How to Get Your Time Back in 5 Easy Steps

What is time management? Simply put, time management is a way to use or manage your time efficiently and effectively to be more productive.

Is it For Me?

Okay so here’s the thing.  If you’re reading this, it’s for you!  Whether you’re the busy entrepreneur who can’t seem to manage their client appointments, or the busy mom who can’t seem to keep track of her kids’ soccer practice and whether or not it’s her turn to bring the orange slices, Little Debbies®, and fruit juices.

Anyone with a schedule of tasks or activities can benefit from some type of organized time management system.  The truth is, it doesn’t even have to be some elaborate, sophisticated or complicated system.  Just as long as everyone who needs to have access to it, has it access.  My husband and I started out about 15 years ago using a dry erase calendar that hung on our kitchen’s wall.  We still use it today, for some things, like family member’s birthdays and home maintenance appointments and projects.

Why is Time Management necessary?

Time management is a way to manage and prioritize tasks throughout your day.  By having a “system” that you can rely on to keep you on schedule, you will come to realize that some of the things or tasks are not necessary.

While reading the book The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, I came to the conclusion, some things are just not necessary even though we have been accustomed to including them in our daily routine. These are things that someone else could be doing.  I highly recommend this book for ideas on how to use your time more effectively.  One example is, posting or scheduling content on social media.  See my services page for how I can help you with this.

Many entrepreneurs are also “solo-preneurs” and wear all the hats in their businesses.  When what you should really be concentrating on is your income-producing activities.  Activities that better serve your clients and customers.

What You Can Do

You can start by eliminating 5 huge time killers.  These are not necessarily in hierarchy order; they all seem to carry the same amount of time-wasting weight.

• Checking emails all throughout the day

This is not necessary.  Dedicate or schedule a time to check emails and stick to it.  Create an auto-email responder in Gmail or other email server to let your clients know when you check your emails and when they can expect to hear a response from you.

• Social media Ugggh!

How many times have you gone on FB or IG to look for one thing and end up scrolling and responding to posts for what turns out to be hours?  Instead, check your social media once every 24 hours.  This is really possible.  Get in the habit of checking your social media once a day, perhaps later in the day when you would normally catch up on your favorite TV show.  Don’t check social media during the busiest time of the day. It’s best to schedule this time on your calendar specifically to respond to your community, answer customer questions, and to congratulate friends on their big day or special achievement. Turn off all alerts and notifications from your social media accounts, after a while you will find that you’ve gotten so much more accomplished and you would have forgotten all about social media.

• Lunch with your significant other or friends

When you’re running a new business, there really isn’t much time to take long lunch breaks and hang out with friends to just shoot the breeze.  You are most likely handling EVERYTHING in your business.  Prepare meals ahead of time so that you’re able to pop something in a microwave, eat a salad, or drink a shake while you’re still working.  Until you are in a position where your business is running itself, tell your friends and family to help you by not asking you to go to lunch during your working hours.

• Personal calls

Don’t do it.  You may think, oh It’s only going to take a minute or two, but then you end up going from one conversation to the next losing track of time.  Then you realize you’ve been talking for 2 hours.  Wait to make those calls later in the evening when you’ve got the things you wanted to accomplish for the day done and over.  Turn your phone alerts and notifications to silent.

• Chasing “shiny objects”

This was me all day, every day.  I’d start looking at one thing or listening to a podcast or webinar and someone mentions a CRM or free scheduler or the latest ring light to use and I’m off to the races.  I’d go from one site to the next, looking at something that I think I could use, signing up for more webinars and freebies, to looking for something I could use at my house.  It’s not worth it y’all.  STAY FOCUSED!  Not only are you wasting time, but you’re also wasting money on things you don’t even need.  Trust me, I know this from experience and you probably do too.

Things You Can Do Better

1. Clean and organize your working area and space. You work more efficiently when you can find the things you need with you need them.
2. Adapt a good time management system. Do some research on the best one for you and your situation.  There is one called the Quadrant where you would split your tasks into 4 quads based on urgency and importance.  Read more about the Quadrant time management system here
3. Use the time blocking method to maintain your calendar. Use an “e-calendar” like google calendar, outlook calendar, or others that also integrate with your appointment schedulers like Acuity and Calendly. For more on time blocking view this video.
4. Set SMART goals each day. SMART stands for Specific, Meaningful (or Measurable), Attainable (or Achievable), Relevant and Time-Based.  Read more about setting SMART goals here.
5. Listen to podcasts from people who are where you want to be.
6. Find inspirational videos from your favorite speakers like Joyce Myers, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, or Mamie Brown’s baby boy, Les Brown. Listen to them as you go about your day to keep you motivated to succeed.
7. Take breaks during the day. Some health devices like Apple, Samsung or Fitbit watches have health notifications that alert you when you’ve been stagnant too long.  Set alarms on your phone or other devices that remind you to take frequent breaks throughout your day and actually, take a break.  Go for a short walk around your building inside or outside.
8. Schedule important meetings, client calls during the A.M. hours when you feel more refreshed.
9. Schedule your daily exercise. It has been proven that physical exercise and activities improve your overall health and helps to reduce the risk of health-related diseases including obesity and heart disease.  Exercising has both short term and long-term benefits.  #justdoit!
10. Most importantly, schedule some relaxation or self-care time to take care of you. If you never stop to do the fun things you enjoy, your business will start to feel like a burden, and you will want to quit when things get tough.  Go get your hair and nails done!

If you want to hear ways in which I can help to take on your non-income producing activities, click here to view my services page.  You can also email me @ tonya@morevirtualsolutions.com or schedule a 30-minute consultation here.