Being an entrepreneur is like walking on a double-edged sword. Where the flexibility to work for your dreams without having to be accountable to anyone else is liberating, managing multiple tasks at hand in 24 hours can be challenging.
Time cannot be bought and sold. And just like Jeff Bezos and Ratan Tata, you too have just 24 hours to accomplish what you want to. Neither there is any way to get the lost time back, nor can it be bought from Flipkart or Amazon. It ticks away every second of the day. And if wasted, it is lost completely. Every online course for entrepreneurs talks about time management.
As an entrepreneur, the to-do list is always growing, and to tick everything off the list, you should know which elements hold the most importance. Not all time management methods work for everyone, you must get a broader view of what works for you and what don`t.
Successful business owners know how crucial time management is to ensure that things get done on time. So, if you are an entrepreneur who is struggling to finish tasks at hand, here are 6 time management tips to ensure that things get done:
1. Make Your P-0 List
Every morning, when you get up, you should not just throw yourself into the rabbit hole filled with random tasks. This will not just waste your time, but will also put your important work in the back seat. So, every morning, write your essential tasks on a piece of paper that needs to be completed in a day. Though many management tools are available on the internet, sometimes they can be overwhelming. But, if you are comfortable with managing your time with the help of those tools, go ahead.
Avoid Parkinson`s Law which states, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” So don`t just will your day with non-essential work, just because there is time left in the day.
2. Give Yourself Deadlines
Not having someone externally putting pressure on you can be a positive as well as a negative impact on the work. If you are not careful, this can lead to unproductive multitasking and procrastination. You can keep extending the deadline or keep postponing the important meeting with clients if you don`t give yourself a deadline to meet. This is something that no online business course for entrepreneurs teaches.
Setting firm deadlines can be extremely helpful for almost any task. Whether it is writing a report or creating content for a website, meeting, or phone calls, a deadline can help you with accomplishing tasks at hand under a specific period.
3. Stop Stalling
Time is a luxury. And, if you want to afford it, you should learn the art of time management. So often we spend our time on social media or chatting with friends, eating, or giving ourselves a break every other hour, however, it could lead to more waste of time. If you too have the habit of giving yourself too many breaks, then it is time to stop. Time yourself and give yourself a strict deadline to finish things. Block your schedule, delegate, and time yourself. Everything works until you decide to delay simply because you have done a great job at delegating work and doing other things.
Managing time does not mean that you should have less fun; it is the art of knowing when to work and when to play.
4. Build Up Momentum
A day is going to be productive or not this decides the first few hours of it. There is a reason why the mornings of successful entrepreneurs start early and many businessmen are in the 5:00 AM club. When you are already up early in the morning and have taken care of a couple of tasks, it keeps you ahead of your competitors and sets you up for success for the rest of the day. Most often, we procrastinate because tasks are daunting. This takes away the momentum for the rest of the day, allowing you to do more.
5. Do Right Tasks at the Right Time
Time is by far the scarcest resource and the best way to maximize it is to work in a way that keeps you in sync with it. If you are a morning person, you can wake up early and take care of important tasks. While you can`t make more time, you can use it more efficiently by doing the right tasks at the right time. By making time for yourself, you can also take some online course for entrepreneurs to update and upgrade yourself.
6. Adopt the 80/20 Rule
80/20 rule has proved to be a game-changer for many successful entrepreneurs. According to this principle, 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results. If you have 10 tasks to finish only two of them will produce any results. However, we waste our time by doing other eight things. Always analyze the outcome of all your tasks to determine which ones are producing results and which ones have just turned into a busy day. Once you have those answers, you will be able to adopt the 80/20 rule.
So many people complain about not having enough time to achieve all that they truly desire. If you too feel like this, the problem is not probably with the day, but with how you utilize the time available to you. Try the above-mentioned techniques to manage your time efficiently.
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