ten Secrets to Small Business Success - Write Everything Down