Are you an entrepeneur? Do you need some time management and productivity tips? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Most entrepreneurs, if asked to mention their most valuable resources, would tend to list money and people at the top, usually ignoring the one thing that they are usually the most lacking in, time.
It’s a fact, whether you like it or not that the day only has a finite number of hours and minutes and whatever you need to achieve must be done within that.
Some practical productivity tips that entrepreneurs can start using immediately to help them increase their efficiency, manage and save time, and give productivity a major boost.
Here are 7 Practical Time Management and Productivity Tips for Entrepreneurs:
1. Make an Early Start Every Day
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs like Apple CEO Tim Cook and founder of the Virgin Group Richard Branson start their daily routine very early. It’s credence to multiple studies that an early start to the day is best for enhancing productivity.
It’s seen that when you wake up early and go about your business, you have more willpower and energy, which automatically leads to enhanced productivity. Not everyone is a morning person, however, with a little practice, you can train your body and mind to react positively to the early start and make it a long-term and enduring habit.
2. Make Lists of Things to Do
According to https://www.forbes.com, the most important thing to do to save time at work is to plan your day and not rush into activity the first thing in the morning. When your day is full of important things to do, it is quite easy to forget to something that is really vital as a result of which, business operations can be hampered or an opportunity lost. If you forget to make the monthly payment to liberty lending, there could be penalties or if you miss an appointment, it could make people think you are unprofessional.
Making task lists may seem very old-fashioned; however, it is the most infallible way of making sure that you do not miss doing something that is really important. Making lists also allows you to prioritize certain tasks and relegate other tasks. The best time to start making a list is in the morning. Just make sure that you have the list available with you all the time. Do this so you can immediately update it if the need arises.
While you can maintain your list using a pen and paper, modern technology has made available many applications that run on your smartphone and which, can be synchronized across multiple devices and shared with different persons for better tracking and monitoring.
3. Declutter Your Workspace
It is very important to have an organized workspace, irrespective of where it is since a messy environment makes it difficult to be productive and prevents clarity of thinking. According to experts, an orderly work environment is the easiest and fastest method of improving productivity.
Being organized extends to include the digital space too. Make sure that all your files on the computer, smartphone, and various other electronic devices are organized properly. The devices should preferably be synchronized so that you don’t waste time updating them individually.
4. Avoid Distractions and Interruptions
It can be very difficult to focus on work when you are constantly checking your smartphone or your laptop. You need to regulate how you check your emails or social media posts on these devices.
Do not constantly keep on checking your inbox or social media accounts because then you are always in a reactive frame of mind and it will be impossible for you to do any planning or constructive work.
Checking the mail is best done at specific times of the day. Do it in the morning and in the afternoon so that you can respond to them and still get your main work done. Make a whitelist of the really important numbers that you need to attend to on your smartphone so that you will not get distracted by unimportant calls.
5. Concentrate Selectively
Multitasking is a big buzzword nowadays, but you need to appreciate that it is impossible for anyone to focus on doing two jobs at the same time. You should still be able adhere to acceptable standards of quality.
If you want to be really efficient and productive, you need to take up one job, finish it, and then take up the next one. The key is to get organized and attend to the jobs according to priority. If you need to handle emergencies, you will need to push some tasks down the list or work overtime to accomplish them.
6. Automate to Save Time
When you are managing your business by yourself, it is evident that you cannot do everything by yourself. You can automate repetitive and long tasks so that you can just schedule them and forget about them. The range of such automation is very large. This ranges from paying your utility bills and sending out promotional emails to scheduling posts on social media. You can do a lot of things that would have otherwise taken up a lot of your time.
Moving to a paperless office environment may seem daunting at first but the merits are obvious. It’s environmentally-friendly and easier to organize and retrieve information. This ensures that your decision-making happens very quickly. Accounts, bank statements, office correspondence, attendance records, payroll, inventory, etc. become easier to manage when in a digital format.
7. Don’t Try to Do Everything Personally
This is definitely one of the most important productivity tips. You will never be in a situation where you will be able to do everything that is required. This is even if you’ve invested in automation. If you have staff, then delegate responsibilities. Alternatively, outsource jobs to professional agencies that can get the job done faster and cheaper.
You can outsource typical jobs like customer service, market research, social media engagement, accounts and payroll administration with confidence. You could also look at this for website development and email marketing.
Conclusion
As is evident, productivity is a function of how well you can plan your schedule and organize yourself. It’s important to get the maximum amount of work done without getting distracted or spending time in activities like meetings that don’t achieve much. Having a clean mind is as important as a clean desk to maximize productivity so don’t ignore the need to take breaks and relax.
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If you have any productivity tips, feel free to drop a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.
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