As someone who owns several small businesses, being able to do all of the task needed seems impossible because of very little time. At most, I am only awake for eighteen hours a day and I have to spend at least a couple of hours for my daily needs. Sixteen hours seems to be too short for me to be able to finish my task. I can’t find time to relax at all.
Over the years, I have develop quite a few ways to maximize my time and shave off a decent number of tasks that I need to day. Here are my top four to keep my self grinding for the whole day and still find time to relax a little bit.
Find the right planning system for you.
With a mountain of tasks at hand, one could easily get lost. What should you do first? Did you remember everything important for today? Are you sure you did not miss any meetings? This chaos can be tamed by finding the right planning system for you.
There are a lot of apps that you can use to keep your to do list, track your progress and remind you of your upcoming meetings. Google has a lot of options you can download into your mobile to keep everything.
You can even sync it into any device you want. If you are always on your laptop or computer, you can still use Google. You can also make use of Workflow or Microsoft Outlook Task. If you want to do it old school, keep a notebook with you so you can write all the things you need to do and remember.
Prioritize.
Once you have the right planning system, the next thing you need to do is sort all your to do’s by deadline and the time you need to finish a certain task. Take 10-15 minutes of your day and organize your to do’s before you start your day. The main goal here is to finish all task on or before their deadline.
Set shorter amount of time for each task or meeting.
According to Parkinson’s Law, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” It means that how long something takes is largely a matter of perception. For example, if you set a meeting for an hour, it will always take an hour or more. If you scheduled it for 30 minutes, then your meeting will only last for that amount of time. You have likely accomplished the same for half the amount of time.
Bear in mind, that this does not apply for everything. Shortening the amount of time for a labor-intensive task may cause more time delay. Tasks like meetings, responding to emails, phone calls and other writing tasks can always be shortened.
Gain More Time By Doing Less
The amount of time each person has is fixed. To create more time, you need to remove the things that distract you from obtaining your goal. Streaming videos or browsing social media usually takes hours if left unchecked. Yes, everybody needs a little distraction from time to time. But that little distraction can also extend longer than intended. Set an alarm if you need to.
There are also tasks that doesn’t need to be done by you but you keep insisting on doing. If you are like me, then you have a tendency to micro-manage. Being a detail oriented person is great, but it can sometimes eat up too much of our time. Learn to trust that you have chosen the right team to compliment you in your business.
At the end of the day, it is not the number of hours you spend on doing things that matter. It is the quality of work you do that will determine your success.
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