Almost every client tells me that they want to be better at time management. They are too busy running their business, fighting fires, and nothing important seems to get done. Here are some tools to help you with your time management
Keep a time diary
This could be a spreadsheet, or an online timesheet. Over a week write down everything that you did. What jobs did you work on? How much time doing admin? What interruptions did you have (phone calls, staff etc). How much time working on the business? How much time selling?
Keep it a fairly high level. The goal is to understand where you are spending your time, and where the interruptions are coming from. Break your tasks down into those that add value to the business, and those that can be delegated or outsourced.
Schedule interruption free time
Set some time aside each day for getting your work done interruption free. This means closing the office door, putting the phone on silent and turning off your email notifications. Let staff know that you will be available for questions outside of this time.
Make a priority list
Write down all the tasks you wish to achieve. Underline the three that have the highest priority. Put required completion dates next to all tasks. Mark them off as you complete them. Refresh your priority list either daily or weekly.
Check your emails only 3 times a day
You are working through a task and an email notification pops up. You quickly check it, then spend 10 minutes following up on that email. You go back to your original task. Another email notification pops up. You stop doing your original task to follow up on the email. An hour later you have only spent 15 minutes on your original task.
Schedule 3 times a day to review emails. Deal with each one in turn. The rest of the day you can deal with the tasks on your priority list. If something is urgent, people will call you or come and talk to you.
Have systems and processes documented
A big source of interruptions is questions from staff asking “How do I ……..?”. By having your systems and processes documented, staff have a resource to check for the answer instead of asking you. If they still ask you, reply to them with a question “How do you think it should be done?”. Encourage your staff to think for themselves instead of taking the easy option of asking you.
You don’t have to introduce all these tools at the same time. Introduce one change and make it a habit before introducing the next change. Before you know it, you will be on top of your time management and getting the tasks that are important done. If you are still struggling to improve your business, consider using a business consultant to keep you on track and reach your full potential.