Entrepreneurs – Are You The Victim Of The Time Thieves?
Entrepreneurs – Are You The Victim Of The Time Thieves?
Time Thieves - How many can you spot them?
* Making too many unscheduled phone calls.
* Receiving too many inappropriate phone calls
* Playing telephone tag.
* Your computer – too much time spent on the internet or playing games.
* Sending or receiving too many emails.
* Too many coffee/cigarette breaks.
* Disorganized filing or worse – no filing.
* Pending work not organized.
* Little planning of current work.
* No diary.
* Numerous Interruptions.
Time is a precious non-renewable asset and poor time management causes stress, inefficiency and lack of control. Take control and manage the time thieves.
When managing your time you must manage
* Your Work load
* Your Documentation
* Interruptions
* Your Working Day
Controlling your work load: List, Plan, and Prioritize.
This is the simple answer. Forget expensive time management systems. A system that suits you is simple and easy to understand if far more likely to be maintained.
* Know where you are going and how you are going to get there!!
* Know what you have to achieve and how to obtain this!!
* Know what the important tasks are.
Example: A4/Letter paper with 3x columns marked: Urgent, Important Normal. List things you have to do, cross off as you do them, add, as you get more. Make sure you complete each column within a certain time. Highlight the very urgent. Use it daily and review at least monthly.
Documentation - The 3 D’s
Do one of the following:
* Deal With. Handle paper once and then file.
* Delegate to the appropriate staff member.
* Ditch and throw it away.
Interruptions - Combat Them
Phone calls and unexpected callers the biggest time thieves there are, try and manage them, but not by compromising service.
Phone calls
* Make outward calls in groups if possible
* Give out “best time to contact me” details
* Have all details to hand
* Don’t spend ages “on hold”
Callers
* Make appointments where ever necessary
* Say “I have just 5 minutes” and keep to it
* Encourage staff to collate requests/info
* Set aside regular times for staff
* Discourage time wasters
Emails
* Put in an efficient spam filter and virus program to remove as much junk and spam as possible.
* Discourage social or frivolous emails as well as too many “to all” emails. These are time wasting as well as expensive on resources.
* Learn to file your emails so that you can find them again.
* Delete all unneeded emails
Your working day
By planning your time, you can review your time commitments and help yourself better plan in the future.
Diary management
* Keep diary - what, where, who, why
* Keep visible to all who need it
* Use alarm facilities if available
* Link with To-Do lists
* Build in some break times
* Build in admin times
Master these skills and you should suddenly find more time in your business and life to do the things that you want to.
Entrepreneurs Are You The Victim Of The Time Thieves - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Lister's Website.
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You know the situation, you are working for yourself, but you don’t seem to be making much progress and never seem to have any time to yourself. Do you often say “if only I had more time” .You are a victim of the Time Thieves?
Time Thieves - How many can you spot them?
* Making too many unscheduled phone calls.
* Receiving too many inappropriate phone calls
* Playing telephone tag.
* Your computer – too much time spent on the internet or playing games.
* Sending or receiving too many emails.
* Too many coffee/cigarette breaks.
* Disorganized filing or worse – no filing.
* Pending work not organized.
* Little planning of current work.
* No diary.
* Numerous Interruptions.
Time is a precious non-renewable asset and poor time management causes stress, inefficiency and lack of control. Take control and manage the time thieves.
When managing your time you must manage
* Your Work load
* Your Documentation
* Interruptions
* Your Working Day
Controlling your work load: List, Plan, and Prioritize.
This is the simple answer. Forget expensive time management systems. A system that suits you is simple and easy to understand if far more likely to be maintained.
* Know where you are going and how you are going to get there!!
* Know what you have to achieve and how to obtain this!!
* Know what the important tasks are.
Example: A4/Letter paper with 3x columns marked: Urgent, Important Normal. List things you have to do, cross off as you do them, add, as you get more. Make sure you complete each column within a certain time. Highlight the very urgent. Use it daily and review at least monthly.
Documentation - The 3 D’s
Do one of the following:
* Deal With. Handle paper once and then file.
* Delegate to the appropriate staff member.
* Ditch and throw it away.
Interruptions - Combat Them
Phone calls and unexpected callers the biggest time thieves there are, try and manage them, but not by compromising service.
Phone calls
* Make outward calls in groups if possible
* Give out “best time to contact me” details
* Have all details to hand
* Don’t spend ages “on hold”
Callers
* Make appointments where ever necessary
* Say “I have just 5 minutes” and keep to it
* Encourage staff to collate requests/info
* Set aside regular times for staff
* Discourage time wasters
Emails
* Put in an efficient spam filter and virus program to remove as much junk and spam as possible.
* Discourage social or frivolous emails as well as too many “to all” emails. These are time wasting as well as expensive on resources.
* Learn to file your emails so that you can find them again.
* Delete all unneeded emails
Your working day
By planning your time, you can review your time commitments and help yourself better plan in the future.
Diary management
* Keep diary - what, where, who, why
* Keep visible to all who need it
* Use alarm facilities if available
* Link with To-Do lists
* Build in some break times
* Build in admin times
Master these skills and you should suddenly find more time in your business and life to do the things that you want to.
Entrepreneurs Are You The Victim Of The Time Thieves - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Lister's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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