As a small business owner, time is your most precious asset. We know that with juggling competing priorities, small teams and finite resources, there are never enough hours in the day and the struggle is real! If you’re finding that you’re barely scratching the surface of your ‘Things to Do’ list, here are 8 ways to help maximise your productivity and ensure that your time really is money.
#1 Plan your day
Planning the day ahead is the most important strategy for effective time management. At the end of your working day, or first thing in the morning (whichever works better for you), plan your day ahead, mapping out the core tasks that you want and need to accomplish. Ensuring that all your tasks are aligned to your weekly, monthly and annual goals, will help you take your business forward and ultimately execute your business plan. It may seem like a chore, but it will only take a few minutes and will be time well spent. Trust us, you’ll reap the productivity rewards!
#2 Know your daily rhythm
Pay attention to when you’re at your most productive – whether it’s after your morning run, or coffee or even at a specific time of day. Use this time to focus on your most important tasks, leaving the rest of the day for the easier and more manageable items on your ‘to-do’ list. Knowing when you’re at your most productive and using that time for your key priorities is a simple but effective way of maximising your time and productivity.
#3 Focus on what’s important
Let’s be honest, we’re all guilty of procrastinating and putting off that difficult call or composing that difficult email. It’s easy to get bogged down by your ‘to-do’ list and get seduced into completing the easier items – just to feel a sense of accomplishment and complete anything rather than nothing! Don’t be fooled, it’s a false economy and gets you nowhere. To maximise your daily productivity, prioritize the most important, and therefore the most impactful, thing on your list and tackle it first thing.
#4 Embrace the app!
If traditional paper to-do lists aren’t working for you, there are endless apps designed to help you take charge of your schedule and workflow. For example; an app like Wunderlist can help prioritise tasks, set reminders and share your to-do list with others. It’s accessible from smartphones, laptops and Apple Watches, so you can stay on top of your tasks no matter where you are.If you’re a small business owner who charges by the hour, an app like Harvestwill keep track of the time you spend on each task, making invoicing easy. You can track how much time every project takes, making you more aware and attuned to your day.Scheduling is another area where an app can help. Calendly syncs to your calendar and allows your family, friends, and clients to book time with you, based on your schedule.
#5 Cluster tasks together
Organizing similar tasks can also save a lot of time in the course of the day. Cluster your tasks into batches e.g. admin; responding to messages and reading and actioning emails, so that you don’t fall down the rabbit hole of responding to every text or ping as they hit your overflowing inbox. Try batching your tasks by blocking out time in your calendar to respond at scheduled times throughout your working day. It’s easy to lose track of time and never get around to those important, yet easy-to-put-off, tasks.
#6 Minimise distractions
Turn off distracting notifications.Every time you get off track, you lose focus. It can take valuable time to regain your clarity. Multiply that by however many notifications you get each day – and the result is a lot of lost productivity!
# 7 Manage your inbox – don’t let it manage you
Don’t waste time reading the subject lines in your inbox over and over again! Your goal is to touch each email once. If the matter is quick to deal with, solve it and answer it right away; if you need more time, add the task to your master to-do list and file the email. The task can then be added to your priority list for the next day. Set up auto spam rules and unsubscribe to offer and notifications that don’t interest you. If you are addicted to offers and online deals, set up a separate email address dedicated to capturing those emails. Only check that email account when you have nothing else to do, or in your downtime.
# 8 Delegation is what you need!
When you’re just starting out, it’s natural to take on anything and everything to do with your business and to feel that you’re the only person who can do it to your high standards. But time is precious so it’s important to learn to delegate. Whether this meansoutsourcing some of your tasks, giving yourself permission tonotdo it all is essential and a smart business decision.If you don’t have a team yet, find business partners who specialise in that skill, who can do it faster, and better than you. Give yourself back the time to do what you do best: growing your business!
If you’re struggling to make head or tails of your finances and cash flow and would like us to take bookkeeping off your hands, call BASic Bookkeepers on 1300 852 575 for a free consultation today. We’d love to help.
