Managing Your Time Effectively

I hope you enjoyed the series I created with tips to help you save time daily in your business. My personal motivation is always to help you optimise your business, your mindset and your day, so that you can have more time for your loved ones AND what you love most in your business.

This requires managing your time effectively.

Do you think that you’re managing your time effectively?

It’s kind of a loaded question.

As entrepreneurs leveraging the online world, you’d think that every hour at the computer is “work time”. Yet, that interpretation can be misleading.

Through discussions with friends, colleagues and clients, the challenge I hear most of you are facing is knowing what to focus on during the day and being able to do everything that you set out to. I believe these are struggles that most of us share, and that with the right tools, we can overcome.

As a coach, I love to ask questions that challenge you and help you think outside of the box. I believe that by expressing our unique personalities and values, we create businesses that stand out.

So…

During the day:

  • How much time do you spend browsing through Facebook, Instagram or other social media platforms?
  • How much time do you spend checking the latest blog posts that these messages lead to?
  • How often do you check your emails or reply to emails?
  • How much time do you spend going down the rabbit hole of “research”?
  • Do you have a routine to your day or week that you follow?
  • Do you have blocked time in your calendar according to the activities you want to focus on?

Be honest about where you’re spending your time. It will help you create a more effective and productive schedule.

Through my work in corporate, looking at how processes could be optimised, I’ve soon learnt that managing my time effectively would help me stay on track with the many tasks and deliverables I had.

We’re all guilty of spending our time in activities that are not productive but, to be more profitable and productive, we have to manage our time effectively. While the ideas below can take some getting used to, the end result will be to spend less time at your desk and more time away from your computer doing the things you love to do, so I’ll hope you’ll implement them.

When you’d like to get these ideas and even more strategies for business productivity for profit, then I invite you to scroll down the page and leave your email address to receive the associated complimentary eBook.

 

Make A Plan And Break It Down

We’ve got to start somewhere. In order to spend your time effectively, you’ve got to start by figuring out what you want to get accomplished.

What is your next big goal?

What’s your next big project?

What ongoing tasks need to be taken care of on a daily or weekly basis?

The clearer you are about your big destination (goal and project), the easier it will be for you to break down what you have to do into different small steps that lead you to be more mindful about what you spend your time on.

If you’re working on a new coaching program, that might involve outlining what you want to teach, writing the training course, editing and formatting, creating worksheets and slides and figuring out how you’ll sell and deliver the program.

In addition, you may have daily or weekly tasks like blogging, emailing your subscribers, interacting on social media sites and forums etc.

Figure out what you need to get done over the coming weeks and write it down. Knowing what you should be working on to be more profitable is half the battle. And, if you’re not sure where to start and would like a step-by-step process to follow, schedule a 20-minute call with me to discuss which resources in the Academy is the best fit for you and/or how I can help you optimise your business so that you can both save time and earn more!

 

Write Out Daily and Weekly To-Do Lists

Next, it’s time to write out your to-do lists. Start with everything you’ve written down in the last step and break it down into daily or weekly tasks. Use whatever method works best for you.

Use a weekly list if you prefer working on larger tasks or projects all day long, or try daily lists and break larger projects up into manageable chunks that you can accomplish in just a few hours or less.

You can jot down your to-do list on a piece of paper and cross things off your list as you get them done. Or use an app for your smartphone. Asana is a simple and easy to use list app that allows you to create tasks, assign dates, responsibilities, priorities and even make the tasks recurring (great for reminders to write those blog posts). I also love Workflowy to help me plan my strategy more visually step-by-step.

 

Set A Time And Get To Work

The tasks on your to-do list will take as long as you allow them to take. To stay productive use a timer and get them done. Pick an item on your list, estimate how long it should ideally take you to get it done and then set that timer.

Remind yourself that if you work hard and fast, you can be done for the day and go play. Train yourself to work faster over time, but don’t forget to take breaks. Which leads me to my next recommendation…

 

Plan Your Day Including Breaks

When I participated at the Uppercase conference organized by MissingLettr, I shared in my talk about Business And Circadian Rhythms about 3 of the breaks productivity options I personally use and recommend:

–       The Pomodoro Technique: 25 minutes of work followed by 5 minutes of break;

–       The Ultradian Rhythm: 90 minutes of work followed by 20 minutes of break;

–       The 52-17 Method: 52 minutes of work followed by 17 minutes of break.

Depending on the activities that you have planned during the day, you might find that one of these methods work better than another. Mix and match to create a daily schedule that fits you and your goals!

Also, continue to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. Do more of what’s profitable and fun and try to get it done in the shortest amount of time possible – without sacrificing the quality of course.

1-Managing Your Time Effectively_1

 

The Planners And Productivity Apps I Personally Love And Recommend

Online planners

–       2021 Business Success Journal

–       Penzu

Physical planners

–       Daily Greatness Journal

–       Best Self Planner (also downloadable in PDF format)

Productivity apps

–       Asana

–       Workflowy

When you enjoyed this article, please share it with someone in your life who could benefit from it! Also, when you enjoyed this article, you’re going to love 7 Days of Biz Planning To Rock Your Year! Below are a couple of options through which you can get access to it: get access to the course OR get access to the course and a lot more by getting access to the Optimised Business SILVER Membership.

🎁 Optimised Business SILVER Membership (value: $99)

Get COMPLIMENTARY access to the Optimised Business SILVER Membership, where I share my best tools, courses, tips and resources when you click the button below! Discount code is applied, but you have to choose the right yearly membership.

If you’d like a more comprehensive productivity course, then you might enjoy instead Productivity For Profits.

What's Next?

 

Step 1: Revise Your Expectations And Expect Resistance

If you’re familiar with the principles for successfully growing an online business, then you know that Step 1 of successfully pulling out a strategy to optimise and grow your business is to shift your mindset. I share through this blog and social media channels some tips and tools to help you with that. Yet, we all know that it takes more than just knowing what to do to actually do it.

That’s why I want to invite you to revise your expectations. Know that there will be resistance along the way. You might say to yourself “I’ll have a look tomorrow again”, “that’s not so urgent”, “I’m not sure that’s for me”, “I don’t think this will work for me”, or many other things. Often when we’re stepping out of our comfort zone (a.k.a. what we’ve been doing until now) we’re finding excuses to keep on doing what we’ve always done. The first step in success is acknowledging that. So… acknowledge where you’re at. Then…

Revise your expectations bearing in mind your goals AND your life. Not everything that I’m sharing will resonate with you. Not everything will be applicable to you either. And that’s alright! But you’ve got to start somewhere.

So, as long as you’re clear on your goals and on your vision, take a conscious decision of what you want to apply starting from today. And if you are not clear on your vision, here are a few resources you might find helpful:

 

Step 2: Carve Out Time, And Make A Plan

That’s where carving out time, and making a plan comes in. You know yourself at that stage better than I do. Use that knowledge to implement a plan of action that will help you start making positive changes into your life, that will soon bring positive changes in your business and in your life.

If you're stuck wondering what to do next, I invite you to join the FREE Optimised Business Membership.

[mfe_send_fox title="Become an Optimised Business Insider!" body="

Access our amazing freebies for building your business and our bonuses, giveaways and more...

" list="43927" redirect="https://audreysarnold.com/thank-you/" check_last_name="off" layout="top_bottom" _builder_version="4.7.7" _module_preset="default" header_text_color="#ffffff" body_text_color="#ffffff" background_color="#000000" custom_button="on" button_text_color="#ffffff" button_bg_color="#f85c70" background_layout="light" border_radii="on|15px|15px|15px|15px" body_line_height="1.1em"][/mfe_send_fox]

Step 3: Just start

There’s no tomorrow in success. Any successful path starts today, with a small change that you keep on building onto. Commit to starting today with ONE small thing, and share with me in the comments what it is. This commitment will help you start – and keep – taking action!

 

Step 4: Get Support!

We tend to want to do things on our own. I’m not stranger to that either. But I’ve learnt over time, and I’ve seen both with my personal coaching clients and professional mentoring clients, as well as with myself, that getting support helps to really create the change we’re after. So, if you’re stuck wondering what’s next, and you know you need help, I invite you to check out the many online resources I have created to help you save time and achieve faster growth in your business: Free articlesonline membershiponline books and courses. If you’d like private mentoring for your business strategy, you can also book a call with me to discuss the different mentoring options that are available for your special needs.

 

Step 5: Please Share!

If you like what I'm sharing, please do me a favour and share it with friends or colleagues you know would benefit from it! The more we are on this journey, the greater the collaborations, co-creation and achievements!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This