Tips for Small Business Owners to Manage Time
When you own a small business, you know that one of your greatest assets is your time. Unfortunately, a huge challenge for many business owners (including you) may be effectively managing your time. If that is the case, keep reading. Here you can find some helpful tips to ensure you manage time properly and making the most of every day.
Begin with Time Logging
Before you try to do anything else, you need to complete at least a single day of time logging. You can do this with pen and paper or on a spreadsheet. Begin as soon as you wake up and keep logging your time until you go to bed at night. The purpose of this is to track every minute of your day, the task you do, and the time you spend. Track everything (literally everything) for this to be a useful process. Don’t change your behavior for the day, just make sure you are following your “typical” workday.
Figure Out What Your Biggest Time Wasters Are
After you have completed the time logging process for the entire day, you will see where you are wasting time. Take the time log and total up all the time during the day that you tracked and then try to put each of your activities in a particular category. Once done, conduct a few basic calculations to figure out what percentage of your time you spent on each of the activities. The goal with this is to figure out where you are spending too much time.
Consider Using the Pomodoro Technique
This is a popular time management method that involves setting a timer for up to 25-minutes while handling a certain task then take a five-minute break before you begin another task. You can adjust this to meet your specific needs, such as a 20-minute or 15-minute timer, but the goal is to limit time on tasks that may not be as important as you think but that you are wasting too much time doing.
Managing your time as a small business owner can be extremely challenging. While this is true, there is no reason you can’t do this effectively. A great way to start managing your time better is with the tips and information found here. This will help ensure that you make the most of the time you have each day. As a small business owner, this is essential if you want to set yourself up for success.
