3 Steps to Help Business Owners Manage Their Time

There are many ways to allocate your time.

The allocation of your time impacts what you are able to accomplish, which in turn has a ripple effect on your day, month and year. Your actions, as well as inactions, have a compounding effect.

Have you stopped to observe how you are spending your time?

Consider analyzing what you spend your time working on and determine which tasks deliver results and which ones take up too much of your time. Implementing structure and organization to your daily routine will help ensure that you are working towards efficiently achieving your goals.

01.

Identify Tasks

First, know what your strengths and weaknesses are.

When we do things that align with what we are good at, we do them better and quicker. Things that don’t align well, drain our energy and motivation. Identifying your strengths and weaknesses, helps to determine what you should do and what you can delegate to maximize achievement and progress.

How do you identify your strengths and weaknesses? Notice if you thrive and enjoy the task that you are currently doing. Note the tasks that you enjoy seeing through to the end and note the tasks that you tend to switch gears midway. Start assessing your business’ tasks and projects, while keeping tabs on your energy and motivation from start to completion.

Make note of the tasks that you do well and have interest in. Note the tasks that you struggle with and often post pone until they are due.

02.

Delegate Tasks

There are several key items that are required to build and operate a business. However, not one person is designed to successfully do and accomplish all these areas. Therefore, know when to outsource and delegate.

Keep in mind that you do not have to delegate a department. Maybe you like handling networking events and building client relationships, but dread managing social media. Maybe you like preparing estimates and bids but dislike processing receipts and purchases. Maybe you like interviewing candidates for employment but not the onboarding paperwork.

Identify specific tasks and projects to allocate and assign.

03.

Schedule Tasks

So, you delegated tasks among you and your team. Now, how do you follow through and manage them to completion? Schedule them!

Put tasks on your calendar at the date and time that you plan to work on them. This will give you a sense of what you can realistically accomplish, adding structure and organization to your day and week ahead.

Be flexible and fluid. It is okay to move tasks around on your schedule. Notice if you keep rescheduling a task. If you keep rescheduling a task, you are probably avoiding doing it. This might be an indication that you should delegate it out.

Over scheduling your tasks can also create a sense of overwhelm and stress. Be realistic with yourself on what you expect to accomplish each day. This will give you a sense of achievement and motivation.

Conclusion

Identify, delegate, and schedule your tasks. I often hear people are overwhelmed and stressed, day in and day out. We put a lot of pressure and stress on ourselves. Think back to why you started your business. Go back to the basics. Make it a priority to enjoy what you are doing. Get help with the things that you don’t enjoy doing.

Operating a business is easier with systems and processes. Systems and processes provide organization and order, which helps provide and support sustainability and growth.