Effectively managing time and successfully running a business go hand-in-hand. As entrepreneurs, we wear lots of different hats and manage a barrage of different tasks and to-do lists. It can be easy to get overwhelmed, disorganized or just plain inefficient. The solution is in effective time management. By mastering time management, we are able to be more organized, eliminate redundancy, increase efficiency, manage to-do lists, enforce accountability, and simplify our lives. Here at BLND we rounded up four simple tips for better managing those busy days.
Tip #1: Integrate Effective Time Management Software
Whether you are a business owner or employee, one of the best things you can do to effectively manage your time is get rid of all those scratch pads and color coded post-its. Although these work out great for some circumstances, it’s often more manageable to use one of the many great online time management systems out there nowadays. And did we mention many are free?! We’re often strapped for time, so implementing one of these into our daily practice definitely boosts our productivity.
Tip #2: Utilize Time Sensitive To-Do Lists
We use to-do lists on a daily basis to keep on task and motivated. More importantly, we set deadlines to our lists to keep us accountable to ourselves for each task. Now that everything is online and attached to a smartphone, using an online calendar software or to-do list system can take your to-dos, attach them to a calendar and then text you when they are due. It is now becoming impossible to overlook something on your daily agenda. In addition, scheduling reoccurring tasks will help with redundant tracking.
Tip #3: Track How You Spend (or Waste) Your Time
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter-we could spend hours on these things alone, not to mention catching up on email. We all waste time. Be cognitive of your attention diversions. If you feel yourself jumping to open another web browser to check out the latest BuzzFeed in the middle of a task – stop.
Tip #4: Organize Your Information
With all the information, documents and tid-bits of advice coming your way, it can be difficult to know how to capture that information and how to organize it into tidy bins for later use. Use online information organizers, such as Evernote, to capture websites you run across with important or useful content. Tools like these can help you organize your thoughts and findings into useful categories (frequently referred to as tags). Access information anywhere because all the information is stored online. Some tools even integrate with your web browser. Assemble information for both personal and business use.
Are you effectively managing YOUR time to the best of your ability?
