When starting out in a from-home business, time management is an element of business management frequently overlooked or left out of the equation.
Sure enough, we all know a person in small business who races around like a mad dog all day, seldom enough hours in their day, all they do is panic and get overloaded – is it that this person is you! Come the end of the week, when the rush settles, what have you taken from it? Do you reflect on the day and realise “what happened to the day, I didn’t get so much completed as I intended to do. If this seems familiar, then you may just have an organisational and time management problem.
Successful people seldom seem to rush, they stay composed and unflustered. The difference from them and others is they possess time management.
What is time management? It is simply scheduling time in your day in an organised and efficient method. Before we can fully go ahead on how to time manage our day, we first must figure for ourselves what we are trying to achieve today, this week, this year and perhaps ten years from now. This is “Goal setting”.
The top key in my preference to complete goals is to write them down. You might reflect on all your goals sometimes to know that they are purposeful and realisable but not so simple to do that you don’t need to put in the hard work to accomplish them otherwise what is the meaning of your goals in the first place?
From the beginning of each working year you could pause and reflect on what you wish to get this year. It could be that you wish to increase your profits by 20%, you might plan to move into better premises, you may hope to reduce your debt significantly. At the start of each working week you can write down on a note pad or in your diary the important tasks that must to be taken care of this week, and reflect them every day to ensure you’re making progress and hopefully check some of the chores off your list.
You should hold this list on your desk or at a point where you will be constantly reminded of what has to be done this week. The list might be in order of importance so that the major jobs at the top of your list get completed early. All jobs not completed this week will be put through to next week at a higher ranking, this should demand it gets completed.
The next thing you could be doing is having yourself a daily list of chores to accomplish. This can assist keep you on track each day. Again, this list will be displayed where you can persistently check on it and tick off the jobs done. Wiping off the tasks can allow you a touch of a job well done and let you know how you are progressing throughout the day. Always stick to your list where possible and continue working from higher priority to the lower priority. I know loopholes sometimes come up over the day that may throw the whole day up in the air, but you must either take care of the crisis and return to the list or if the unplanned situation isn’t as time sensitive as some of the issues on your list then put it after these on your list and continue on doing the task you were doing.
Every issue you need to achieve can be written down for a number of reasons. Firstly, so you don’t neglect to do it and secondly, so you keep your day outlined and you accomplish your daily goals. Beware initiating tasks and not completing them. This might show up tomorrow in a plethora of incomplete work and could cause “list blowout”.
You will end up with the list a mile long and you will throw it up in despair and revert back to bad habits of being in a fuss during the day and finishing nothing.
Remember every day you write out your goals and tick off all the projects on your list, you will get a day 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 pointless reverting to the issue and needing to redo it.
- Learn to civilly communicate to people when you’re busy with work and that you will speak to them later.
- Learn to pass out tasks that really don’t need your direct work.
- Don’t make off on wild goose chases.
- Don’t use up time during phone calls that aren’t going to achieve something.
- Don’t procrastinate.
- Check back on your list of chores to do continually during your day.
- “Map out your day” in the car and make out your daily list the second you get to work. Complete what you initiate.
- Prioritise every day, always take jobs in their order of necessity to you and your clients.
Stay away from time wasters, people who simply like to chat all day, and if they are employed by you, set them straight, or get rid of them.
For more information about self employment Brisbane, home business Brisbane, or work from home Brisbane, contact Lifestyle Switch. Make the switch to your own business today.
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