Plan your day:
Grant Cardone said that when you spend 15 minutes per day, you are using 1% of your day to plan for the other 99%. I love that stat, it is showing the power of those few minutes and how much of an impact it will have on the rest of your day!
When you set a plan in place, you are much more likely to follow it. When you have your day planned you are less likely to waste time on an important tasks that you did not set aside time for.
Time block for your most important activities:
If you have not yet started to plan out 30 to 60 minutes for your most important activities, I recommend starting that now! When you “Time block”, you are setting aside time in your day to focus on the important activities. Those activities could be the things that off and get pushed to the side, like marketing or other business growth tasks; order those activities could be the things that you simply do not like doing, like accounting or follow up phone calls.
When you set aside time on your calendar to get these things done, you will notice that they get done more often!
NO is your best time management strategy!
As an entrepreneur, you are constantly being offered new opportunities. The only way that you will be able to get everything done that needs to get done is if you say NO to the opportunities that do not provide you the best investment for your time.There are many good opportunities, but you need to pick the best opportunities!
Be 100% present with the task at hand:
Have you noticed that when you are distracted you screw up more? We all know this, but yet we still try to multitask! We need to be 100% focused on the task that is in front of us so that we can perform it quickly and with excellence! The more time that you waste trying to get multiple things done at the same time, the more time will slip through your fingers.
Map out how you spend your time
One of the best time management activities that I ever did was writing down, minute by minute, how I spent my time throughout the day.
I was shocked to see that I had wasted so much time, when it always felt like I was so busy! My time was wasted with small, Quick bursts of activity where my energy was being diverted from an important task to a meeting last one.
I recommend that you set aside one day and have a piece of paper by your desk the entire day. Map out, minute by minute, how are you have spent your time. Before you move onto the next task, write down the start time and end time of the task that you just completed so that you have a running total for the entire day.
Do not think about your to do list!
When you think about the entirety and totality of your to do list it is very easy to get overwhelmed. When our minds enter into that state of overwhelm, we freeze! It is important that you think about the single, small task that is in front of you so that you can complete it to excellence. Do not think about The next step or the entire list that you have on your plate.
Create organizing systems
Organization is a mindset and a habit! Without organization in your life, chaos rules. Clarity cannot be attained with chaos or clutter.
When a task or idea pops in your head do one of these four things: do it, different, delete it or delegate it.
Set a timer for “grunt” tasks
Our mind will allow us to take up as much time as it finds comfortable for the task that you are working on right now.
In other words, if you hate accounting then it will seem to drag on and on.
One of the hacks that I have implemented in my life is to set a timer for myself when I am working on something that I hate. For example, I will set a timer for 20 minutes when it is time for me to do accounting. I will race myself so that I get the task done in that 20 minute time frame. Not only do I finish the job that I hate doing, but I get it done quickly and since I am intensely focused on it it is done with excellence!
Find time to be still
It is so easy to enter into a state of overwhelm. Sometimes just stopping and thinking can be a great way calm your mind and give yourself a break. When you just sit down and allow your mind to stop you are able to solve the problems that have been stuck in your subconscious during those times of chaos.
I recommend taking five or 10 minute breaks to simply sit in your chair, close your eyes, and allow yourself stillness.
Write down ideas and reminders in a notebook
We often do not waste time playing video games or watching TV, we waste time by chasing our tails or running after the next shiny object. The next shiny object is usually presented in the form of an idea or a problem that we have to solve right away!
The way around this is to have a piece of paper by your side so that you can write things down as they come up in your mind to be addressed later. This keeps you focused, attentive and puts your mind back on the task at hand!
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