Is Time Management the bane of your life?
Do you struggle to get everything done?
Most people do …
Time Management, getting things done, your ‘to do’ list
… is an area most people will agree they can improve on.
Many people strive for a work life balance but fail …
most jobs are very demanding, and with travel time taken in to account can mean many parents watch their kids grow up asleep.
But even when you are at home there are all of life’s chores to take care of … housework, gardening, washing the car, shopping, tv, family activities, etc. … that time just flies by!
The internet lifestyle is being sort by many …
in the belief that this will give them more time to enjoy the time they have been given on this planet.
But life online too has so many distractions, like email, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, IM, SMS, Google+ and so many more …
and this stops many from completing the necessary work to succeed.
To work from home Time Management is crucial
Here are some tips that will help you get more done, and thereby achieve more and make you feel a whole lot better.
(1) PLAN YOUR WEEK on paper
Every Sunday evening sit down and plan your week’s activities; write down what you want to get done.
You need a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish during the coming week. You want to be able to hit Monday morning running.
Having a to-do-list on paper will help keep you focused on getting the right things done.
As Jim Rohn says, “don’t just get through the day, get from the day”.
(2) PRIORITISE your activities
List all the things you want to get done each and every day and then number them in order of importance. This will help you identify what things need to be done first everyday.
Anything that you do not like doing, anything that you constantly try to avoid doing, make it your number 1 priority. Procrastination, not getting something done that you need to, can kill your business … believe me I speak from experience.
There is a good book about Procrastination …
Eat That Frog!: Get More of the Important Things Done – Today!
Save non-money making activities for your inert time …
your inert time is the time when you are not necessarily completing money making activities.; such as paperwork. These activities should be saved for early mornings and evenings. Don’t bog yourself down with letters/invoices/bills during precious daytime working hours. Schedule status updates on your Facebook page first thing in the morning or the night before. Same with your blogs; write 4 or 5 posts in one go and then schedule them over a few days/weeks, and do this early morning or in the evenings. For multiple status updates, schedule all your posts on Hootsuite or Tweetdeck rather than trying to remember to post them every day.
(3) ANSWER the phone
It is very easy when you are in the middle of something and your phone rings to leave it to go to answer machine. The only problem now is that you have just increased your to-do-list as now you potentially have someone to call back!
Mastering Time Management will hugely impact the results you achieve …
Whenever you go to do something, always ask yourself ..
Is what I am about to do going to help me make money?
Is it urgent? … is it relevant? … or can it wait?
Whilst you’re working, you can have several SMS messages or emails come through. Look at it and ask: “do I have to deal with it straight away?” or “is it relevant and can it wait?” Assess it in terms of its importance on a scale of 1-10, 1 being not urgent at all and 10 being highly urgent. Get back to the email or text later if it’s of a lesser importance.
Social media is also a MAJOR distraction. So many people now own an iPhone or Smart phone so phones are pinging with a new Tweet or Facebook update constantly. Can you resist looking immediately to see who it is and what it’s about? … oh hang on a minute my phones just pinged LOL … It’s only moments until you’re completely immersed and side tracked into status updates, pulling you away from what you were doing. Learn to put your phone on silent whilst you do what you need to get done and use your break times or down time for social media.
Remember the above ‘is it urgent’ principle. If you do need to use social media for business then ignore it – you have to learn to discipline yourself and separate personal from business.
Always Be Prepared …
Have you ever found yourself wasting time sitting there trying to remember something that you thought of earlier?
You know, when you had an inspired thought, or something else you need to get done popped in to your head whilst you were in the middle of something else … but now you can’t remember what it was!
Always Have A Notepad and Pen To Hand and write it down immediately, capture it, make a note of it. And if you do not have a notepad and pen to hand, undoubtedly you will have your phone nearby so why not use the notes function on it; after all you might be in a meeting and need to capture a thought there and then.
This will help help you reduce feeling stressed trying to remember too much and worrying that you’ve forgotten something!
Stay At Home But Go To Work …
When you work from home it is very easy to allow life to interrupt you … but you need to refrain from doing the house chores, doing a spot of D.I.Y., watching the TV, or getting roped into visiting a relative to take them on their weekly shopping trip!
Go to work for yourself … when you feel you’re allowing yourself to be distracted or you are straying from what you’re supposed to be doing, ask yourself …
“would I want to employ ME right now?”
If the answer is No then change what you’re doing straight away.
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