When you start out in a home business, time management is an element of business management that is overlooked or left out of the equation.
Everybody knows a person in small business who races at it like a chicken with its head cut off all day, seldom enough hours in every day, all they do is hurry and get overtaken – maybe this person is you! At the day’s end, when the dust settles, what have you accomplished? Do you reflect on the day and think “what happened to the day, I didn’t get so much completed as I thought I should. If this sounds familiar, then you might simply have an organisational and time management problem.
Successful people do not appear to rush, they always remain composed and unflustered. The difference in them and others is they achieve time management.
What is time management? It is just scheduling minutes in your day in an organised and efficient process. Before we can actually take on how to time manage our day, we first must question ourselves what we are aiming to achieve today, this week, this year and perhaps even ten years from now. This is “Goal setting”.
The most effective method in my perspective to complete goals is to write them down. You might review these goals at times to make sure that they are appropriate and realisable but not so simple to do that you don’t need to work hard to achieve them otherwise what is the reason of any goals in the first place?
At the start of each working year you could sit and think about what you wish to end up with this year. It can be that you desire to gross up your profits by 20%, you can plan to move into different premises, you could want to get rid of your debt finally. From the first day of every working week you may write down on a note pad or in your diary the major chores that need to be accomplished this week, and check on them on every day to make sure you’re making progress and hopefully wipe some of those jobs off your list.
You could place your list on your desk or in a spot where you could be persistently reminded of what needs to be done each week. Your list can be in order of necessity so that the impending work at the top of the list get accomplished earlier. All the tasks not completed this week will be carried up to next week at a higher urgency, this should ensure it gets finalised.
The next thing you might not be doing is having yourself a daily list of jobs to accomplish. This might help keep you focused throughout the day. Again, this list can be displayed where you are able to constantly look back to it and write off the items finished. Finishing off the jobs should allow you a pride of achievement and let you reflect on how you are going over the day. Always stick to this list if possible and keep working from high priority to lower priority. I know changes do jump up through the day that may throw the whole day off schedule, but you need to either deal with the crisis and then get back to your list or if the unplanned work isn’t as serious as some of the chores on your list then put it later on your list and continue with the work you were doing.
Each project you hope to get done should be written down for a couple of reasons. Firstly, so you don’t put off to do it and secondly, so you keep the day planned and you achieve your daily goals. Beware starting chores and not completing them. This would show up tomorrow in a disaster of incomplete chores and will cause “list blowout”.
You will end up with the list a mile long and you will back out in despair and reverse back to bad habits of being in confusion each day and achieving nothing.
Remember for every day you write out your goals and check off every job on your list, you will be a bit closer to reaching your weekly and eventually your yearly and long term goals.
A few essentials on Time Management:
Do it once and do it well, it’s fruitless returning to the task and having to redo it.
Learn to nicely inform people when you’re too busy and that you would speak to them later.
Learn to give other employees chores that really don’t need your participation.
Don’t make off on wild goose chases.
Don’t fizzle away time with phone calls that are not going to assist with something.
Don’t procrastinate.
Look at your list of jobs to do continually during the day.
“Map out your day” in the morning and make out your daily list when you get to work. Finish what you begin.
Prioritise all your chores, always begin issues in their order of importance to you and the customers.
Don’t get in with time wasters, people who only like to chat all day, and if they are your employees, set them straight, or get rid of them.
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