6 Time Management Tips for Busy Entrepreneurs
If you manage your own business, chances are that your time is extremely limited. Time management is crucial for entrepreneurs, business owners, and startup founders. After all, time management gives you the chance to take control of your day-to-day tasks—from personal habits to how you work with employees. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the constant demands on your time from employees or clients. Perhaps you spend a great deal of time running errands and trying to keep up with personal obligations while shorting yourself on sleep in the process. The ability to manage your time well makes a huge difference in every aspect of your business life: from being able to meet personal obligations to prioritizing company goals.
In this article, We will share some ways that busy entrepreneurs can save time and manage their tasks more efficiently.
1. Prioritize Your Tasks
Some people have trouble deciding what things are most important—whether they’re at work or home. It’s easy to focus on the urgent, but not the important—and before you know it, the time has slipped away. What was once an emergency task becomes a less pressing concern with deadlines that have long since passed. Prioritizing your tasks is part of what you need to do if you want to manage your time effectively. Focus on things you can influence and prioritize them accordingly.
2. Time Yourself
This is a simple exercise that’s easy to do and yields important information. If you’re not aware of how quickly or slowly you work, then it’s difficult to manage your time efficiently. You don’t want to spend too much time on one task and find yourself rushing the next five. We all have different speeds we work at — but we can improve our speed and accuracy with practice and dedication—and knowing where we need to look for improvements will help us achieve this objective over time.
3. Organize Your Tasks
Some people use personal computers, while others prefer pen and paper. Organizing your schedule into a calendar or notebook serves as a useful reminder of where things stand, whether an upcoming project deadline or a meeting reminder. Organize your schedule in whatever medium you feel comfortable with. With task management, you’ll find yourself telling your computer to automatically set your alarm clock for five minutes before an important meeting — or setting up Outlook so that all of your regularly scheduled meetings pop up as soon as you start work.
4. Remove Distractions
Even within the walls of our office, we can be distracted by coworkers who love their loud music with too much bass thumping through the air vent; those who chat incessantly with one another while leaving doors wide open so everyone can hear their conversation. You must remove any distractions that could get in the way of your work. This will help you focus and work faster!
5. Break it Down!
Divide your project into manageable chunks. Break down your project into smaller tasks that are manageable, and set a deadline for each. You will be more likely to accomplish these smaller tasks on time and have a sense of accomplishment at the end of your project. Now that you have a list of all your smaller deadlines, create a schedule that allows you to meet them. With this schedule in place, organize each task into different categories: personal items, emails, phone calls, etc. Make sure that you allocate time to these items each day.
6. Use the “Two Minute Rule”
The Two-Minute Rule comes into play here. If you can get something done in two minutes or less, do it right away. It sounds simple, but this tip is powerful! Once you write down the task and put it on your list, it won’t take long to forget about it. Without realizing it, you could let three weeks go by without remembering to complete the task at hand – wasting valuable time! Don’t let this happen to you! Keep things moving along by using the rule that if a task takes less than two minutes to accomplish, just get it done in two minutes or less.
As an entrepreneur, you will often find yourself losing track of time. You will find yourself putting out fires, working on special projects and maintaining relationships with your employees and managers. By the time you realize it, hours have gone by and you aren’t getting as much done as you wanted to accomplish. You can use these tips for better time management!