5 Quick Tips for Time Management

By Cam |

1. Weekly Planner

One of the lessons I have learned is no matter how much I love all things digital, I STILL LOVE PAPER! There is no replacement for a good desk planner and a ballpoint pen. My planner allows me to see quickly how my day/week is looking, just like a good weather forecast allows us to plan ahead. Added bonus, I draw on it when I’m on the phone.

desk planner

2. Draw up a priority list

Big tip! If you don’t know how to prioritise…..learn. This is crucial to your business. The overwhelm of running a business is real. Delegate whatever you can comfortably let go of. The rest needs to be put in order of priority. Once I learned this, my days started to roll out to plan, albeit nothing is perfect, but the overwhelm started to take a back seat as the important things got done first, freeing up a ton of stress. Productivity skyrocketed as a result.

3. Emails, emails, emails

I have a simple solution. For some this may be too simple, for others, it’s the best answer to an overwhelming inbox they’ve ever initiated. I simply don’t look at my emails “first thing”. I look at my… you got it…PLANNER. Then I look at my priority list and I tweak it to suit my day. You see, I found that looking at emails, is a little bit like looking at FB and insta “first thing” over my wake me up coffee…I get caught in the vortex! I somehow would come out of it by morning tea time, shaking my head, wondering where I’ve been for 2 hours! So, yes, emails are an important part of our businesses, BUT, lets put them in their place. Use your filters, so they are categorised, i.e promotions, social, primary etc. I also delete old emails on a regular basis.

4. Jot it down

Scandalous I know! Pen and paper….here’s a neat little tip that has saved me so much time. I have scrap paper that I use for brainstorming ideas. At night, when my eyes are tired from all the screen time, I start brainstorming ideas for the next day/week/month. This is so effective and can be done from any comfy chair in your home (even during the ad breaks on tv). Added bonus, surprisingly, it helps to crystalise the direction of my business when I see ideas on paper and most of my best creative ideas come outside of “business hours” because my mind is free from “work” mode.

5. Distractions

These are disastrous to your time management skills. There are a million and one distractions to take you away from completing your projects. For me personally, I have learned that working from home is one big distraction! While I don’t have colleagues in the same room to distract me, I certainly do have emails, socials, housework, a very, very cute little dog, and the list goes on. I’ve had to bring the hammer down on myself and set a benchmark. You know what your distractions are. The only advice I can give here is……treat yourself like an employee that is being paid well to do a job, then pay yourself at the end of the week 🙂