As an entrepreneur with a lot of tasks on your plate, you may find it difficult to manage your time. Here are a few steps you can take to succeed.
How Entrepreneurs Can Better Manage Their Time
We’ve always been fascinated with movies like Adam Sandler’s Click. In other words, movies where the characters can stop, fast forward, and even reverse time. Just imagine how much you could get done if you had powers like that! There would be no limits. Unfortunately, that type of power doesn’t exist (at least, not yet), so you’re forced to do the alternative: manage your time in an efficient manner. But as an entrepreneur with a lot of tasks on your plate, you may find it difficult to manage your time. There just seems like there’s so much stuff to do, and not enough time in the day to do it all! But you shouldn’t overwhelm yourself – instead, continue reading this article…Because we’re about to show you how entrepreneurs can better manage their time!1. Supercharge Your Focus The #1 time robber out there is distraction. Distraction robs you of focus and causes a 30-minute task to take 2-3 hours or more. So, how can you cut out distractions and supercharge your focus? Try the following:· Meditate. Just 10 minutes of meditation can help your clear out distracting thoughts.· Exercise. Exercising your body will help you to reduce stress and clear your mind.· Practice concentration exercises. These exercises will help you build your “concentration muscle.”· Build a morning routine. The way you start your day has a huge effect on your productivity and focus throughout the rest of the day. By practicing a morning routine filled with 3-4 solid habits after waking up, you can set your mind up to focus and be productive throughout the day.· Stop looking at your phone. How many times do you look at your phone per hour? With every glance, you chip away at your focus a little more, and it becomes harder to complete the task at hand.
2. Organize Yourself
In the same way, you should declutter your mind with habits like meditation, exercise, and morning routines, you should also declutter your stuff. You’ve already seen this time-killer in action: You’re trying to finish a project, but you waste hours searching through notes, hunting for the perfect writing utensil, or trying to find a document. You’re trying to find a particular email, but it’s lost in the mix of hundreds or even thousands of email in your inbox. Disorganization makes every task more difficult. Here are some ways you can get more organized and save time:· Clean your desk daily or weekly (as needed).· Delete old emails and organize your inbox with labels.· Create more specific folders on your laptop so you can quickly find documents.· Create a weekly schedule for yourself.
3. Boost Your Productivity
When you boost your productivity, you naturally get more out of your working time. We’ve already covered some hacks on boosting productivity, but here’s a quick recap:· Work smarter, not harder.· Employ the 80/20 rule.· Make technology work for you.· Eliminate distractions.· Prioritize.· Declutter.· Wake up earlier.· Use travel time wisely.
4. Outsource as much as Possible
It’s easy for entrepreneurs to get caught up in menial tasks – you know, the mindless tasks that do nothing but waste your willpower. While they may seem harmless, these menial tasks rob tons of your time. So, aim to outsource as many of these menial tasks as possible. Yes, we know it’s hard to do this – as an entrepreneur, you want to control every part of your business because you trust yourself most of all. But by outsourcing these kinds of tasks, you save your time for the truly important tasks that can drive your business forward. A simple way to get started with outsourcing is to check out a site like Upwork.
5. Block Out Your Time
When you don’t have a set deadline for a project, it’s easy to procrastinate. As Parkinson’s Law states, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion. ”With this in mind, strive to block out time for your projects. Need to write a blog post? Give yourself 3 hours on Thursday to get it done. Need to create a Facebook ad? Give yourself a couple of hours on Tuesday to finish it up. These deadlines will give you more motivation to finish projects up quickly, and as a result, you’ll save more time.
Conclusion
That ticking clock shouldn’t be a source of your anxiety. Instead, use the strategies in this article to seize back control of your time. In doing so, you’ll have more time to work on growing your business.
