We have all grown up hearing people say, “time is money”. This has misled us into believing that the more time we spend working, the more money we can earn.
Business owners often tell me that they are busy, but they haven’t achieved what they wanted to. When we delve into what their workday consists of, we often find that their day has been spent managing crises, rather than focusing on, and planning for, the future. Being reactive, rather than proactive is common in many businesses. And technology, in turn, has enabled this.
How easy is it to just check your emails, or to take a phone call, or to watch a webinar on a non-important topic?
Choose wisely how to spend your time. Make sure that you delegate tasks which don’t need your attention - trust your team around you to complete tasks and make decisions. Understand what tasks are important to the future of your business and get busy doing those.
If you spend your days being reactive, then you have a much higher chance of stress, burn out or losing your business. Implementing these five tips will ensure that you, and your business, will move a step forward each week to achieving your goals.
5 Tips on How to Use Your Time Wisely each Week:
● Ensure any personal commitments are put in your diary first. This includes holidays, exercise, family time, etc. A healthy body and mind are critical when running your own business.
● Determine the top three ‘projects’ that are your current focus. These ‘projects’ need to add value to your business and move it forward.
● Under each project, list the things that need to be done and prioritise them. If, whilst doing this, you think of other things, write them down and then put them to one side (these can be added to future ‘projects’ if they are relevant).
● Each week, towards the end of the week, spend at least one hour planning the next week. Make sure you assign time in your diary for your top three ‘projects’. This can be a big chunk of time or a couple of smaller chunks, depending on how you like to work.
● Once you have a plan, stick to it! Do not try to squeeze non-important, urgent things into your diary as they crop up.
And remember, time is a finite resource that you can’t get back!
