Need some Time Management Tips?
Whether you’re a business owner (like myself) or not, we all struggle with time management from time to time. But it can be especially difficult to juggle so many plates in the run up to Christmas. I’m here to help! I’ve put together some of my top time management tips to help you over the Christmas season, and so you can go into the New Year feeling confident.
I’ve spoken about it quite a bit recently but there is just SO much to do! We’ve got our friends and families to think about, but also our businesses – we have double the responsibility and we often forget to think about our own needs during this time too.
My Time Management Tips…
Identify your strengths and weaknesses
To start improving your time management skills, it’s best to first identify your strengths and weaknesses, better yet, what you’re good at and what you’re not so good at!
Think about this in the context of your business, and your personal life. What are you good at within your business? Is it marketing? Emails? Or simply the delivery of your products/services? What about your personal life? Think about the qualities you have as a person, as well as the tangible things.
Identifying these allows you to figure out where to spend more of your time. Spend more of it doing the things you’re good at, then it gives you an opportunity to delegate the other tasks – something I will touch on in a few moments.
Set yourself time limits
This is another great way to improve your time management skills. Start setting yourself time limits for certain tasks. If you notice that particular things are taking you longer than you’d like, give yourself a realistic time frame to have it finished by.
Maybe you’re a bit of a perfectionist. Nit picking your own work until it’s as perfect as possible – this can take up so much time! Remember, done is better than perfect.
Let’s say you’re writing a blog. Maybe give yourself an hour and a half to get it written and drafted. Once you hit that end point, stop yourself. Don’t let yourself keep going through and changing things. This ends up taking up even more of your time that could be spent doing something more productive.
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Start time blocking
Time blocking is a huge part of time management. It helps you organise all of your tasks and events so you can keep everything under wraps.
First, you need to figure out how long each task takes you. Write a list of everything you need to get done in a regular day or week and identify how long you’ll need to complete it. I’d recommend planning weekly so you’re as in control as possible!
Once you’ve figured out how long each task takes you, start blocking it out into each day for the whole week. There’s a template you can use to help you in my Time Management Handbook, if you’d like you can download a free copy here. It includes space to do your time blocking, and a couple other activities mentioned in this blog to help you develop and solidify your time management skills.
Organise your tasks into four different categories
Organising your tasks into these categories will help you prioritise what you need to do so you can get the more important or urgent things done first. You should split your tasks into these categories:
- Urgent – these tasks should be a priority.
- Important – these should also be a priority, but may be less urgent.
- Like to do – which tasks do you enjoy the most?
- Delegate – what tasks can you delegate to your team?
Organising and prioritising your tasks will help you spend more time on the important things, or the things you enjoy most. Through delegating you’ll be able to do more of the things that only you, as the business owner can do. The more you delegate, the more time you should have, maybe even to step away and take some time for yourself.
Delegate other tasks
Once you know your strengths and weaknesses, and have prioritised your tasks, it’s always a good idea to start delegating. Identify your employees area of expertise. This way you can delegate the tasks you’re either not so good at or that take up a lot of your time to the appropriate team member. Utilise their unique skill sets so you know the job is being done efficiently, and to a good standard.
Need some more Time Management Tips?
The more you develop your time management skills, the more control you’ll be able to have over your business, and your life! Not only will you have more clarity on where all your time is actually going, it will help reduce stress and even give you some time to practise a little self-care and do more of the things that make you happy. If you need some more time management tips, feel free to download my Time Management Handbook. Don’t worry, it’s on the house.
Time Management is HUGE in Business...
Time management is such a huge part of being a business owner. Although it tends to feel like there’s never enough hours in a day, it’s still good to be as in control as possible of our time and how we spend it.
Time management is something that we focus on quite a bit in my Business Mastermind Group, The Vault Mastermind. It comes under my Signature Six Pillar System, under ‘Maximising Time’. My signature system is what I base all of my teaching and mentoring around. It encompasses all of the basic but essential funadamentals that ALL businesses share.
My Signature System includes:
Money
Mindset
Marketing
Managing a Team
Maximising Time
Mastering Tech
So whilst I make sure everything I tech comes under these pillars, I’m still committed to giving you 100% bespoke and honest advice tailored to you and your business.
If you feel my Business Mastermind Group may be right for you, you can book your ‘good-fit’ call here. I can’t wait to hear from you!
