As a small business owner, you know that time is a commodity. It can be lost and then gained back but it is irretrievable. Protecting your time is a must! Here are 5 ways you can protect your precious gift of time.
- Log Your Time – Take inventory of your time by logging everything you do in a day. Try this for a few days to capture a typical work day. Time logging will help you identify what tasks are taking up the majority of your time. From there, you can dig in and determine if you are spending your time on the right tasks.
- Know Your Time Wasters – Now that you have an “inventory” of how you spend your time, it will become obvious where you’re wasting it. Try and categorize your tasks and time logged for each. For example: Phone calls, emails, meetings, breaks and other nonproductive tasks. The goal is to find the areas where you are spending too much time.
- Use the Pomodoro Technique – This popular time management technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, typically 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. This method keeps you working on the things that matter most and nothing else.
- Delegate – Since you now have a good idea of where you are spending your time with time logging, look for tasks on your list that can be delegated to your employees. You hired the right people, let them help you.
- Apply the 80/20 Rule – The 80/20 rule says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. Effective time management is increasing the amount of time you spend each day in that 20% category. That 20% is where you are going to get the greatest results for your business.