Being a successful entrepreneur often comes down to having the mental resolve to deal with the many demanding aspects of what it takes to be genuinely self sufficient and self-driven. Ambition isn’t something many people lack, but the ability to maintain it through thick and think most certainly is. Being an entrepreneur often demands one thing more than anything else, and that’s time.
There is a very good reason why time is widely considered the most valuable currency of all. In any given day or week, we all have the same amount of time available to us. You can’t buy more of it and you can’t be handed it by others, the time you have is the time you have. The difference between successful people achieving big things and those who are left lacking, is often a matter of how they are using the time available to them.
Modern day business life is demanding in itself. As a business owner or entrepreneur you will have calls, meetings, admin, networking, events, planning, time at the office or place of work, fires to put out and probably a whole lot more too. Not to mention you are still a human who needs to eat, socialise, have fun and of course, sleep. The common theme of ‘burning out’ is a very real concept and it happens to so many talented entrepreneurs because they aren’t in control of how their time is spent.
So here are a few tips for better time management for those of us who have very little of it to spare and need to restore some order to our work and personal lives:
- Create Tasks for the ‘Next’ Day Ahead of You
A habit that will serve you greatly in both productivity but also in terms of your mental stability and calmness is planning for the next day ahead. We’ve worded it this way for a reason. Rather than waking up and creating your list of tasks for that day, do it the day before.
Going to bed and resting already knowing what is on your plate for the following day will give a feeling of calm. It helps to prepare you mentally. It also means you’re not having to wake up and tackle decisions on what you’re doing straight off the bat. You don’t have to plan your day hour by hour, but give yourself a handful of tasks you are committed to completing the following day and write them down.
- Break Down Big Problems into Simple Tasks
Do you think the big wig medical scientists who we all put our faith in everyday to advance the field of medicine on our behalf wake up each morning and look at their task list and just see big bold circled letters saying “Cure Cancer Today”? No, of course they don’t. That’s an impossible day’s work, it’s a hell of a lot of pressure and it’s not broken down to mean anything literal. Solving any given problem is about breaking that problem down into more manageable tasks and actions.
When creating your to-do list, make sure that you’re not taking a helicopter view and just putting a big issue as a whole in front of you. Break that problem down into the individual actions and tasks you’ll need to complete in order to progress. Even if that means you won’t solve it today, but you’ve completed one tangible action that will contribute, you’ll feel a sense of achievement. You’ll also be more organised and be making a more efficient use of your time.
- Know Your Priorities
It’s a cheesy business world one liner but it works.
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
It’s a skill in itself to be able to effectively split your tasks in order of genuine priority. As an entrepreneur you will constantly have what feels like a never-ending list of items on your agenda. The key is to be able to recognise which of these create the greatest impact on your overall goals.
When prioritising your own time versus tasks, give consideration to the deadline of the task, the importance of its execution, its individual value (potential return), and if that task is one which is a blocker to you completing other potentially more significant tasks.
- Start Each Day with an ‘Easier’ Task
There’s not always such a thing as an easy task, but it’s recommended that the first item on your agenda for the day is something which is achievable either without huge exertion or can be completed in a short time. Productivity really is a state of mind in most cases and starting the day by ticking off one of your tasks early on is a great subliminal motivator which sets you up for the rest of your task list.
We’re wired to feel rewarded when we complete a task or accomplish something. So get up and start the day that way and continue in this mindset.
