Entrepreneur’s dilemma

[arunkw]

Hello guys, few months ago I turned myself from a 9 to5 employee in to an entrepreneur and working on my venture. Off late I found an uncanny thing all my GTD lists are the lists of lifestyles i.e. spending, enjoying, and having luxuries etc, doing hobbies, painting, music, book reading, watching movies, surfing internet etc and I am doing those which is good because life is for living and I believe in living the life you love.

On the contrary there are hardly few items which will give me earnings out of which few are still in half-planned project state, and on top of that I get blown away by hurdles and many times I procrastinate.

Because of this I am going through financial crisis, but back of my mind since I am following GTD I have a false sense of security that everything is in control as I am living my life as per my design.

What’s wrong with me? Why am I creating illusions and living in the world with the lists that doesn’t take care of my finance well being.

Should I opt for the last resort of dumping all the lists and rewriting only those lists which has direct or indirect impact with money? Please advice me.

 

[TesTeq]

You've identified the problem!

Should I opt for the last resort of dumping all the lists and rewriting only those lists which has direct or indirect impact with money? Please advice me.

You've identified the problem: You were not paying enough attention to the financial Area of Focus.

Add Projects related to this area to your Project list and focus on them.

 

[Oogiem]

Buck up and Do It

What’s wrong with me? Why am I creating illusions and living in the world with the lists that doesn’t take care of my finance well being.

Should I opt for the last resort of dumping all the lists and rewriting only those lists which has direct or indirect impact with money? Please advice me.

You didn't plan for the reality of being a small business owner. It sounds like what you should have done is save up enough money to be able to take a 1-3 month sabbatical, do a lot of fun and interesting things and still have about 2 years of living expenses available to get your business started once you finished your vacation. 6 months ready cash is totally inadequate for a small business, 2 years is more likely and 3-5 more typical. Once you start working you better make that the most important thing you do.

Now what you need to do is immediately put all but one or 2 of the fun projects on hold into your someday maybe list and immediately develop a plan and projects to get your business up and running. Expect that it will take at least 10 hours a day for a while, most small start-ups I know the principals end up working half time (12 hour days) initially. You had better love what you want to do or you won't put in the time. If you don't have the commitment to be constantly thinking about how to create, nurture and improve your small business, then time to get cracking on finding a job as you are not suited to be an entrepreneur. The only people I know who are successful as entrepreneurs are those who have such a burning desire to see their idea and business succeed that they work on it almost exclusively for the initial years.

So I say you need to buck up and get working or admit that you have changed your mind and desires and work with your new reality.

 

[SGTM]

It sounds like you may have made a hasty or not well thought out decision, which of course no system will do for you. I would suggest you spend some time thinking about the realities of being a business person and make a true decision if this is the path you want to take. If so, the reality is life may be less fun for awhile than having a job and doing fun things in your spare time, as you may not have any spare time if you truly need to get a business up and running. So I would first make that decision from which all else will follow. Good luck

 

[MarinaMartin]

I'd actually suggest violating "pure" GTD and incorporating a light priority structure to your system. Assign each project a priority from 1-5; 1 = necessary to pay rent. Structure your Next Actions and Context lists to order actions by the priority of their projects.

Pick up the book "Eat That Frog" and work really hard to incorporate the habit of starting each day with the least-desirable task with the greatest gain (in this case, greatest financial gain).

 

[kelstarrising]

To clarify

Assigning a priority code is not a violation of GTD. David Allen just emphasizes that you need to be willing to change that coding system when you get new input (regular Reviews.) Most people don't want to be bothered updating the codes with as quickly as their life changes, so what started as a clear approach on a rainy day with lots of thinking space becomes a muddle of outdated codes in the heat of the daily grind.

 

[Foxman]

Pull your finger out

First of all I would not class your self as an entrepreneur if not actually doing anything apart from reading books, painting, etc that's the exact opposite of the term! Other people decide if your an entrepreneur, not you.

I would take every project which is on your list which is not directly linked to your business/finance building and put it on a someday maybe. The rebuild your next action lists to start afresh as it were. Then set up some doing time and get to work building momentum!

You need to put the hours in. Read about anyone who has done something of a recognised 'entrepreneur' value and they work 12-14 hour days on getting things off the ground until their vision comes to fruition, there are no shortcuts.