How do you feel about your time management skills? Do you know how to manage your time in a way that will get the most done? Entrepreneurs often struggle with this. They have to be able to manage their own time and still find enough hours in the day to complete tasks. Their livelihood depends on it. So why not take advantage of the effective time management strategies that currently exist?
If you are an entrepreneur, and these strategies are not used, it’ll be easy for you to make mistakes when managing your schedule. This article discusses strategies for effective time management and tips on what needs fixing if you’re struggling with poor time management skills
Working on the wrong task at the wrong time
A common mistake is working on the wrong task at the wrong time. For instance, if you are doing a hard labor type job it might be best to do that sort of work in the early morning hours when your energy levels are high. And then save less strenuous tasks like sorting email and paperwork until later.
It is also important to realize that everyone has a different schedule and working pattern. What works for your best friend might not work well for you. Figure out what time of day you are most productive and build everything around it, including eating lunch or taking breaks at regular times during the day as energy levels shift.
It is a bad idea to work on your most challenging tasks or urgent tasks when the human brain is distracted and tired. If you are low on energy, ask one of your team members to take on the task instead. This time management strategy will take you far and fast.
Certain things just require a lot of energy to get just one task done. This is important when putting together to-do lists. Your daily tasks need to be scheduled appropriately.
Focusing too much on one thing and not enough on other things
Some tasks will always need more attention than others. There’s no way around that. Unfortunately, it is easy to become so intensely focused on an important task that you completely lose track of time. Seconds turn into minutes and before you know it hours have passed.
Perhaps when you’re done spending too much time on that one task you really wanted to get done, you will have done a great job. But hey, that one task is not all you had to do for the day. The result? You will rush to get your other tasks done, and they will not be given enough attention. You’ll also be more prone to making mistakes, which will eventually waste more of your time because you will have to spend time fixing them.
If you are working on a task that requires lots of detail work to complete, it is important to have the steps planned out and give yourself a time limit, before beginning. This way, when you do start you can be sure you’re spending just the right amount of time on it.
Doing tasks that are unimportant or irrelevant to their goals
Have you set a series work-related of goals for yourself that you’d like to achieve within the next year or so? The goals you have set are probably key to your being successful. Reaching them is a must.
A cool way to NOT reach these goals is working on irrelevant things. Of course, you are always going to have to take on some tasks that aren’t related directly to your goals. However, if these activities make up a significant part of your day then it is time for an adjustment.
Keeping most of your focus on just your goal-related tasks might seem really easy to do. But as time goes by, and work piles up, it’s easy to end up focusing on the wrong tasks for most of your day. If this becomes a habit your goals will seem to be more and more out of reach.
What about goals you set for the day? The same concept applies. Work on everything directly related to your goals for the day first. Everything else will have to wait. And that’s okay because meeting your goals is what makes you productive.
Spending too much time reading and not enough time executing
Reading is great. It’s a good way to expand your knowledge and learn about new strategies that you might not have known before. But, too much time spent reading can be counterproductive if it takes away from executing strategies.
If you find yourself with more items on your to-do list then there are hours in the day spend less time reading and more time executing strategies. There will always be a lot of strategies to read about and learn from, but there are only so many strategies you can execute in one day.
Pick out the most important strategies that would benefit your business the most right now and make a plan for executing them. When you’re doing that it’s time to get to work and put what you’ve learned to use.
Being afraid of making mistakes
Are you afraid to make mistakes? Do you worry that if you try something new or different it might not work out and your business will suffer for it?
If yes, this is understandable. You want your strategies to produce the best results possible for your business. But there is no way around making mistakes in anything you choose to do. The only way to truly learn and improve is through experimenting. You have to be willing to make mistakes if you want your business strategies to work out in the end.
Being afraid to make mistakes really is human, but the biggest mistake you can ever make is not trying something out that might be great just because you’re afraid.
Not prioritizing tasks
Do you find yourself jumping from task to task throughout the day? If so, it is time for some prioritizing. It’s pretty easy to get distracted by shiny objects that pop up while you’re working on something and think “Hey! I can do this real quick.”
This might be okay every once in a blue moon but if you make this a habit then no one thing will ever get done well. When strategies need more attention than others give them priority over other tasks. Do everything else later when you have nothing left to work on. Or better yet, delegate those unimportant or lesser important strategies out to someone else who can handle them without missing their own deadlines.
What strategies are taking too much of your time? Which strategies are interfering with your important tasks? Examine this aspect of your work to take control of wasted time.
Not setting goals
Setting goals for your strategies is a must. It’s the only way to determine if you are truly making progress with what you’re doing or wasting time on strategies that don’t even matter.
Your business owner strategies should all have one main goal and many sub-goals within them. If they do not, then it might be worth reevaluating those strategies in favor of ones with more defined goals. Once these strategies get smaller and more focused you will find yourself becoming much more productive because there will no longer be any irrelevant tasks taking up so much of your valuable time.
Being too ambitious with your time management
Have you considered that maybe you are being too ambitious with your time management strategies?
Are you putting strategies in place to manage your time better but they are not working? You might be trying too hard.
Sometimes it’s best to do nothing at all and just let the strategies come naturally. It is a myth that entrepreneurs need incredible time management skills or strategies put into place by other people for them to succeed. If anything, successful entrepreneurs have learned how to get things done with as little effort required from their part as possible which can result in more valuable time spent doing what matters most: managing their business strategies themselves so they can grow further than anyone else has before.
Trying to multitask
Multitasking is not productive. It’s a misnomer that it even exists when what you are really doing is task-switching over and over again which wastes time in the process since your brain has to re-orient itself every so often with each new task being performed.
You cannot truly multitask, but you can improve strategies for managing multiple strategies at once by prioritizing them properly instead of trying to do them all simultaneously during one sitting. Once things get smaller and easier they will become much more manageable as well as efficient without wasting any extra time or effort on your part.
Working late into the night without taking breaks
Burning the midnight oil might feel productive but it’s actually a huge waste of time. Your strategies will stagnate and you won’t be able to go back over them later because your mind is too tired from all the work that was done late into the night without taking breaks for rejuvenation.
Take a break every hour, even if it means getting up or stretching out for five minutes. You’ll come back refreshed and ready to tackle what needs doing in much less time than before when allowed proper rests along with ample amounts of sleep each day as opposed to trying to do everything at once which never works well in any scenario whatsoever no matter who tries it out.
You can always try again tomorrow after strategies need more attention instead of struggling under the dark of night.
Focusing on perfectionism instead of being productive
Perfectionism is so much more than a word that describes what you are trying to accomplish.
The strategies behind perfectionism need to be broken down in order for them to become something worth doing because they will not get anything done if left as-is and with little or no improvement over time.
Focus on the strategies themselves instead of being hung up about how perfect everything needs to look before it’s acceptable enough work on your part. You can always go back later and make corrections after strategies have been worked out since there is nothing wrong with making improvements along the way when necessary but getting things done should never come second place to having every single detail absolutely spotless which does not even exist when it comes right down to it anyway unless someone has done this before, it isn’t going to be perfect out of the gate.
What To Take With You
If you are struggling with time management strategies, your brain may be to blame. We can help! Top Tier Coaching Services has strategies for time management that will work with any schedule and lifestyle. Have you tried these techniques?
If you need help regaining control of your time, we can help. Schedule a chat with us and we will give you strategies for time management. This will not be a sales call. You won’t be asked to buy anything. Instead, you get to meet with one of our team and walk away with actionable strategies to gain control over your time management needs.
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