When you’re in business, every second counts. You must be efficient with your time and ensure you’re using it effectively. Here are some of our favorite time management tips to help you manage your schedule, get more things done and focus on what’s important:
Time Block
One of our favorite time management tools is time blocking. For example, don’t check email or social media when you are working on a project. If you are working on a project and somebody sends you an urgent message, taking time off the project to answer their message will extend the project timeline. Save checking emails for after hours or during breaks. Time blocking also prevents interruptions to your work flow. It takes time for our brains to shift between tasks. Focusing on one task, project, or client at a time increase efficiency and productivity.
Set aside a specific daily time to check your email and social media. Try setting alarms on your phone that goes off at the start and end of your email and social media time.
Outsource Repetitive Tasks
Outsourcing is a great way to save time and money, allowing you to focus on what you do best.
When it comes to outsourcing, there are many options available: You can outsource data entry, web design, and development, accounting services, virtual assistants (VA), or many other tasks.
Outsourcing helps you get more done in less time than if you had tried to do the work yourself. It allows you to focus on what’s important while freeing up your time to grow your business!
Mute Distractions
Distractions can throw off the best time management plans. Get rid of distractions while working:
- Turn off notifications.
- Set a timer for social media.
- Use a blacklist for distracting websites.
- Use a to-do list app or calendar app, instead of relying on your memory (which is filled with way too many minutiae) to keep track of deadlines and appointments.
Understand Your Schedule
Find the time of day when you have the most energy and give the most difficult project at that time.
Your energy levels are not consistent throughout the day, so it’s important to maximize your productivity by giving yourself tasks that require a lot of mental effort at the time of day when you have the most energy.
For example, if you know that you have more productive hours in the morning, then schedule those challenging projects for then. Conversely, if you work better when it is later in the afternoon or evening, then schedule those easier tasks for that time of day.
Organize your Time
To begin, you need to know how much time is being spent on each task. This may sound obvious, but there are many ways to do this. If a task takes an hour and you only spend 20 minutes completing it, then 20% of your day was just one task. That’s a lot of time!
One way to measure this is by using a timer or stopwatch while working on a project. When you are working on something specific, try putting the timer on for 15 minutes and see how far along in that timeframe you are able to get with whatever it is that needs doing. If possible, try setting daily goals (such as completing 80% of all tasks during the first 30 minutes) and then tracking them at the end of each day so that next time around there will be less downtime between projects due to lackadaisical efforts at getting things done quickly enough before being distracted again by something else more fun than work!
Create Systems & Automate Tasks
Creating systems and automating repetitive tasks can help you be more efficient in your business. You may have heard of the Pareto principle, or 80/20 rule, which states that 20% of your efforts bring in 80% of the results. This means that if you want to be more productive with your time, it’s important to create systems and processes for things like customer support, marketing campaigns, payroll and so on.
If you’re wondering how exactly to go about creating these systems and processes, here are some steps that may help:
- Identify what type of information is shared among team members (e.g., emails)
- Figure out which documents need access by multiple people on a regular basis (e.g., sales contracts)
- Decide how often this information needs to be accessed (weekly? monthly?)
I hope our tips have been helpful! If you’re still struggling with time management, don’t feel bad. It’s a common problem for entrepreneurs, but it doesn’t have to be. By creating systems and automating repetitive tasks, you can free up your time and focus on what matters most—growing your business.
Check out our video to learn how to increase your profits by adjusting your processes!