Do you ever wish you had more time in the day? Do you always struggle with wanting to get more done? Most entrepreneurs and business owners do. This comes as no surprise. Entrepreneurs have to be able to jump between tasks, hop on calls, attend events, and look after every aspect of their business, especially if they are solopreneurs. Being able to launch, execute, grow, and scale a business can feel daunting. The ability to manage time properly is an invaluable skill. I’d go as far as to say that the ability to use time wisely is one of the most valuable skills an entrepreneur can have in their talent arsenal.
Whether you’re already working on your business full-time, or trying to squeeze in a few hours of work in the evenings, it’s crucial you hone your time management skills if you want to be successful. Not only will efficiency ensure success, it will protect you from burnout. When it comes to entrepreneurs, the reality is that we are often the most passionate and driven people, but we can also be the most obsessive and out of balance. The reality is that entrepreneurship is an intense endeavor given the rollercoaster nature of setbacks, wins, and losses. And one of the best ways to avoid burnout is to create and effective time management system. Below are seven strategies to create your system.
1. Start with the simplest task. In his book, Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy recommends tackling the most difficult task of the day first. The idea here is that by doing so, you will have taken on the toughest objective of the day giving you ease of mind to take on the rest of your to-do list. While this sounds good in theory, Tracy’s approach does not take into consideration the fundamental psychological drivers of human behavior. As a clinical psychologist I can tell you that we possess a natural resistance to internal discomfort. This is why we procrastinate. Instead, I recommend starting with a trivial and quick task. Once you’ve knocked out a few of the simple tasks, you gain significant momentum. This will put your productivity and hustle in motion, and in create a great deal of motivation to complete the tough task later on. This is the most effective strategy to eliminate procrastination but more on this later.
2. Brain dump. When you have dozens of different tasks and ideas floating around inside your head, it can quickly become overwhelming. Our brains can only hold so many units of information. When there is too much clutter, the brain has to engage in its natural filtering process. This means some information will be stored into memory while the rest is stored in the forgotten folder. That’s why the simple process of getting your ideas on paper can be hugely effective. Whether you’re jotting the ideas onto a scrap piece of paper or typing them up in a to-do list app, the simple process of engaging in a brain dump will free up mental space for analysis of information versus temporary storage of information.
3. Chop up projects into scheduled tasks. There’s an additional benefit to having tasks written down– it allows for chopping and scheduling of work. Sometimes the weight of everything we want and need to get done can be overwhelming, but when we break them down into a series of small, manageable tasks, we realize the challenge we have before us isn’t nearly as difficult as we originally thought. Chopping up your projects will have a massive result on not only how much progress you make, but also how motivated you will feel during and after. We all know that charged feeling that comes over us when we are marking things off out to-do list.
4. Don’t let the urgent take over the important. The process of prioritizing tasks demands entrepreneurs have an understanding of the difference between important and urgent. The Eisenhower Method involves organizing tasks into one of four quadrants and then taking action to address them accordingly:
- Important/Urgent Quadrant – Tasks are done immediately and personally
- Important/Not Urgent Quadrant – Tasks get an end date and are done personally
- Unimportant/Urgent Quadrant – Tasks are delegated
- Unimportant/Not Urgent Quadrant – Tasks are dropped
Running your task list through this matrix will certainly help you spot the tasks that simply don’t need to be done right now and those that do. Stop spending your day “putting out fires” or you will never get to the important stuff.
5. Eliminate, Automate, Delegate. Entrepreneurs pride themselves on being a jack-of-all-trades (or jane-of-all-trades) but you don’t need to be involved with every single part of your business. Be aware of what’s going on but check your ego at the door and utilize this process to create a business that’s efficient in its path to success. Elimination means identifying the “non-value adding” activities that tie up your day and getting rid of them. If you can’t eliminate a task, delegate it. Delegation could be giving the task over to a partner or team member, hiring additional staff, or even outsourcing the work to a low-cost virtual assistant. If you can’t delegate the task, automate it. The last decade has seen a huge explosion in the number of apps, websites, programs, bots and tools that can handle with ease our most complex and most mundane tasks. To achieve high productivity, it is essential that you attempt to automate all repetitive tasks that will help free up considerable time for higher valued activities.
6. Overcome procrastination. Procrastination is a common part of human behavior. The reason we procrastinate is because we hold unhelpful beliefs and assumptions about achievement. These beliefs and assumptions generate an internal discomfort about doing a task or accomplishing a goal. Procrastination is simply the minds strategy to avoid this discomfort. Here are some unhelpful beliefs and what is actually going on:
- “I’m just too busy right now.” (“I don’t want to deal with the discomfort right now.”)
- “It needs to be perfect.” (“If I’m not doing my best work, then it’s crap.”) or…
- “It needs to be perfect.” (“I’m afraid to be judged or perceived negatively by others.”)
- “I need all of the information before I get started.” (“I’m feeling uncertain about my ability to do this.”)
There problem with procrastination is that we can always come up with a convincing excuse and justification for why we are putting things off. The other problem lies in that we ultimately get the work done. Because there were no real negative repercussions, we are more likely to turn to procrastination again. Adjust your unhelpful beliefs, learn to tolerate discomfort, and drop the excuses. It is important to realize that procrastination is a habit, and like any habit it will take time, practice, persistence and patience to overcome it.
7. Manage Your Energy. Perhaps ironically, my final tip for getting more work done is to do less work. Despite the cult of hustle in the business world and entrepreneurialism, the fact is that we all need to recharge our batteries from time to time. As great as it feels to go on a caffeine-fueled no-sleep work sprint, you’re eventually going to pay the price. Taking small chunks of time each day for relaxation and play has immeasurable valuable. Turn off the phone, unplug from the Internet, go for a walk, have lunch with friends, or watch a movie with your family.
Time away from the business can be as important as time in it. You have a finite amount of energy and time, and when you are running yourself ragged day after day, you will eventually burnout. Remember, it’s less about the hours of work you put in and more about the efficiency of those hours. When you brain and body are rested, your efficiency and focus greatly increase. Rest will serve as the very fuel you need in order to get more done. A final note here– sometimes are greatest business ideas come during moments of rest and downtime.
