Wearing numerous hats, keeping a number of balls in the air… the attention of today’s business owner is pulled in all directions. Sounding familiar? Fear not, you’re not alone. While research reveals that overwhelm is one of a soloist’s top challenges, there are ways to sharpen and improve your management of time.
In this article, we’ll explore the following ways to help you stay focused and productive:
Know your priorities
Be in control of technology
Use blocks of time
Have a tiny ‘to do’ list
Learn on the move
Apps and tools for working on the go
Know your priorities
While there are countless time management tools and apps available, they can’t transform our work days until we are clear on our priorities. As time management guru Stephen Covey wisely said:
“The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
But it’s not just about knowing what is important today: you need to be clear about the overall vision you have for your business. Only then are you able to identify what daily, weekly and monthly tasks will get you closer to the destination you seek. Here’s a complimentary workbook that will help you create a vision for your business.
Clarity on this will serve another purpose, in that it will help you define which of the things that are clamouring for your attention need to be actioned and those that should be ignored. Lack of an overall vision is just one reason time can slip away from you.
Be in control of technology
It’s been said that money makes a terrible master, but a wonderful slave. The same is true of today’s technology. Of course, it presents a massive opportunity for small business owners to get more done in less time, but needs to be tamed if it is to work in your favour.
Take apps, for instance. Often they will default to giving you ongoing notifications, which can be hugely distracting. Then there are constant email alerts. These interruptions imply urgency and can make you feel enslaved to your device.
Being ‘always available’ to your customers can seem like a big selling point, but it can quickly backfire with your devices ‘pinging’ at all hours. While being accessible to those who genuinely need your support is laudable, allowing yourself to be available to all 24/7 is not. Try to restrict your availability to set hours. You can manage your callers’ expectations by clearly tailoring your voicemail to inform them of when they are going to hear back from you.
When you demonstrate respect for your own time, others will follow suit. Here are some other techniques to make this happen:
Review and modify which app alerts are enabled and set them up in a way that suits your work schedule. Don’t be afraid to switch to ‘silent’ mode when you need to concentrate.
If you handle a large volume of voice calls consider enrolling the support of a message answering service or enlist the aid of a virtual assistant to help out with your admin.
Set retrieve schedules for your email program and designate a specific time to deal with them. That way you won’t be tempted to punctuate your time with responding to emails the instant they arrive.
Consider using multiple identities. Differing email addresses and mobile numbers for private and business contacts can help control the flow and allow you to put work aside when it’s necessary to do so.
Use blocks of time
Blocking out time to address your priorities is a powerful habit to adopt and one that is easier to introduce than you may think. Blocks work in much the same way as meetings, the only difference being the meeting is with yourself.
Time blocking works by allocating a chunk of time for particular pursuits. You make appointments for each pursuit in your diary and commit to the arrangements you have made with yourself. By allocating a block of time to an activity you are able to give it your full focus and concentration, so you achieve considerably more than if you deal with things spontaneously. At the same time you have total control over the diary and so are able to tailor your time blocks to suit your workstyle.
Perhaps you are at your creative peak early in the morning. If so allocate a block during this period for writing and idea generation. Are you sluggish towards the end of the week? This may be the ideal time to attend to some easy admin, or maybe even take an early mark: you shouldn’t overlook ‘me’ time in your schedule!
It’s all about recognising what works best for you. Try a week or two of monitoring your actual workstyle and tailor your blocks accordingly.
When it comes to administering the blocks themselves, there are a number of timers you can download for free and the simple, but powerful pomodoro technique is most definitely well worth a look.
Have a tiny to-do list
A tip that many business owners swear by is having a separate column in your to-do list that flags things that only take a few minutes to complete. Examples include calling a customer, sending an invoice, reading a saved article, transferring money, checking your shares, responding to social media comments or completing an application.
Then, whenever you find yourself with a few moments to spare, you can chomp through these tasks. Or, if you get a block of 20 minutes you can really clean up the list! These days most of these tasks can be completed with just your phone and can therefore be undertaken regardless of your location.
You’ll be amazed at how this can add up over the week and bring to a close that pesky paperwork that steals hours from your evenings or weekends.
Learn on the move
Another easy but effective productivity tool is to load up your mobile with inspirational, educational or entertaining podcasts. There are stacks of free broadcasts from world leading experts on all manner of business and professional development topics. A lot of the main news outlets also offer podcasts and streams so you can stay up to date when it suits you.
Bite-sized videos are another means of allowing you to upskill via a device and access some of the many training prgrams that abound on sites like Udemy. And of course, TED talks are always a fine source of wisdom.
Why fritter away a drive listening to traffic reports, when you can be learning from the world’s best? Or better still, listen and learn while you walk, run or cycle to give your brain and your body a top workout!
Apps and tools for working on the go
Now that you’ve got your priorities in order, it’s time to set up your phone with the cloud apps and software you need to run your business, care for your customers and ensure you have time available to spend coming up with ideas or relaxing with family and friends.
Below are a few of the best:
Office 365 lets you access Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Calendars, email and more, on any device.
Google Apps for Work is brilliant for collaborating in real-time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations on the go, as well as shared calendars and video conferencing.
Dropbox is perfect for securely storing and sharing unlimited data and files.
On the finance side of things, online banking apps streamline cashflow management and leading cloud accounting solution Xero offers powerful tools to manage your money including payroll, expenses, quotes, invoices and reports.
Data backups and storage are also easy with products like Norton Small Business security software MozyPro file protection, backups and restores.
Looking for more mobile freedom?
Vodafone’s latest small business solutions allow you to sign up to these apps via the Ready Business Apps marketplace. To find out more, visit https://businessapps.vodafone.com.au/en/marketplace.
Visit vodafone.com.au/business to learn more Vodafone’s business solutions and take the Ready Business Indicator online assessment.
FREE webinar series: How to become a Ready Business!
We are delighted to present two free community webinars to help your business succeed in a world of change and new opportunities. Get ready: The future is now with futurist Paul Wallbank and Get ready: Tech hacks for soloists with digital strategist Caroline Leppers. Proudly brought to you by Vodafone. Learn more and register.
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