I have just completed a course with Perry Marshall, and he talked about getting rid of the “barnacles” in your business and your life.
Not owning a boat myself I didn’t know much about barnacles, so I did some research and discovered they are quite a big problem.
Barnacles on a boat or ship are “a marine crustacean with an external shell, which attaches itself permanently to a surface”.
They are small but little by little over time they build up until eventually, they affect the speed and performance of the ship.
The US Navy take them pretty seriously spending over $500 million per year to keep them under control. According to Wikipedia, governments and industry worldwide spend $5.7 billion annually.
Left to their own devices, these things eventually affect hull structure, damage the motor, spread contamination and bacteria, and introduce unwanted species from port to port - while also burning up to an incredible 40% more fuel.
40% is massive.
I bet if you could get another 40% efficiency and profits in your business by getting rid of these suckers, you would be happy right?
I am also going to go out on a limb here and predict that in same cases it could even add up to a lot more than 40% of time savings, especially if you haven’t done any scraping for a while.
Barnacles are all the things that eat away at your time that produce little or no results.
Maybe it's time to get scraping and let go of all those things that are slowing you down.
Here are some ideas of things to get rid of.
It might be:
Action:
1. Take a few minutes to write down all the barnacles you can think of, both in your personal life and your business (things you know you should get rid of, time wasters, things that are slowing you down, and things that are negatively affecting speed and performance in your business).
2. Pick the top 3 that are having the most impact and get rid of them by delegating, limiting their time or simply just dropping them altogether.
3. Use your extra time wisely to build a better business and a better life outside work.
4. Keep the list and check in with yourself each week for the next 4 weeks to keep you on track so you don’t pick them up again.
Not owning a boat myself I didn’t know much about barnacles, so I did some research and discovered they are quite a big problem.
Barnacles on a boat or ship are “a marine crustacean with an external shell, which attaches itself permanently to a surface”.
They are small but little by little over time they build up until eventually, they affect the speed and performance of the ship.
The US Navy take them pretty seriously spending over $500 million per year to keep them under control. According to Wikipedia, governments and industry worldwide spend $5.7 billion annually.
Left to their own devices, these things eventually affect hull structure, damage the motor, spread contamination and bacteria, and introduce unwanted species from port to port - while also burning up to an incredible 40% more fuel.
40% is massive.
I bet if you could get another 40% efficiency and profits in your business by getting rid of these suckers, you would be happy right?
I am also going to go out on a limb here and predict that in same cases it could even add up to a lot more than 40% of time savings, especially if you haven’t done any scraping for a while.
Barnacles are all the things that eat away at your time that produce little or no results.
Maybe it's time to get scraping and let go of all those things that are slowing you down.
Here are some ideas of things to get rid of.
It might be:
- Too much time on Social Media
- Customers that take up all your time with requests and complaining
(that you can’t make any money off) - Answering the phone all day
- Cleaning up other peoples mistakes
- Toxic staff
- Too much time spent dealing with emails
- Arguing with your partner about stuff that doesn’t really matter
- Bad beliefs e.g. that you have to "do it all"
- Working evenings and weekends all the time
- Low-level tasks that could easily be delegated
- Too much TV, Netflix, junk food or alcohol
Action:
1. Take a few minutes to write down all the barnacles you can think of, both in your personal life and your business (things you know you should get rid of, time wasters, things that are slowing you down, and things that are negatively affecting speed and performance in your business).
2. Pick the top 3 that are having the most impact and get rid of them by delegating, limiting their time or simply just dropping them altogether.
3. Use your extra time wisely to build a better business and a better life outside work.
4. Keep the list and check in with yourself each week for the next 4 weeks to keep you on track so you don’t pick them up again.
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