Effectively managing time and successfully running a business go hand-in-hand. You wear lots of different hats as an entrepreneur and manage a barrage of different tasks and to-do lists. It can be easy to get overwhelmed, disorganized or just plain inefficient. The solution is in effective time management. If you are able to master time management, you will be able to:
- Organize your day
- Eliminate redundancy
- Increase efficiency
- Manage to-do lists
- Simplify your processes, and
- Enforce accountability
Check out these four simple tips to help you better manage your day and yourself:
Tip #1: Integrate Effective Time Management Software
Whether you are a business of one or employer of many – one of the best things you can do to effectively manage your time is get rid of all those scratch pads and color-coded post-its. There are many great online time management systems, and did I mention many are free?! For a business owner who is strapped for time or on a tight budget, implementing one of these into your daily practice will boost your productivity.
Tips #2: Utilize Time Sensitive To-Do Lists
I recommend using a to-do lists on a daily basis to keep you on task and motivated. More importantly, I recommend adding a due-date component to your list to keep you accountable to yourself for each task.
Now that everything is online and attached to a smartphone, using an online calendaring software or to-do list system can take your to-dos, attach them to a calendar and then text you when they are due. It is now becoming impossible to overlook something on your daily agenda. In addition, scheduling recurrency to common tasks will help with redundant tracking.
Tip #3: Track How You Spend (or Waste) Your Time
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter – you could spend hours on these things alone, not to mention catching up on email or the current headlines. We all waste time. However, there are ways to manage this indulgent behavior:
- Learn how Pareto's 80/20 rule can help you accomplish more, but work less
- Be cognizant of your attention diversions. If you feel yourself jumping to open another web browser to check out the latest sport scores in the middle of a task -- stop.
- Get some time tracking software to help you understand where you are wasting time and offer blocking tools to minimize distractions. RescueTime® is a great example of software with this functionality.
- Stop watching TV. Working from home makes it really easy to turn on the TV for background noise or just a little company. Bad idea, not matter what time you clock in for work. Minimizing TV viewing will also free up more personal time to spend on things that really matter.
Tip #4: Organize Your Information
With all the information, documents and tid-bits of advice coming your way, it can be difficult to know how to capture that information and how to organize it into tidy bins for later use. I highly recommend looking into a FREE online product called Evernote®. It is an information organizer and idea catcher. Their slogan is “remember everything” and their tool makes it possible to just that -- but more importantly, to find it later. Here are a few ways Evernote could help you:
- Capture websites you run across with important or useful content
- Organize your thoughts and findings into useful categories (frequently referred to as tags)
- Access information anywhere because all the information is stored online
- Collect website or note information via one-click because Evernote integrates with your web browser
- Assemble information for both personal and business use
- Email using their one button email feature – which makes capturing meeting notes or minutes, and then dispersing a snap
