Here are 15 quick time management tips to increase your productivity as a busy business owner.
- Create an organised environment – remove the piles of unfinished work and irrelevant articles from your desk. Keep it clean and tidy.
- Eliminate distractions – turn off automatic email notifications, close distracting websites, and even turn off your mobile phone.
- Set easy goals – keep your motivation up by achieving small wins.
- Set future goals – something to look forward to for you and your business.
- Talk to people about your goals – you will instantly hold yourself accountable for your goals and you will get a boost from discussing it with others. They might even help you refine ideas about your business.
- Create a ‘to-do’ list – keep track of your work, what’s completed and what still needs to be done.
- Do similar tasks at the same time – emails, phone calls and writing blog posts in one block of work. Such as reading reports, checking the news and monitoring competitor websites all at the same time.
- When is your most productive time of the day? Organise your day around this. Once you’re aware of this time of day, your work will become easier.
- Prioritise tasks – finish the most important tasks first or during your most productive time of the day.
- Start the task – the hardest part is sometimes just beginning a task. Once you start you know your focus and your work will be easier.
- Delegate or learn to say ‘no’ – if the task is not the best use of your time, is there someone else you can delegate to? Or can you just say ‘no, I don’t need to do this’ to some tasks?
- Improve your typing speed – there are many applications that you can buy or download from the internet that will help increase your typing speed.
- Learn keyboard shortcuts – print them out and pin them up near your desk.
- Take a break – don’t sit at your computer all day. Take your phone outside to make calls. Go out for a coffee instead of sitting at your desk. Taking time away from your work will help clear your mind.
- Sleep, eat and exercise – make sure you have a regular sleep cycle, eat healthily and at systematic intervals during the day, and exercise will help increase your energy and focus your mind.