As a business owner or entrepreneur, our possibilities are infinite. No matter how much we do, there is always something more we could be doing.

This means that organisation, effectiveness, and time management is especially crucial for us.

Business owners often procrastinate on significant projects. They can seem too big to undertake. It’s often simpler to focus on smaller, less impactful tasks – to feel like you are getting something done.

However, this can skew where your energies go and in a way that is harming to your business because you spend time on what is more comfortable rather than what is significant and transformational. In many cases, we see projects that may be much more significant and worthwhile for a company don’t get dealt with.

1. Prioritise your priorities

Prioritising is the key to gaining more time – in other words, to getting those things done. More time becomes available when you spend time on things today, that make more time available tomorrow.

Effective business owners base their to-do list on deliberately choosing to do important things. If urgency is how soon does something matter, then significance is how long is it going to matter.

Successful business owners make priority lists by including at least one task that will benefit the growth of their business, which is part of the growth strategy. Thus they don’t just continue to run in “survival mode”.

Secondly, they focus on a task that they have been procrastinating on (e.g. simplifying workflow, automating communications or   deploying technology to reduce low-level activities)

“What can I do right now, that would make save me time tomorrow?”

 2. Manage your inbox – don’t let it manage you

Much time is wasted reading over the subject lines in e-mail inbox over and over again! Especially when the mailbox is used as a to-do list.

Diligent business owners aim to clean out their inbox every day or at least at the end of every week.

E-mails get filed away once they have been dealt with (when the e-mail has either been answered or been added as a task on your to-do list).

Busy managers strive to touch each e-mail only once. When the matter is quick to deal with, they solve it and answer it right away. When an issue needs more time, it gets added to the master to-do list.

3. Return On Time Invested

 When making time for themselves, the experienced business owner ask the question “How can this be automated?” 

Anything that is systemised today or set up as an automated task for will grant time tomorrow. 

It’s like setting up automation for your e-mail system. Acknowledging e-mails, sorting essential messages from less important messages. Alternatively, setting automated payments that occur regularly. 

Automation is to time what compounding interest is to money. Compounding interest takes money, and it makes money into more money, automation takes time, and it makes it into more time.

Wealthy people think about money the same way that busy business owners think about time. They permit themselves to invest the time and energy to automate the process.

4. Delegate and outsource

 Sometimes it may feel hard to let go of specific tasks. Experience business owners spend time teaching someone today that will make more time available for them tomorrow.

Great companies build trusted teams, whether they are employees or consultants or partners. Moreover, once a trusted team has proven itself, they are worth their weight in gold! Good managers keep for themselves the tasks that really and truly only they can get done.

All other tasks get delegated to trusted team members.

 5. Track your time

How many productive minutes do you pack per week? Keeping track of their time helps most managers to increase their productivity. Time tracking keeps you focused on the task you are currently working on. After all, there is no better reminder than a ticking clock.

Understanding how time is spent provide valuable insight into what changes are needed to get added results.

 

Most business owners think to have fantastic growth they have to make giant changes. However, the principle of working on your business instead of in your business will enable you to grow your business consistently while others are taking risks that don’t always pay off. 

Make time for the business of business.