5 Effective Tips For Better Time Management
How would you feel if we said that you DO have enough time in the day to slay your goals and accomplish your important tasks? As an entrepreneur, at times we feel that there are not enough hours in a day to get everything done. FALSE. The key to accomplishing your daily to do list is wise time management.
With the right approach, you can work efficiently, productively, and relatively stress-free.
Here are 5 tips for effectively managing your time:
Prioritize wisely.
Write down the most important and urgent tasks for the day/week. We found a great method to identify your tasks on an Intuit article. Divide your activities into these categories:
Important and urgent — Tasks that must be done. Do them right away.
Important but not urgent — Tasks that appear important, but upon closer examination aren’t. Decide when to do them.
Urgent but not important — Tasks that make the most “noise,” but when accomplished, have little or no lasting value. Delegate these if possible.
Not urgent and not important — Low-priority stuff that offer the illusion of “being busy.” Do them later.
Write down 3-4 “important and urgent” tasks that must be addressed. As you complete each one, check it off your list. This will provide you with a sense of accomplishment.
Plan ahead.
One of the worst things you can do is jump into the workday with no clear idea about what needs to get done. No plan in place. Planning ahead of time, ideally the Sunday before a new week gives you a sense of clarity and it can be your personal guide on how to tackle weekly goals.
However, depending on your personality, try one of these options:
Last day of your weekend: I like to think of Sundays as my planning days. Take about 30 minutes to an hour out of your evening to scope the new week ahead. Write down your new goals and what you’d like to accomplish by Friday. You’ll be pumped and feel more motivated on Monday when you have a clear & planner vision for the week.
The night before — At the end of the day, take 15 minutes to clear your desk and put together a list of the next day’s most pressing tasks. It’s a great decompression technique, and you’ll feel better sitting down at a clean desk in the morning.
First thing in the morning — Arrive a few minutes early and assemble your prioritized to-do list. This may prove to be the most productive part of your day.
Delineate a time limit in which to complete task.
Instead of just sitting down to work on a project and thinking, “I’m going to be here until this is done,” try thinking, “I’m going to work on this for three hours”.
The time constraint will push you to focus and be more efficient, even if you end up having to go back and add a bit more later.
Avoid Distractions
The more distracted you get during the day to work on important tasks, the less effective you’ll be. Identify the activities that tend to disrupt your work, and find a solution. For example, avoid checking emails and answering the phone when you’re in the middle of something important. Once you have broken your flow, it can be difficult to reestablish it. Instead, discipline yourself to work on a task single-mindedly until it’s complete.
Stop procrastinating
If you have difficulties staying focused or tend to procrastinate, you may benefit from creating a deadline yourself. It’s also very effective to complete the most unpleasant tasks early in the day, and to allow yourself small rewards once you’ve completed them.
These tips are all very simple to follow because we want to make it feasible for you to succeed on a daily basis! If you or anyone you know is struggling with lack of time. If you need assistance completing tasks or you need to free up some of your time, shoot us a message and we’ll provide a VA to help you feel more decompressed while staying on top of your game!
