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Time Management

Written by: Bob Ready

Article Overview: It seems to me that entrepreneurs often have a harder time than others with their time management skills. After all, they’re a creative class who like to concern themselves with great ideas and new innovations. They’re rarely ones for nitpicky details about scheduling, especially when it comes to giving them enough time for themselves. They like to work to all hours of the night getting their baby off the ground and running, and rarely think about the consequences. But as an entrepreneur, if you’re going to succeed, you need to learn how to organize your time effectively. This article will show you how.

Time Management

It seems to me that entrepreneurs often have a harder time than others with their time management skills. After all, they’re a creative class who like to concern themselves with great ideas and new innovations. They’re rarely ones for nitpicky details about scheduling, especially when it comes to giving them enough time for themselves. They like to work to all hours of the night getting their baby off the ground and running, and rarely think about the consequences. But as an entrepreneur, if you’re going to succeed, you need to learn how to organize your time effectively. This article will show you how.

First of all, you need to be realistic about your schedule. Write down all of your things to do and rank them in terms of priority. It is estimated that people who take the time to actually physically write down their lists are 90 percent more likely to complete their goals than those who don’t. And don’t forget to include an item about taking time for yourself.

Entrepreneurs are some of the worst culprits when it comes to working beyond their limits. You may think working 24 hours a day, every week is best for your business. But in the long run, you will become a victim of burnout and your business will in fact suffer. Schedule time to be by yourself, with no interruptions. I don’t mean just closing your office door. I mean disconnecting your phone, turning off your blackberry, and being completely alone.

Entrepreneurs who work from home have a particularly difficult time with time management. After all, it’s not easy to focus both on running your business and looking after yourself when there are kids running around, dinner to cook, laundry to do. Do whatever you can to avoid being distracted by those common chores. Hire a babysitter, order in, and do your washing later.

When you do take the time to accomplish the things on your list, make sure you don’t try to do too many at once. Multi-tasking has become incredibly easy these days with new technology, but sometimes it can actually cost you more in the long run. Use your time effectively by focusing on one task at once. You want to be able to cross things off on your list one by one, not in groups of five.

Finally, at the end of each day, reflect on the tasks you’ve completed and think about what you have to do for tomorrow. Write down a new to-do list for tomorrow and again, rank it in order of priorities. Also, take the time to create a good and productive working environment. Physically clearing your desk and clean up all your papers so that you will be able to start fresh and energized in the morning, instead of coming to work and feeling overwhelmed and disorganized to being with.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by everything you have to do, especially for entrepreneurs who have their entire business resting on their shoulders. Take the time to practice good time management and you will see the results.

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Article Tags: blackberry, burnout, chores, consequences, creative class, culprits, entrepreneur, harder time, how to organize your time, interruptions, laundry, multi tasking, new innovations, new technology, priority, schedule time, taking time, time management skills



Related Forum Posts
No B.S. Time Management - A great book I read on Time Management is No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy.
Your Intial Mistakes Business - Hi, When I started my business I had made a lot of mistakes initially. These helped me in learning the art of the trade and today when I look back, I feel that these mistakes were quite silly. I had made my learnings then and those learnings have helped me time and again. Some of the mistakes I made were - i. Wrong Time Management ii. Wasting money on glossy Brochures and Business cards iii. Believing what they taught me at school was 100% correct iv. Giving too much when it was not required...... I would like to find out what have been your faltering moments in Business when you had started and what/how did they help you grow. Regards
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - We've also expanded the list for Contest and All-Time Leaders. It's great to now see David and Yinka on the All Time list and recognize the contributions they've made to the forums!
Which kind of industries are you interested in? - Ecological or E-business or Investment or Finance or Management or Non-Profit or Retailer or others.
Books that should be written - [quote:1m0dcpd7]"The Idiots Guide To Sticking With One Thing At A Time and Not Doing Something New All The Time" [/quote:1m0dcpd7] I myself am a 'constructive' procrastinator... I don't know if I'm alone in this. I have about six or seven projects I'm working on at any given time. I get one project almost done... then my interest is piqued by another project and I work on that... I get burnt out and move to another...I know I do this so I have it arranged such that once I get bored or burnt out with one project, I can step right back into project 1 - or 2 or 3, and get that a little bit more done before moving on to something else. As long as you're organized and know where all your reference material/idea sheets are when you're ready to get back to work on each project, it should be fine. I also find that by stepping away from a project - I still work on it in the recesses of my mind so that when I go back to it - it's with some good ideas that I wouldn't have had if I'd continued on with it originally. Maybe I should write a book on how to Procrastinate Constructively... I've actually thought about doing that...because most people procrastinate, don't they...and very few are ever able to stop.


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