You are driven to succeed. You have taken that leap to launch, execute and grow your business. Day in and day out, you’re being pulled in different directions, often wearing multiple hats. Every day looks different, with curveballs thrown your way, resulting in added complexities to your already busy schedule. With the amount you need to get done, you can’t seem to focus on what you would like to do and manage the limited amount of time you have. Sound familiar? You’re not alone.
As busy business owners, we often find ourselves in this situation, trying to balance work and life; instead, we feel overwhelmed and stressed, hindering our ability to bring our best selves forward. The result is a loss of control, and in turn, company culture and employee motivation suffer.
Get back in the driver’s seat and take control of your time.
Our Top 3 Time Management Tips
Focus on What Matters Most
Prioritizing and focusing on what matters most is easier said than done. However, it’s essential to have a laser focus on freeing up time before managing it better.
- Map out all the things you currently need to do, along with realistic deadlines.
- Tackle the things that must be done right away by prioritizing items by importance and urgency.
- Delegate what can be delegated and trust people to get the job done reasonably well.
- Get some external help if you need to. It may seem like a cost, but not delegating is likely costing your business and life more.
Batch Your Tasks
After freeing up time by delegating work, batch your work. Batching work improves productivity because your time is focused on one task at a time. It leads to a more cohesive approach and helps avoid multi-tasking. However strong we believe we are at multi-tasking; we always gain more from concentrating and getting deeper in one area and are less likely to make errors.
- Be more intentional with your concentrated work sprints.
- Batch your work in 45 – 60-minute sprints, focusing on one item at a time and refraining from checking emails, picking up the phone, or getting distracted.
- Finish the work sprint, rest to recuperate, and then rinse and repeat.
Use Your Calendar
Build out your calendar once you batch your tasks. Your calendar is an excellent way to visualize your day, week, and month, including those mundane items you may be inclined to put on hold.
- Start your day by front-loading the tasks that you like the least to avoid procrastination. Get those done and out of the way.
- Build recurring events for things that you know have to be done at certain intervals.
- Schedule recurring meetings with your team to ensure touchpoints are frequently occurring and on a repeated day/time of the week.
- Calendarize your time for yourself. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, who is? With COVID-19, if you are working from home, this becomes even more essential, as work can easily spill over into your time off.
We all struggle with managing our workloads from time to time. We also all operate differently, and so to strengthen your skillset of time management, view it as a trial-and-error approach. Make small, incremental steps and begin to build newfound habits to optimize your workload. Use these tips as a starting point to work smarter, not harder, and reclaim your time!
About Lead Vantage
We work with small businesses to design a leadership program specific to your goals, challenges, and desired outcomes. Our customized program and coaching equip leaders to attract, motivate, retain, lead and manage their people, translating into stronger business results. Lead Vantage can empower you to successfully lead your business and master your toughest challenges.