What if you took one day a month to work on the business, not in it?
The treadmill of daily hustle
As a founder, your days are filled with the urgent. You’re always putting out fires, answering emails, reviewing reports, and making sure the trains keep running. But in the process, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, the very reason you started the business in the first place.
Working in the business is necessary. But if that’s all you’re doing, you’re missing the chance to work on the business. The difference is subtle but important. Working in the business is about maintaining and surviving. Working on the business is about evolving and growing.
The value of stepping back
What if, once a month, you took just one day, away from the daily grind, to focus entirely on strategic thinking, reflection, and long-term planning? No meetings, no fire-fighting. Just space to step back, look at the big picture, and assess how far you've come, where you’re going, and what needs to change.
This day isn’t just for reviewing the numbers or tweaking the current plan. It’s for answering deeper questions like:
Are you still aligned with the original vision, or have you drifted?
Are the systems in place working for you or against you?
What’s working well, and what’s draining your resources unnecessarily?
Are you leading the company with clarity, or are you stuck reacting?
This kind of focused time doesn’t just benefit you; it benefits the whole business. When you’re clear on the direction, you can lead with more confidence and better decisions. You become more intentional in your actions instead of just being swept along by the chaos of day-to-day operations.
The power of consistency
Taking one day a month may sound simple, but the key is consistency. It’s easy to skip, especially when you’re caught up in immediate demands. But if you make it a habit, it becomes a tool that keeps you focused on your long-term goals.
The key isn’t to have all the answers in one day. It’s to create the space for reflection, to ask the right questions, and to identify the shifts that can propel you forward.
A fresh perspective
Often, we get so immersed in the hustle that we forget to assess how we’re working. When you step out of the operational whirlwind, even for just one day, you might notice things you’ve missed. The disconnects between departments, the misaligned priorities, or the frustrations that are quietly building. These are the things that tend to get overlooked when you’re focused on short-term tasks.
Imagine if you could take a step back and identify these issues before they become major problems. This is the power of working on the business. It’s not about slowing down; it’s about working smarter, with a clearer focus.
What could happen in one day?
That one day can lead to some powerful outcomes:
You might decide to refine your product offering or adjust your sales strategy.
You could find a more efficient way to structure your team or introduce new processes that drive productivity.
You might realise that you’ve outgrown certain tools or systems and need to invest in new ones.
Or, you may see a potential partnership or market opportunity that wasn’t on your radar before.
This dedicated time allows you to reconnect with the bigger vision, align your team, and build a clearer path forward.
