How To Get More Work Done: Productivity Tips For Small Business Owners And Entrepreneurs
Face it, time management is tough for all of us. Being productive isn’t about doing a hundred and one things at once, it’s about doing the tasks that matter and doing them in a timely manner. When you’re in charge of your business it can be tough to take a break, however, by being more productive you may have a little time left over to give yourself the gift of relaxation. These breaks can even be important boons for your business.
In this post we’re going to explore how you can be more productive as a small business owner. Often, it all starts with your habits.
Know How You Spend Your Time
Most of us don’t actually know how we spend our time, often we end up wasting our precious minutes instead of finishing the tasks we need to get done. A great way to remedy this is by tracking your time for a week.
This is easy enough to get started with, all you have to do is invest in a pen and small notebook. Every hour take a moment to record what you did the previous hour. After doing this for a week you’ll be able to tell where you waste your time. For instance, maybe you didn’t know you spend over 2 hours a day just processing email.
This simple awareness is a crucial step towards taking ownership of your time.
Minimize The Trivial And Busy Work
Now that you know how you waste your time you can more easily change these habits, or develop systems that will make these tasks go quicker. For instance, you could try to implement a system that will help you process email in half the time.
You could even outsource these small tasks if it means your time will be freed up to work on higher level tasks.
Focus On The Important Tasks
Since you understand how you spend your time, and what steps you can take to minimize your time spent on busy work you’ll now have more time in the day to work with.
You should also spend some time identifying the tasks that are most beneficial for your business. Usually, it’s 20 percent of your tasks that will bring in 80 percent of your business. So, once you figure out the tasks that are important for your business to grow, you should relentlessly focus on those.
Make Your Schedule Your Friend
Working for yourself means that you’re in charge of your own schedule. This can be a blessing if you’re great at managing your time, but if you struggle then you’re going to have to work on using the power of a schedule.
By scheduling your day out you’ll leave time for important tasks and always have an idea of what’s coming next. This will help you avoid any surprises and help you keep track of important meetings and the work that needs to get done that day.
Hopefully the steps above will enable you to maximize your time so your business will thrive, and you’ll have a little extra time to enjoy your life.
