This is what was said to a Dublin Accountant this week.

The fellow was complaining of the money he had lost on a property investment that he went into with his eyes wide open. He didn’t see the crash coming and was blaming the resort developer, Bobby Ginn.

Coincidentally, I was with an old friend this week who used to be the contractor for the same Bobby Ginn. Charlie is now in his 60’s and thought back over the past 10 years. With the benefit of hindsight, he was able to say that the Ginn people did not go out to lose people money but they were caught in the same decline that everyone else was.

Charle asked the accountant, “when you signed on the dotted line, did anyone put a gun to your head?” The sheepish man answered “No”. His wife chimed in “I told you so”.

The moral of the tale is that everyone makes mistakes, but playing the blame game will only last so long. Eventually, someone will say “did anyone put a gun to your head

Here at Barry Accountants if there is one thing we have learned in the past 5 years is that to have business growth, you have to focus on what you are good at. There is so much distraction these days from mobile phones, staff, walk in’s, unsolicited phone calls, meetings, faxes, tv, radio that it’s hard to think straight, never mind perform.

You know what to do, You’re Just not doing it!  (Title of upcoming book by Jeffrey Gitomer)

To remind you of what you already know, but have temporarily forgotten then do the following.

1. Take emails off your mobile phone
2. Only check them at a predefined time in the late afternoon (e.g. 2 pm)
3. Answer them all the same afternoon
4. Write your ” To Do” List for the next day and attack it from the morning on

This way, you aren’t being diverted from what you plan to do. There is an industry built around Time management courses, but you already know what to do.

Prioritise and eliminate distractions.

It’s the only way for business growth to have any chance of success.