Monthly CEO Days: How to Make Time to Work On Your Business
Updated: 2 days ago
Okay, so a CEO day. It's one day a month where you step away from the day-to-day and work on your business instead of in it. Sounds easy enough, right? Booking it is. Keeping it… not so much 😅
We're doing this ourselves at the moment, taking time away from client work to look at the numbers and make the bigger decisions. We also nag pretty much every founder we work with to do the same, so we'd better practise what we preach!
You already know you should be working on the business and not just in it, so nobody needs telling that. The tricky bit is doing it every month when there's always something more urgent shouting at you. The businesses we see growing aren't working harder than everyone else, by the way. They've just made thinking time as non-negotiable as paying the bills.
Book it like a client
Pick a day and stick to it, whether that's the first Tuesday, the last Friday or whatever works for you. Then pop the next six months in your diary now. Not next month when things calm down, because we both know they won't!
If something urgent comes up (it will), move it to another day that week. Don't skip it and promise yourself you'll do it next month, because one skipped month has a sneaky habit of turning into three.
What to do on the day
Please don't just block the time and hope inspiration strikes! We use the same three questions every time, with clients and in our own business.
Start with what moved the business forward last month. Not what kept you busy, but what made a difference. Then ask yourself: if you could only do one thing next month, what would make the biggest difference? Last comes the uncomfortable one: what's stopping you? Be honest. Is it time, money, confidence, or just not knowing where to start?
We go through these in more detail in 3 Questions To Help You Create Business Clarity.
Why it usually falls apart
We see this all the time. In month one you're flying. In month two something comes up and you bump it, just this once. Month three? Never happens.
It's not because you're lazy or not committed, either. When nobody's holding you to it, the urgent stuff always wins. When you're doing it on your own, you can't see your blind spots, so you go round in circles. When nobody checks in a month later, that lovely plan you made just… slips.
How to make it stick
The founders who keep it going nearly always have someone holding them to it. That might be other business owners doing their CEO day at the same time, or their business adviser or coach working alongside them to turn the plan into how they run the business every day.
Sometimes you need a bit more than a nudge, though. If your answers feel a bit vague, or the same thing trips you up every single month, that's when it's worth having someone outside the business look at it with you.
Ready to make your CEO days count and see your business move forward every month? The Partnership gives you two strategy calls a month and a weekly check-in, plus someone on hand to sense-check decisions in between, so your plans turn into results. Apply for The Partnership and let's get your business growing!
This is part 3 of a series on working ON your business:
Part 1: How to Work ON Your Business When You're Drowning in the Day-to-Day
Part 3: How to make it stick (you're here)
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