9 Tips For Managing Your Time Effectively

When you’re a business owner, your time is everything; whether it’s making time for meetings, wishing the day away, or desperately trying to free up your hours, you’ll probably find that time, and how it’s managed, dominates your every waking moment. You may be surprised to hear, then, that many businesses just aren’t making the most of their time. No matter how effectively you think you’re managing your day, the chances are you could be doing it A LOT better.

9 Tips For Managing Your Time Effectively

1. Organise your time:

Whether you organise your time in a physical planner, regularly update a calendar on your smartphone or desk top, or leave yourself Post-It note reminders, it is absolutely essential that you document everything (and I mean everything) that you’ve got coming up, and the tasks that need doing. How else will you know where to start?

2. Time yourself:

As well as documenting your to-do list in an organiser it can be a great idea to map out how long certain tasks take you. If they’re jobs that you do regularly you’ll soon learn how much time you have to complete your daily workload, and become much more efficient while you’re at it.

3. Designate:

So, you know what you’ve got to do and roughly how long you’ve got to do it, but how do you make sure that the most important tasks are completed first? It’s time to designate your time, prioritising the most essential meetings, conversations, and jobs, to ensure that anything that really, really, must be done, is done.

4. Block distractions:

Facebook, Twitter, news sites, and gossip columns are huge drains on time, and can obliterate productivity. If you really must use your phone to keep in touch with the world allocate breaks rather than glancing down every five minutes. If you can’t trust yourself, shut your phone away in a drawer; the world will keep turning while you get down to business.

5. The five-minute rule:

If you think carefully – I mean, really think – how much time do you waste going over the same points in meetings, saying the same things over the phone, and going round in circles during negotiations? It’s time for the five-minute rule; take five minutes before any meeting, conference call, or important task and think about what you want to say, and what needs to be achieved by the time you’re done.

6. Do not disturb:

If something’s worth doing, then it’s worth doing properly. Shut your door, turn your phone off, and, if you really need to, set an out of office reply until you’re on top of your workload.

7. Synchronise:

Business isn’t merely local anymore, but global. If your company deals with partners or clients in different countries it is essential that you synchronise, as it’s often impossible to simply pick up the phone, or expect an instant reply to your email. If you need a visual reminder install office clocks with the various time zones displayed; whatever you do, stop wasting time waiting for somebody to answer the phone in the middle of the night.

8. Make time for yourself:

It’s a common misconception that there’s no time for lunch breaks or cat naps in the day of a business owner, but that’s just not true. Catching your breath, taking a break from the screen, and having a moment to eat and drink are all vital. After all, what use will you be to anybody burned out? After a short break you’ll have a much clearer head to get on top of the rest of your work.

9. Learn to let go:

Once you’ve designated your time, prioritised your to do list, and made time for yourself, it’s a frustrating fact that there will probably be items left to complete. The trick now is to let go; accept that you’ll probably always have a rolling to do list, and that there isn’t a magical hour hidden away in a desk drawer. It’s okay, though, because you’ve got this.

I do hope that this post will help you to make the most of your working day, and your time off. With the right frame of a mind, and a little organisation, almost anything is possible.