Are you investing in your time or just spending it?

Outsourcing, Time management0 comments

I came across a quote the other day from Stephen Covey, the author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It said “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it”.

It got me thinking about how much we actually invest in our time and how much we just spend it. There is a difference.

We can easily give ourselves a big long ‘to do’ list and then happily spend time being busy while we work our way through it. However, being busy doesn’t mean that we’re being effective. That ‘to do’ list may just contain tasks that we like doing but are not really taking us anywhere. So we are busy but we’re busy on the wrong things.

Obviously if you’re running your own business, you could think of this literally by multiplying your hourly rate with the amount of time you spend on non-fee earning projects. This is certainly a good exercise if you’re thinking of outsourcing as it shows you how much some tasks are costing you by doing them yourself.

Investing in your time though is not just about money. It’s also about using the time you have more effectively so you’re focused on doing the right things. These are things that will help you and your business to grow, and which will move you towards your goals and what you want to achieve in life. This can be anything from learning a new skill to getting your business to a level where it can run without you.

So take a look at your ‘to do’ list and see if the tasks on it are important or not. For each task, ask yourself the question: “Would it make any difference to my goals whether I did this task or not?”. If the answer is no, then delete it or at least put it as a low priority.

By investing more of your time rather than just spending it, you will feel less stressed and more fulfilled as you find yourself achieving quicker results in your business and personal life.
 

If you want to get more tips on how to manage your time and work effectively in your business, then download a copy of our guide “How to organise your workload so there’s more time for you“. This guide is packed full of time management tips as well as 10 online tools to help you work more productively. Click on the link to download the guide >> How to organise your workload
 

7 Steps to Working Smarter in Your Business

Organisation, Time management0 comments

I recently read about a survey from Yorkshire Bank that said that small business owners work an average of 15.3 million extra days each year, in comparison to the average UK employee.  They are working long hours and taking few breaks just so they can look after their clients and keep the business going.

However, regularly working such long hours can seriously affect your physical and mental health.   We all need to recognise the importance of working smarter in our business and investing our time in our mental and physical well-being.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your workload and have got to the point where you seriously need to take time out, then here are 7 steps to help you work smarter and have more time for you.

• Have a specific plan which contains clear goals as to where you and your business are going.  Don’t forget to add personal goals on there as well to help maintain your work/life balance.

• Review your plan regularly and see what tasks have not been done.  Ask yourself whether they are important or not.  If they are important then make a decision to do them or delegate them.  If not then ditch them and move on.

• Block time out in your diary.  Don’t accept every meeting request you get as you’ll end up feeling burnt out and overloaded with work.  Set aside at least 1-2 hours a day in your schedule so you can spend time focused on your projects and what you need to do to achieve your goals.

• Don’t automatically say yes.  It’s easy to say yes to every job you get offered, perhaps because you need the work or don’t want to let people down.   However, you could find that you end up doing work that you hate or working with people that you don’t get on with.  This will just leave you feeling stressed and exhausted so judge each request as it comes in.

• Delegate or outsource non-fee earning tasks.  This gives you more free time to focus on what you do best and what’s important for your business.  If you’re on a tight budget then see if you can barter with someone whose services you need.

• Clear the clutter.  If you find that you’re drowning in paperwork and spend too much time hunting around for files and folders, then take a day out to declutter.  If you find this too overwhelming, then just focus on one part of your paperwork and either throw out what you don’t need or put it into a proper filing system that works for you.  If you’re not naturally organised then bring in someone to help you.

• Set strict working hours and stick to them.  It’s easy to keep going when you’re running your own business, especially if you work from home.  But you can easily lose focus and start to feel demotivated if you try to work long hours without a break.  So set a time when you switch off at night and share this publicly with everyone you work with.

These are just a few measures that you can take to help you work smarter.  By investing your time wisely, you will achieve your goals far more quickly, feel energised and motivated and find that you have more time for yourself.
 

If you want to get more tips on how to manage your time and work effectively in your business, then download a copy of our guide “How to organise your workload so there’s more time for you“. This guide is packed full of time management tips as well as 10 online tools to help you work more productively. Click on the link to download the guide >> How to organise your workload
 

Get More Done With a Do It Day!

Time management0 comments

One of the main things that can very often stress you out is having tasks on your to do list that you never get round to doing.  This can be a pile of paperwork that needs sorting out, an overflowing email inbox, or perhaps getting information together to send out a monthly  newsletter to your contacts.  Whatever it is, these are things that you’ve been thinking of doing for a  while but have been putting off because other priorities take over, or they’re not really things that you like doing.

Well one way to get motivated in getting more done is to have a “Do It Day”.  This is where you spend one day focusing on completing these kind of actions on your to do list.

It’s a good idea to plan your Do It Day though so that you use it effectively to get your tasks done.

• Focus on no more than 5-10 tasks otherwise you won’t be able to get it all done in one day.
• Assess how much time each task will take and allocate your time accordingly.  Use a timer when working on the project as this focuses your mind on completing it.
• Group similar tasks together, such as making phone calls, as this will help you to work more effectively rather than jumping from one task to another.
• Create an action plan for the day with timings and deadlines and share it with someone else.  By publicly saying that you’re going to do something, then you are more likely to get it done.
• Give yourself a reward at the end of the day, whether that’s a glass of wine or meeting friends.  This will help to keep you motivated especially if you find your enthusiasm flagging.

By getting rid of these tasks off your action list, you’ll have a real sense of achievement and feel more motivated about tackling the rest of your projects. So schedule a Do It Day in your diary now and get more done!
 

If you want to get more tips on how to manage your time and work effectively in your business, then download a copy of our guide “How to organise your workload so there’s more time for you“. This guide is packed full of time management tips as well as 10 online tools to help you work more productively. Click on the link to download the guide >> How to organise your workload
 

How to Flag an Email in Outlook

How to, Time management, videos0 comments

If you’re sent an email message that requires some kind of action on your part, then you’ll want to flag that email to remind yourself to complete it.

Now you can do that by creating a separate task if you want to but it’s far easier to use the flag function on Outlook.  This enables you to add a reminder to the email itself so you can refer back to the message and the actions you need to take.

Here are the steps that you need to flag an email in Outlook.

• Go to the inbox or appropriate email folder and you’ll see on the far right hand side, a column with the flag symbol next to each email message.
• To flag a message, just click on the flag symbol next to the appropriate email.  You’ll now see that the symbol is highlighted in red.
• To add a reminder date, right hand click on the flag symbol and select either one of the preset options or click on the Add reminder link to set a specific date and time.
• The email is now automatically added to your task list and you can view it by clicking on Tasks in the left-hand sidebar. Like other tasks, a reminder will pop up on the due date and time.
• An alarm bell symbol will also appear next to the email message to show you that a reminder has been added.
• Once the task has been completed, you can right hand click on the flag symbol and select either the Mark Complete or Clear Flag option.

Adding reminders to your emails is a great way to keep track of actions that you need to take on email messages that you receive.  By doing this, you will be aware of upcoming deadlines so you can plan your workload more effectively.
 

If you want to get more tips on how to manage your time and work effectively in your business, then download a copy of our guide “How to organise your workload so there’s more time for you“. This guide is packed full of time management tips as well as 10 online tools to help you work more productively. Click on the link to download the guide >> How to organise your workload
 

Having a Vision for Your Business

Time management0 comments

It’s great having an action plan for your business with goals and deadlines for each project, but how often do we stick to it?  Very often we get all ambitious about what we’re going to achieve and have one of those “I’ll change the world moments”.  Then a few weeks down the line, we have lost that enthusiasm and find ourselves sidetracked on to other projects.

So how can we stay aligned and focused on our important goals?

Well one way that I’ve found is to start off by having a vision for your business and then set goals and tasks around it.

For example I set my vision for this year as “stepping into the spotlight”, ie to raise my profile and reach a wider audience.

Once I’d got this vision, I set goals around it such as to do more public speaking, run workshops, webinars etc.  Then I set out the tasks and steps that I needed to take to reach these goals, eg explore speaking opportunities, write content for workshop/webinar etc.

By doing this, not only do you stay focused on your important projects, you also keep in mind the bigger picture of where you want to go and why you’re taking these actions. And because you have this clarity about where you’re going, it makes it easier to say no to other projects you get asked to be involved in which aren’t aligned with your own goals.

I would recommend that you only have 1-2 overall big ideas for the year and then set 5-6 key goals for each of them.  This stops you getting overwhelmed with a long to do list.

Once you know what you’re aiming for, you can create this as a vision board, mind map or just write it out as a to do list – whatever resonates with you.  Then put it up somewhere you can see it every day to remind you of where you want to be and what you need to do to get there.  Having a vision for your business also helps to keep you motivated if you’re ever feeling stuck on a project or feel that you’re not moving as fast as you would like.

Do you have a vision for your business? If so, let us know in the comment box below!