More Time…That’s what we all long for.
The biggest challenge for small business owners is finding enough time to achieve everything they want. Denis Healy, executive director of global productivity productivity specialists PEPworldwide, observed time pressures are not only stressful for individuals, they can also have a negative impact on the business.
There are many ways to find more time in your day. Rachel Clements, Centre for Corporate Health organisational psychologist says “working smarter can deliver a big saving in time”.
1. Take Stock Of Your Goals
Write down your goals for your business and list the steps required to realise them. Take into account how much time you spend every week on surprises, ad hoc events and well known appointments such as meetings and then you will know how much time you have available to achieve your goals.
2. Forget Being Efficient – Aim To Be Effective
Derek Stockley has observed many small businesses work hard at being efficient (“doing the job right”) rather than being effective (“doing the right job”). You get so caught up running your business day by day you forget the most important things, like expanding your business or planning for the future. Be sure to stop every so often and make time for the things that really matter.
3. Be Realistic Not Reactive
If your work involves much contact with customers or clients, avoid letting responses to queries and demands take up all of your time. Many small businesses feel their relationships with their clients is the most important thing so they operate in a very reactive way. Complete tasks in a logical order and be realistic about what you can achieve for each client. Deliver a realistic amount of work on a given day rather than promise a quick turnaround and fail to meet the deadline.
4. Prioritise Tasks As Soon As They Come In
Divide tasks into three categories:
- What must be done
- What should be done
- What could be done
Always start the tasks in the first category. These tasks should be your imperative tasks. If you have time left over in the day then begin those in the second category, these tasks are your important tasks. Only when they’re finished should you consider doing the third group.
5. Don’t Overload Yourself
Many of us spend a lot of time repeatedly juggling and sifting through all the things we have to do. This means we often feel overwhelmed, stressed and helpless with the amount of work we have ahead of us. Clear your desk and make a short, realistic list of things you can achieve in the next day, week, month or year.
6. Designate a “Power Hour”
Try to allocate an hour a day in which no-one is allowed to interrupt you. Don’t take any calls and don’t check your emails. You will be surprised at how much you can achieve when you are not interrupted.
7. Be Fully Equipped
You don’t want to waste any time looking for things on your desk or in your office space. Make sure you have a clean and well organised area each day. Try cleaning your office space each night before you leave. If it’s not needed…throw it away!
8. Protect Your Interests
Unless your issue is more important than what you are doing, don’t allow interruptions by colleagues, clients or friends. If someone drops by your office and asks you if you have a minute, be polite, but firm and say “No, I don’t. I’m working on a deadline,” then offer to schedule a meeting for another time.
9. Control Your Entries and Exits
It can be quite awkward drawing a meeting to a close when it is being held in your office and your colleagues are in the mood for a chat. If possible, try and hold the meeting in a meeting or conference room or in another colleague’s office. This way you have control of coming and going and not having to ask others to leave.
10. Streamline Meetings
For each meeting, create an agenda and allocate time for each item listed. Invite your colleagues only for the items that are relevant to them. That way, your colleagues will spend a limited, but productive time in the meeting.
11. Start The Stopwatch
Activities such as returning phone calls and checking e-mails can clutter up your whole day. Try making a list of tasks that would each take up around 5-10 minutes. Then challenge yourself to get them completed within an hour. This will give you a great sense of accomplishment when you succeed.
12. Plot Your Phone Calls
Write down the key points of each phone call you are going to make and think about what you are going to say before you make the call. Also return calls in order of priority, not in the order you received them.
13. Learn To Delegate
Many people in small businesses believe it would take too long to teach someone to perform a task which they themselves could complete in half the time. This is known as a “short-term fix”. Spend the time to teach your staff. Well-trained staff members who get job satisfaction from being trusted to work without constant supervision are a valuable resource to have in your company. Also, once they are competent in the task, they could save you from having to do it in the future giving you more time to concentrate on your urgent tasks.
14. Quit Procrastinating
If you are procrastinating over something, do that task first. Sometimes procrastination can lead to lost business opportunities and can also have a damaging psychological impact. Generally, procrastination is about fear of failure and can lead to self-sabotage. Nine times out of 10 you will feel a sense of confidence and accomplishment once the task has been completed.
15. Get Subscription-Savvy
Rather than spending time every day roaming through newspapers or searching the internet for work related news, try subscribing to industry newsletters which include valuable information to your business. You don’t have to do any of the work and the news is there for you.
16. Set Up Your Google Alert Feature
Google Alert is an internet monitoring service which delivers any new items relating to your preferred topics directly to your inbox. For example, particular industries, markets or even developments in your local community. This is a great way to always be informed without having to go out and find the news.
17. Take Control Of Your Inbox
If you receive thousands of e-mails in a day, try dividing them into folders in your inbox. Deal with the most important e-mails first or if possible, deal with the e-mails with similar subjects at the same time. File the less important e-mails into a “read later” folder. Try switching off your e-mails at a certain time of the day to prevent being distracted.
18. Colour Code Your Emails
Set up your inbox so that e-mails from certain contacts appear coloured. For example, organsie your system so e-mail from staff appear red, e-mails from collegues appear blue and those from friends appear green. This will enable you to see an overview of your inbox and you can deal with the important e-mails first.
19. Dodge The Spam
Research shows there is an estimated 294 billion spam e-mails travelling around the world and somehow manage to find your inbox. If eliminating spam e-mails takes time, try investing in an effective spam-filtering software for your computer so you don’t need to deal with the issues that come with them.
20. Outsource Your IT Support
Avoid using internal personnel for IT support within your company. There can be a lot of issues with allocating your staff to IT support such as unavailability and not to mention the costs. IT specialists generally have around 10 or more staff who will be available to deal with your urgent requests. They can put their heads together to come up with solutions for your IT issues leaving you and your staff free from software maintenance duties and more time to concentrate on the more important things.
21. Catch Up With Mobile Technology
Experts are encouraging small businesses to invest in smartphones (like iPhones and Blackberrys) so key staff members can work on the move. The software on the devices allow you to synchronise with your information on your office computer so you are always up to date and have access to your information such as e-mails and calendars when you are not there.
22. Know Your Patterns
Think about when your most productive part of your day is. Are you a morning person or an afternoon person? Schedule your most mentally challenging work for that time of the day. Most of us slow down after lunch. If this is the case for you, try and do your less important tasks then.
23. Be Easy On Yourself
Don’t bully yourself too much when you haven’t achieved everything you had hoped. Punishing yourself is only going to make you more stressed and less effective. Try setting yourself a new deadline that may be a little more realistic. Once you achieve this deadline it will give you that sense of accomplishment back and start again.
24. Look On The Bright Side
Avoid sharing your problems with the rest of the workforce. Negativity is contagious and most peope don’t like to hear other peoples problems as it brings them down. Try focusing on what you’ve achieved and where the business is heading. It will make you and your staff motivated and more productive in the long run.
25. Say “NO”
Many small business owners have a habit of taking on too much work (generally things that don’t contribute to their company’s goals). You need to take the time for yourself to rest and revive so be firm and realistic about how much free time you have available.
About The Author
Warren Kruger is an Australian Tax Specialist and Advisor. For a FREE Report “7 Essential Strategies to Reduce Your Taxation NOW!”,enter your name and email address in the Opt In Box located on the top right hand side of this article.
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