Do you ever wish there was more time in the day?

Probably. I know I do!

What if I told you that it isn’t that there aren’t enough hours – it’s that you aren’t being efficient with them? And that if you put a little bit of effort into managing your time better, you will get much more done in much less time. If you want to manage your time better for 2021, then I have a few tips you can try out. 

Manage Your Energy

Everyone has their own internal rhythm, and the times you are more active and productive than others. Some of us are night owls, while others are early birds. Some of us are useless once we’ve eaten lunch, while others have a huge burst of energy right after a meal. By now I hope you know your own internal rhythm, so why not use it to your advantage, and work when you’re at your most effective? It’s one of the big perks of running your own business after all! If you’re a morning person, schedule your major projects to be worked on then. Focus on the things you can control, and arrange your activities to take advantage of your own natural energy levels. Trust me, you’ll get way more done.

 

Set Agendas

And stick to them. Zoom calls are great, but the disadvantage is that they tend to go on a bit longer then needed. Since there is no travel time, a lot of people seem to try and expand meetings to fit that time in. And no one likes those long, drawn-out meetings. If you’ve found yourself stuck in Zoom meetings that lasted an hour but could have been 30 minutes, it’s time to start writing an agenda. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy – just a 3-column table in a word document will do. In each column you can write topics, major discussion points and action items. This will help keep you on track, and you now have a document to share with everyone in the meeting to keep everyone on the same page.

 

Block off Some ‘Focussed’ Time

Sometimes all we need is to get our heads down and get some work done with no interruptions. No meetings, no emails, no phone calls. That can be hard when you’re being pulled in all directions by different parts of your business. So make sure you block off some portions of your diary to just focus on your work. Put the emails on mute, turn the phone on silent, and really just get into your to-do list with no distractions. And treat that time as sacred – don’t be tempted to book meetings or calls in when time is tight. That time is already allocated, and it will help you focus so much better.

 

Minimize Email Time 

Emails are amazing things. They keep us in near constant contact with our clients, and are a great way to communicate quickly and effectively. But they’re also a curse, because that inbox seems like it never stops pinging. It’s a major time suck for business owners, both in time spent actually answering emails, and the time it takes to refocus on what they were doing (around 25 minutes). Emails take up around 2 hours of your work day, every day – and wouldn’t it be nice to have that time back? Easy! Block out a set time every day to read and answer emails, and then don’t look at them again until the next day. This will stop you checking them every 10 minutes, and gives you more time to focus during the day.

 

Time management is a big concern for a lot of business owners, especially if they want to start spending less time working and more time on their personal lives. If that sounds like you, then I can help. I tackle time management in both my individual and group coaching sessions, and give you tailored advice and plans to help you reclaim your precious time. Interested? Book a free chat to talk through your concerns using this link.