Does this ever happen to you? It’s Monday and you have a full list of things that need to be finished by the end of the day. You sit down at your desk and you open the email inbox to get started. Five minutes in you hear your 3-year-old screaming at the top of their lungs. After that, there is breakfast to be made and when you finally get back to your desk you can’t remember what you were working on in the first place. Three more interruptions later and you still haven’t finished the emails. You rush to get everything done, but by the end of the day, you’ve only scratched the surface of your list. You end the day filled with anxiety about what wasn’t completed and barely sleep. The next day you wake up and do it all over again.
If that sounds familiar you might be an entrepreneur. We are all sleep-deprived and overwhelmed. There is so much we want to do with our days but never any time. How can we manage our time and still have the energy to be with our families? What is the secret?
Simply put time management is being intentional with the time you have. Time is your most valuable asset. We’ve built a list of the most foundational habits, concepts, and tools to help you manage your time and bring you the most peace and happiness.
You are not alone
The first thing you need to learn is that you do not have to do everything by yourself. There are programs, people, and communities that are invested in seeing you grow and succeed. Virtual assistants can also be an amazing support. You can hire them for a few hours a day or you can hire them for specific projects. Offload repetitive tasks and tedious projects.
Technology is your friend
There are so many new programs, products, and systems that are free and can support your daily tasks. Get your team all on the same page with programs like Slack and AirTable. You can schedule huge batches of content for your social media with programs like Planoly or Meta Business Suite.
Spend your time on vital tasks
Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan talk about this specifically in their book “The One Thing.” They explain that you should focus your time on the 20% of your tasks that will give you 80% of your results. They said, “When you know what matters most, everything makes sense. When you don’t know what matters most, anything makes sense.” You could spend hours on tasks that don’t help you in any way. They also explain “It is not that we have too little time to do all the things we need to do, it is that we feel the need to do too many things in the time we have.”
Attach expected results to each task
This ties back to the last point. When you know the outcomes for certain tasks you will feel more motivated to complete those tasks and it will help you to determine better which ones are the most important. Knowing the results will help you understand the best order to complete each item.
Anticipate interruptions
Everyone’s day is full of distractions and interruptions. Spending your energy trying to avoid these things is futile. It’s better to prepare for them. Give yourself plenty of empty time during the day. Scheduling every minute of the day will not give you the flexibility to help your little one tie their shoes or help them with their homework. Let the distractions come and give your mind a break.
Get an accountability partner
The last point which brings us back to the first point, get yourself someone who is pumped and excited about what you are doing. Send them a text every day or sit next to them. If they don’t live near you have them join a zoom room and sit over a video call in silence. You will be so surprised at how much you will get accomplished.
These few tips have made a massive difference for me and the other entrepreneurs. These concepts have made it possible for me to stay our of burn-out and overwhelm while making a massive difference in the productivity of my business. If you are interested in learning more about the community we are building to help support the female entrepreneur community, check out our monthly newsletter or reach out to schedule an strategy session with our team. We’ll go over your current concerns with your business and your customers and give you some actionable steps tog et you moving forward.
