When you start a home based business, time management is an element of business management that is frequently overlooked or left out of the equation.
Surely everybody knows a person in small business who races around like a mad dog all day, without enough hours in the day, all they do is panic and get overloaded – is it that this person is you! By the end of the day, when the pace settles, what have you taken from it? Do you reflect on the day and ponder “what happened to the day, I didn’t get as much done as I thought I should. If this is familiar, then you may have an organisational and time management problem.
Successful people rarely seem to rush, they stay composed and unflustered. The difference with them and other people is they have accomplished time management.
What is time management? It is just scheduling minutes in your day in an organised and efficient process. Before we can truly understand how to time manage our day, we must question ourselves what we are trying to master today, this week, this year and perhaps even ten years from now. This is “Goal setting”.
The top method in my perspective to accomplish goals is to write them down. You can think about all your goals at points to feel that they are purposeful and possible but not so simple to do that you don’t have to put in the effort to complete them otherwise what is the reason of any goals in the first place?
From the beginning of a working year you should take time and ponder what you plan to achieve this year. It might be that you desire to gross up your profits by 20%, you might hope to move into different premises, you might desire to reduce your debt in a significant way. From the first day of every working week you can write down on a note pad or in your diary the large chores that need to be completed this week, and look back on them each day to be sure that you’re making progress and hopefully wipe some of your tasks off your list.
You should have the list on your desk or on a point where you could be continually reminded of what will be accomplished each week. Your list might be in order of priority so that the most important tasks at the top of this list get accomplished first. Anything not ticked off this week must be taken onto next week at a higher importance, this will make sure it gets accomplished.
The next thing you can be doing is creating a daily list of chores to do. This may help keep you focused each day. Again, this list may be put up where you are able to persistently see it and tick off the projects done. Wiping off the items is a way to give you a sense of a job well done and let you check on how you are going across the day. Always stick to this list when possible and continue working from the top priority to the lesser priority. I know changes can appear over the day that may throw the whole day off schedule, but you need to either take on the situation and then get back to your list or if the sudden issue isn’t as serious as some of the work on the list then place it lower on the list and continue doing the job you were doing.
Each issue you need to get done needs to be written down for a number of reasons. Firstly, so you don’t put off to do it and secondly, so you have the day outlined and you get your daily goals. Beware starting tasks and not completing them. This will come back tomorrow in a mushroom cloud of half finished jobs and could cause “list blowout”.
You will end up with the list being a mile long and you will back out in despair and change back to those habits of getting in rush each day and finishing nothing.
Remember for every day you plan your goals and mark off every item on your list, you become a little bit closer to polishing off your weekly and finally your yearly and long term goals.
A few tips on Time Management:
Do it once and do it well, it’s frustrating coming back to the work and having to redo it.
Learn to politely say to people when you’re busy working and that you will return to them some time later.
Learn to pass out tasks that actually don’t need your direct work.
Don’t go on wild goose chases.
Don’t fizzle away time by phone calls that are not going to assist with something.
Don’t procrastinate.
Look at your list of work to do frequently at points through your day.
“Map out your day” in the morning and write out your daily list the minute you arrive at work. Don’t stop what you initiate.
Prioritise always, always keep items in their order of importance to you and the customers.
Get away from time wasters, people that only like to chat all day, and if they are your employees, set them straight, or get rid of them.
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