“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date, no time to say hello, good-bye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!” And that quote is from where? YES! Alice in Wonderland. It’s my song that I sing to my youngest who has absolutely no time management skills whatsoever. Every morning he hears it as I rush him out to school before heading to work.
Ironically, if you ask the average entrepreneur the motivation for going into business for his or herself, money and time rank #1 and #2 as the reasons for doing so. Money obviously because jobs are not prone to paying people what they are worth. Only a career will do that and even then, it’s debatable. The hours, the phone calls, seminars, being on call etc… often the pay isn’t the best trade-off for time spent away from family.
Then there is the second motivation, Time. Yes, we want our time to be our own! If I’m the boss, I can manage the time I have better. LOL Great thought but not always true. Wouldn’t it be great if things really worked the way we thought that they did? Most entrepreneurs do not realize just how much time it takes to build a business. It is easy to look out and see the things going wrong at your office or even the things that can be better but remember that view is from the stand point of a company stable but not perfect. Building a company from the ground up is quite another venture and one that requires nothing but time in the infant stage.
A person never knows just how much time they waste until they begin to work for his or herself. From getting up ready to work to meetings, business plans, strategies, marketing and the like, building a business begins requiring more than the 40-hour work week that most employees have grown to hate and become excellent at cheating. LOL Yes, I said cheating. You know, in reality, no one works a full 8 hours. There are breaks, lunch and the chit chat of the office and while as a previous employee I understand that, the now employer begins to see just how much time is wasted and therefore money. It can be a situation that makes one laugh and then cry.
Time management is key for any person who wants to be successful; he or she, must know, understand and manage their bad habits and wasteful habits to accomplish goals.
Set annual, monthly, weekly and even daily goals that at the end of each night you must review.
Write all your goals, ideas and duties down
WRITE
DID I SAY WRITE?
Do not spend your time trying to remember things that could be written!
Set reasonable goals
Maintain reasonable expectations for yourself
BALANCE is the foundation for excellent time management -Cramming is not a solution for poor time management! You cannot make things fit into a schedule that doesn’t work or give others the worse part of you because you have wasted time in other areas. Part of time management is balance! Balance in the activities you want and need to do. It is impossible for one to be productive 24/7.
Before you end your night, see exactly what you did or did not do and where your time was spent. Much like finances or keeping books in a business you cannot change or improve what you do not know.
Be willing to hear, meet or listen to a consultant when it comes to your managing your time for business. Sometimes it’s harder for you to see what you are or are not doing.
Be mindful of your time like an employee who is paid by the hour but purposeful with your time like an employer who has payroll to meet! An employee paid by the hour wants to work as long and as much as he or she can, that’s how much TIME you must put in but, you accomplish things like a person who has EVERYTHING on the line because guess what you do!
Yes! your time is your own and guess what so is your money. No time working or doing the business that earns you $ and no money!
Learn to say NO! NO IS A COMPLETE SENTENCE ALL BY ITSELF. Often friends and family will see your entrepreneur endeavor is free time and time to run errands. I’ve seen a lot of small businesses become no business due to the “things” that now become priority. Things that they never could have done or would do before working for his or herself. Like we said, treat your time like an employee paid by the hour and hopefully you will use the time wisely.
Time management is not easy. It’s far easy to waste time than to manage it properly but it’s rewarding when you learn to manage it. Give you and your business a fighting chance by conquering this giant before it overtakes you and your business.
