Article contributed by Fiona Powell.
Managing time is the one of the biggest challenges for any business owner… the ‘to do’ list is infinite… and there are lots of different hats to wear if you’re just starting out or if you’re a solo-preneur.
The system that works for me is ‘chunking’ my activities together in an organised way. When I stray from using this system, my days become full of ‘busyness’ but with no tangible outcome or advancement toward my business goals.
I take the week ahead in my diary and break my days into different activities and colour code the day accordingly. For example;
Green days; these are the days I spend on the money making activities – making sales. These activities create today’s money. When you’re starting out in business there’s lots of green days!
Blue days; these days are spent ‘clearing’ up stuff- activities that have to be done as part of running a business; paying bills, administration, compliance, staff reviews, meetings and so on. Blue days create a clear space to allow me to focus on the other days without interruption.
Red days; these days are more strategic; they’re spent planning and working on future income. Tomorrow’s dollars. As your business matures, red days should increase as you delegate green and blue activities to your team.
I keep three different notebooks; one for each of these activity days. So when I’m in the middle of something and remember I need to query an account, I make a note in my ‘blue’ notebook and on a blue clearing day (or blue half-day) I refer to my blue notebook and attend to it then.
The most important day of all though, is the ‘yellow’ day. These are my days off! No work, thinking about work, or carrying around work. A yellow day is for rest, relaxing and rejuvenation – building up my energy for the week ahead!
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Bizmo, the NZ small business monitor, is a diary that’s right on the money. You can simplify the running of your small business with a Bizmo diary, it’s packed with financial tools and advice – all essential knowledge for business brains. (Bizmo is worth $49.95 – to get your own copy order them at www.bizmo.co.nz)
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14 comments
I am seaching for some idea to write in my blog… somehow come to your blog. best of luck. Eugene
The best tip that I was taught was to “only touch a piece of paper once”. When you pick something up, action it, read it, file it, but deal with it there and then. If you are busy, you will not get back to it and by having dealt with it, you do not have the stress of worrying about it.
I also manage my time by chunking my activities together and colour coding my week. I have my Yellow days, which are my contact days – calling my clients and new prospects, these days are about filling my diary for the coming weeks with appointments and sales opportunities.
My green days are my admin days, where I get the work done generated by the appointments made, existing clients and I prepare for my BNI meetings.
Fridays are my free days, the morning is spent clearing my desk of paperwork, spending some time on our website and the afternoon is free to ‘dance with a fellow BNI member, or have lunch with a strategic partner or BDM.
My best time management tip is allowing myself only set times during the day to clear emails, rather than glancing at my email all through the day. As it is so easy to become distracted and start replying to emails – rather than waiting to a green day – which more often than not I can.
WRITE IT DOWN. For all my self employed years I’ve used the Big Black Book. I write down everything using a clean page each day. It covers my To Do for the day, call and action stuff to be done, info, phone numbers, etc.
In fact Richard Branson uses old school jotters and files them by date when they are full.
Remember – pencils don’t run out of batteries, or crash!
Like Mark I was taught about the paper with the saying – don’t put it down – put it away.
I often schedule time to read and action emails so I don’t get caught up in the looking to see what has come in, reading, then having to do something to action when I have another task on hand.
After many years of feeling organised by ‘multi-tasking’ (and getting exhausted) I now manage my time extremely well by doing only ONE THING at a time and giving each activity 100%. Whether this is for 1 minute or for 1 hour or five, it works for me and I get so much completed and with far better results, plus I can relax about trying to fit everything in as I know there is a time set aside for most things.
You know that you have done your best and that the task is now out of the way. This includes time with family etc – no work when playing with the grandchildren!
It takes a conscious effort but well worth it.
As a Manager, a time management tool that I found effective is to delegate jobs to my staff who can handle them, leaving me to do the more important tasks of working on the business. I also use my paper-based diary extensively for apointments and any follow-ups so I don’t have to remember them (leaving my brain uncluttered). I also found Post-it stickers that I stick on my computer screens quite useful for occassional reminders (without making my office looking like a fish and chip takeaway).
The key to time management is being able to priortise tasks and manage deadlines.
I thought that remembering the priorities of service delivery, it has been proven that the triple constraints of time, budget and performance can’t all be met to the 100% expectation level. One of these three has to yeild to the other two, therefore assess core values in each, what are the drivers, where is the flexibility, what are the resources etc and decide on two as your your non-negotiables
Time is our most valuable asset – anything that can help track and manage oour time is a must have
I plan my week in advance. How does the saying go? “if you fail to plan you’re planning to fail” I sit down with my diary on a Sunday & make sure all my appointments are noted, I then look at the “to do” list I compiled during the previous week & slot these in & around my already booked appointments, that way I am not bouncing around all over the show. With the time/days left I decide which will be my admin, prospecting & research days and book accordingly. Amongst all of this I slot in time for the gym, a jog or a walk – physical activity keeps my energy levels up & my mind clear – I often get my best ideas while out on a walk!!
Starting out as a young professional I found time management one of my biggest challenges. Three of the best tools that I have put in place are a prioritised to do list and writing things down instead of filling your mind with a constant list. Being present with my practice members is a high priority hence having a clear head is top of the list!
The third thing is scheduling time out – time for keeping life in balance (sport, relaxation, reading etc). Its important to practice what i preach.
I have found that the key to time management is priority management. This entails categorising your ‘To Do’ list in order that meets with your personal priorities. For example ‘A’ priorities could be issues that are important and urgent and link to, say, profit making opportunities or client service etc. The ‘B’ priorities are issues that are important but not urgent. The ‘C’ priorities are not important and can be ignored / delegated unless they develop into an ‘A’ or ‘B’. As the saying goes, don’t sweat the small stuff.
The best time management tip I have ever heard is to do the thing you least want to do first instead of last.
The mistake is trying to manage time. Managing time is like trying to control the weather. Time just is. What you need to do is manage yourself.
Focus on what makes you the most money and delegate everything you don’t enjoy or is simply not the most effective use of your time.
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