When things are hectic, most small business owners wish they could find a way to get more than 24 hours into a day. Often, your ‘to-do’ list can get so long that you feel you never get to put as much attention into every task as you would like. It can also mean more time in the office or dealing with work issues after-hours, cutting into your free time and affecting your work-life balance.
Applying these simple time management tips and tools will help you get the most out of your work time and get more of the important stuff done.
1. Track your time
Remember that tried and tested sales adage: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”? Well, it applies to time management too. Without tracking your time, any attempt at improving time management will be a hit and miss affair. If you don’t know where and how you spend your time, you’ve got no way to identify time wasters or tasks you could delegate.
Start by recording what you do each day, and for how long. This tracking can be as tech-savvy or simple as you like–ranging from rough notes scribbled on a weekly timesheet to a spreadsheet that will add up the minutes and hours for you.
Although there are benefits to continuing to monitor and track how you use your time, you won’t have to. After a few weeks, you’ll have a good indication of how you spend most of your days. You might be surprised at the amount of time that is lost in meetings, doing things you could delegate, or on things you do out of habit rather than need.
2. Eliminate the time wasters
Armed with information about how you spend your time, you’ll be better able to eliminate unnecessary time wasters. Some typical time wasters are:
- Monitoring social media
- Responding to emails
- Fielding telephone calls
- Drop-in visitors and salespeople
- Meetings that go on longer than necessary
Jumping between tasks and reading and answering emails as they come in during the day can reduce your productivity. Set aside a specific time to check and answer emails rather than letting them distract you from the task at hand.
There are several other ways to eliminate or manage time-wasters at work.
- Train your staff to answer telephone calls and take messages and not to allow salespeople in to see you without an appointment.
- Don’t have pop-up messages from email and social media accounts running while you’re trying to get work done.
- Run meetings on a tight timetable by drawing up an agenda and allowing only a couple of minutes (yes, literally a minute or two) for each item.
3. Delegate appropriate tasks
Have a close look at your current workload and see if there are suitable tasks you could delegate to others. Many employees want to do well in their jobs and would value the opportunity for added responsibility or the chance to learn new skills. Delegating tasks to these staff members can free up your valuable time, allowing you to focus on growing your business.
4. Get organized and implement systems
Some time invested now in developing efficient systems for your business will save you much time in the long run. For example, if your time-tracking shows that you spend a lot of time answering basic sales questions, you could save time by writing up some template responses. Similarly, adding an FAQ page to your website could help to free up more of your time.
5. Draw up a prioritized ‘to do’ list
In some businesses, it’s easy to get sucked into the problem of the day. To avoid this, having a ‘to-do list’ can help. A simple list of the tasks you need or hope to accomplish, together with a deadline, will keep you focused.
Try to assign a priority to each task so that you can complete the most important tasks by the deadline. A to-do list will also ensure that jobs don’t fall off your radar and get forgotten. It’s very satisfying and motivating to cross off each completed item from your to-do list.
6. Schedule your work for your most productive times.
It makes sense to work when you work best. We all have different cycles and preferences. If you’re a morning person and full of oomph and drive at the crack of dawn, set this time aside to tackle extensive projects. Schedule more routine things or less creative tasks for the afternoon when you’re in your less-productive cycle. Avoid regular production planning meetings during your most productive times.
If you’re not a morning person, get those routine tasks out of the way first thing in the morning. Tackle the big projects or schedule important meetings later in the day, when you’ll be able to give it your very best.
7. Get the tools or help you need
If you expect your staff to work effectively and efficiently, you’ll need to provide them with the right tools to do the job. The same applies to you as the business owner. Don’t waste time doing a task that technology can handle better.
If you’re not sure about whether to invest in tools, software, training or staff, do a quick calculation of how much time it will save you. Assuming your cash flow can accommodate the purchase, this cost-benefit analysis will tell you whether investing in the tools or help you need is a financially sound decision for your business.
