The 5 Laws of Time Management for Entrepreneurs
For many entrepreneurs there simply aren't enough hours in the day.
Managing time is an ongoing battle that requires vigilance and determination.
Here are a few suggestions to help improve your time management and help you achieve your goals: Decide what's most important - As a business owner you'll have many things to worry about.
During the course of a day or week there may be urgent matters that require your attention.
There will also be less important tasks disguised as urgent matters.
It's your job to determine which truly require your attention and make those the focus of your day.
Set priorities by assigning a severity level to each activity in the business.
For instance some companies will create a matrix with severity 1 through 3 with 1 being the most critical.
It would be your job to focus on those with the highest severity while delegating what remains.
Delegate lower priority tasks to others - Entrepreneurs must wear many hats, but at some point your business has or will begin to mature to a point where you'll hire employees.
Empower your employees by delegating activities that are less critical in nature.
This will free you up to focus on the strategic direction of the company.
It will also demonstrate that you trust your employees and improve company loyalty.
This may be a tough to achieve for the micro-manager but it's one of the best ways to add relief to your schedule.
Create a schedule and stick to it - One of the toughest goals to achieve is sticking to your schedule.
Failing to adhere to a schedule is an easy way to fall short of your goals.
If you're not sure what you're supposed to be doing from one day to the next one can easily waste time and get off-track.
Hiring a good administrative assistant (if you don't already have one) can be a good solution if you're not good with planning out your day.
Set an agenda - For many businesses there can be one meeting after another whether it's with suppliers, staff or interviewing new employees.
Having an agenda that is actually adhered to will allow you to keep everyone focused.
If conversations get off track you can always bring them back to the agenda and schedule another meeting time for issues that are off topic.
Another key component to having an agenda is establishing an end time.
If the meeting is scheduled for an hour end the meeting after one hour and schedule another meeting to continue the discussion if all of the agenda items were not covered.
Don't answer the phone - For some this may be a little radical, but sometimes people only call you because they know you'll answer.
Consider blocking out a window of time in the morning and then in the afternoon to check and respond to voice mails.
If the call is really important then they will leave a voice mail message.
Answering an unexpected call may lead to a long discussion that takes time away from more critical tasks.
Not answering the call can also force your newly empowered employees to rely less on your input.
Managing time is an ongoing battle that requires vigilance and determination.
Here are a few suggestions to help improve your time management and help you achieve your goals: Decide what's most important - As a business owner you'll have many things to worry about.
During the course of a day or week there may be urgent matters that require your attention.
There will also be less important tasks disguised as urgent matters.
It's your job to determine which truly require your attention and make those the focus of your day.
Set priorities by assigning a severity level to each activity in the business.
For instance some companies will create a matrix with severity 1 through 3 with 1 being the most critical.
It would be your job to focus on those with the highest severity while delegating what remains.
Delegate lower priority tasks to others - Entrepreneurs must wear many hats, but at some point your business has or will begin to mature to a point where you'll hire employees.
Empower your employees by delegating activities that are less critical in nature.
This will free you up to focus on the strategic direction of the company.
It will also demonstrate that you trust your employees and improve company loyalty.
This may be a tough to achieve for the micro-manager but it's one of the best ways to add relief to your schedule.
Create a schedule and stick to it - One of the toughest goals to achieve is sticking to your schedule.
Failing to adhere to a schedule is an easy way to fall short of your goals.
If you're not sure what you're supposed to be doing from one day to the next one can easily waste time and get off-track.
Hiring a good administrative assistant (if you don't already have one) can be a good solution if you're not good with planning out your day.
Set an agenda - For many businesses there can be one meeting after another whether it's with suppliers, staff or interviewing new employees.
Having an agenda that is actually adhered to will allow you to keep everyone focused.
If conversations get off track you can always bring them back to the agenda and schedule another meeting time for issues that are off topic.
Another key component to having an agenda is establishing an end time.
If the meeting is scheduled for an hour end the meeting after one hour and schedule another meeting to continue the discussion if all of the agenda items were not covered.
Don't answer the phone - For some this may be a little radical, but sometimes people only call you because they know you'll answer.
Consider blocking out a window of time in the morning and then in the afternoon to check and respond to voice mails.
If the call is really important then they will leave a voice mail message.
Answering an unexpected call may lead to a long discussion that takes time away from more critical tasks.
Not answering the call can also force your newly empowered employees to rely less on your input.
