Whether you are a first-time entrepreneur or have been conquering this field for years, there will always be one certain: You can’t buy more time because every single person, no matter how successful, is given the same amount.
As a result, people (yes, even entrepreneurs) are always looking for new tips when it comes to the time management department. If you can relate, then you are in luck, because we are about to unleash three time management tips for entrepreneurs. The best part? They are all very manageable and can be incorporated into your life as soon as, well, today.
3 Time Management Tips For First-Time Entrepreneurs
- Close The Door When You Are Working
- Learn How To Delegate
- Schedule Your Important Tasks And Drop The Not-So-Important Tasks
Close The Door When You Are Working
Stephen King says it best when it comes to keeping the door closed while you are working.
“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”
While King’s simple yet impactful words are referring to writing, everyone can take a page out of his playbook, especially entrepreneurs.
When you are working on your most important tasks of the day, tasks that only you can do, you cannot afford to be distracted. Therefore, you can take King’s quote from above literally — close the door when you are working on an important task. You can also look at it this way: Distractions will kill your time, so you have to eliminate them all.
When you are trying to completely focus on something, you cannot let phone calls, social media, emails, roommates or the TV interrupt you. By letting distractions in, and by not “closing the door” when you work, you are being taken out of your zone, and sometimes it’s a struggle to get back into said zone.
If you want more time in the day to do the things you love, to chase your dreams, to become the person you were meant to be, then you have to become the most productive version of yourself. Plain and simple, when it comes to doing work, it needs to be just you and your work — everything else is a distraction.
Learn How To Delegate
Entrepreneurs have to learn how to delegate. Most entrepreneurs have multiple businesses, which means the workweek can get pretty hectic, and the typical 40-hour workweek simply doesn’t exist.
At first, an entrepreneur needs to be hands-on with his/her business. However, once you can trust your employees with some of your tasks, you need to start delegating your work.
Of course, you will knock out your most important tasks, but you have to dish out simpler tasks or else you are going to be in the office every waking moment. Do you think Tim Ferriss (author of “The 4-Hour Workweek”) got to where he is today by doing everything on his own? Of course not. He is an expert in the time management department, and he is also a guru when it comes to delegating work.
Figure out the projects you personally have to do, separate them with the tasks that someone else could easily do, and then delegate. Not only will this save an entrepreneur a ton of time, but said entrepreneur will be accomplishing just as much (probably more, in fact) in less time.
Schedule Your Important Tasks And Drop The Not-So-Important Tasks
This kind of relates to delegating, but it differs quite a bit. If you want to make the most out of your time, if you want to become a time management master, then you are going to have to learn how to schedule your most important tasks (that’s the easy part) and drop the not-so-important tasks (this is the tough part).
You’ve heard it once and you will likely hear it over and over again, but if you want to get the most out of your time, then you have to create a flawless schedule that (1) works for you, and (2) features every single minute and hour of the day. Basically, breaks, work and everything in between need to be added to your schedule.
Here’s where the road gets a bit rocky.
Entrepreneurs — and people in general — need to stop saying “yes” to everything in 2017. When you are first starting off, saying “yes” to everything is important because you need experience, work and you need to get your foot in the door. However, there will come a time when your time becomes worth more, because you will have less of said time to do the things you love, things outside of work.
Therefore, taking on a project that isn’t going to further your career is not worth it. A paycheck will always be nice, but if a specific project is not getting you any closer to your dreams, then you need to cut it out of your life.
This can be on a smaller scale as well. For instance, if your company has a weekly scrum on top of all of the other meetings, and nothing is being accomplished during that scrum, then it needs to be eliminated. Don’t just do things to do them. Start doing things because you want to do them and because they are beneficial.
Learn how to say “no” to projects/things in general that aren’t furthering your career.
“Being able to quit things that don’t work is integral to being a winner.” – Tim Ferriss
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