For the next few weeks, I’m sharing with you, my best time-saving tips, so you can find more time. I know, you’re thinking, how do I find time, when I’m already ‘working smart’? This is possible.
As small business owners, we are all looking for ways to generate more revenue, to grow and improve our business. The more time you free up, the more time you’ll have to generate more money.
On the other hand, there are some of us out there, who are doing too much, and are stressed to the maximum. If that’s you, then you’ll be looking to free up time, so you can spend more time on relaxing and enjoyable pursuits.
If this sounds like you, then read on and I hope you’ll find these tips of value.
Have a notebook and pen handy
Do you ever find yourself wasting time trying to remember that job you thought of at 5am, but now can’t remember for the life of me? Or, maybe you remember to do something, but then the phone rings and that thought disappeared into the ether?
If this sounds familiar, then carry a small notebook and pen in your pocket, or keep it nearby, on your bedside table, or on your desk right near your phone. When you have that random thought, jot it down. When you have a moment, you can add that task to your calendar or to-do-list.
Doing this will help you feel more organised and give you a better mindset when it comes to getting things done.
Use a to-do-list
Now that you have your to-do’s in your notebook, you can work from that list, prioritise them by putting a star next to the urgents and importants and tick them off as you’re done.
But if you prefer to go digital, there is an array of ‘project management’ programs out there in the cloud. Trello is my favourite as it’s an easy to use, visual way to manage tasks. You can create a super simple setup by creating 3 lists “To-Do”, “Doing” and “Done”. Each task is added to the “To-Do” list and then moved along as you progress. See the image below for this setup.
Prepare the afternoon prior
I find that if I take 5 to 10 minutes to review and schedule my tasks and priorities in Trello each afternoon just before finishing for the day, I save time the next day, as I know what to focus on, instead of feeling anxious about the growing list of to-do’s.
Analyse your time-wasters and apply the 4 D’s
Think about the tasks that you are a waste of your precious time. You’ll know what they are. Do a brain dump on a sheet of paper. Now, look at how you can apply the 4 D’s.
“What are the 4 D’s?”, I hear you say. Well, they are Delegate, Delay, Dump or Do.
If you have the privilege of subordinates, then determine if any of your time-wasters should be handled by a suitably skilled subordinate and then delegate! Have you identified any time-wasters that don’t actually need to be done, or there’s no value or benefit in doing them? If so, then dump them. Any time-wasters that are not time-pressing, can be delayed. And everything else can be added to your To-Do-List.
Now, go ahead and get started with the above tips and see if you can save yourself time.
Are you ready to free up your time from time-wasting admin tasks? Contact Cath for a chat to discuss how to get started.
Modern Day PA organises the admin for small business owners who are time-poor and need help with admin systems and processes, so that they spend less time in the office and more time on revenue producing work.
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