I was talking with a friend, and we were comparing busy schedules. Between work, social activities, and teenagers heavily involved in sports, we were always running. His comment was:
“Busy people get things done.”
While on the surface this seems like it makes sense, it isn’t always true. Some busy people are just…busy. This is true in your personal life, but it can also be especially true in your restaurant. Between staff issues and customers, it is easy to let the day slip away without ever spending as much time as you should on the things you need to do to make your business successful.
Time is a precious commodity, and if you don’t budget for the important activities, you will find yourself rushing to get through everything. This usually means not giving your critical tasks the attention they deserve. Budget your time daily. Look at the things you know you need to accomplish, and get them on your daily agenda. Be careful not to over schedule your day. If your are doing any business at all, I can almost guarantee that something will come up that demands your attention. Make sure you leave enough time to handle those issues, but be self-disciplined enough to get back to the task at hand.
Issues like inventory are very easy to let slide for one day. You can always get it tomorrow, right? Just remember, food costs can eat your business alive. It is one of the areas you absolutely have to keep under control to be successful. Every day you put off tracking is one more day that a potential problem can be cutting into your margins.
Stay on of your critical tasks and you will greatly increase the chances that your restaurant will be a success.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Kevin // Feb 6, 2008 at 3:20 pm
My biggest pet peeve is the many, many people I’ve met who seem to be more preoccupied with being busy than with getting things done. You know the type — always running around talking about how much they have to do, talking on their cell phones in an obnoxious manner, ostentatiously laying their BlackBerry down on the table in front of them so everyone knows they’re the kind of Important Person who needs to carry a BlackBerry. Urgh.
I once worked for a freelance editor who kept putting off paying me, telling me that she was just so busy that she didn’t have time to sit down and write a check and stick it in the mail (her assistant, apparently, was not permitted to do these things). I asked her: Isn’t paying your writers one of those things that you’re supposed to be busy doing?
She didn’t have an answer. I finally got the check after hounding her assistant, and stopped responding to her emails.
2 Jim // Feb 7, 2008 at 9:11 am
Congrats on finally getting paid.
I agree, there are people who use “busy-ness” as a symbol of importance. Either through arrogance or ignorance, they refuse to work smarter.
The other side of that coin are those that allow circumstances to dictate their schedule. they run, run, run and reach the end of the day exhausted, but they never really accomplished anything (been there, done that).
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