Many busy business owners complain that there is “never enough time” to get it all done. If we get honest, any of us who own businesses often feel that there is still way too much of our to-do list when we fall into bed at night.
It’s not a good feeling either. If you are one of those that have your schedule dialed in and are enjoying the state of feeling in control of your life and schedule then you are ahead of the pack.
The majority of business owners I speak with are really struggling…
Part of the problem is that we are focused on managing the wrong thing. When we hear the words time management it leads our brain to believe that if we just manage time- that illusive intangible thing that acts like sand through our fingers- that somehow it will all get better.
What really needs to occur is that we need a mindshift before we dive into figuring out our scheduling woes.
You can’t manage something you can’t see; can’t set on your desk, touch, feel, hold, smell or taste. More accurately, we need to learn to manage ourselves in the context of time.
What we are really talking about here fits much more under the category of self management.
Are you an entrepreneur? Whether your business is micro, small, medium or large, managing you and your choices of how you set up your schedule are significant.
When we feel in control of our schedule, we feel in control of our life!
Here’s some ideas to get you started in a different mindset and schedule trajectory.
Start by identifying all the various “departments’ in your business. Even if you are a solopreneur, think about all the different hats you wear and begin to think of them as departments in a store. Write them down.
Differentiate between the tasks that involve working IN your business from the tasks that involve working ON your business. Are you a massage therapist, hairdresser or chiropractor? When you are with a client or patient, you are IN your business. When you are working on the books, or strategizing about how to improve delivery of services you are working ON your business.
Once you have identified all your departments, then create a task list under each one.
Determine how frequently you need to do those tasks. Perhaps you like doing your own books. That does not need to be done daily so that gets written under your task list under Admin, for once or twice a month. Complete the list of all tasks you can think of and how often they need to be done.
Start looking at your schedule with fresh eyes. What days do you want to work in your business? From what time to what time? Once you land on that, record those days and times as fixed bricks in your schedule.
How often and when will you work on your business? Block off those days and times and consider them to be fixed bricks in your schedule as well.
This is just the beginning of getting a handle on managing you in the context of time.
From there, consider personal care, family time, commitments and other things you have said yes to that you intend to keep… add those to your schedule as well to hold that space and protect those commitments.
You will then begin to see the spaces that allow for flex time.
Color coding your calendar can be extremely helpful as well so you can see at a glance what is work time, play time and family time. ( And remember to add self care time!)
When you learn to manage you in the context of time, life feels more manageable and it will likely lead you to end your days feeling more productive, more in control and you may even find that it’s been weeks since you’ve complained that you “don’t have enough time!”.