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It is reported that 82% of businesspeople do not have a time management system. Most people just do their work as and when they get it, with no sense of priority or time management. This can be a really damaging way to approach the workday, especially as time is the most important commodity in any business. This is particularly true for new businesses, where there is so much to do and seemingly no time to do it.
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As a new business owner, you may feel as if you, ironically, do not have the time to learn how to manage your time. But creating an efficient and workable time management system for yourself, your colleagues, and your employees will help your new business work more efficiently and productively toward its goals. Below is a list of tips for time management for new startup founders.
Create and Maintain a Calendar for Better Time Management
A key method for managing your time better is to mark it. That is why most successful business owners use a calendar to thoroughly plot out their day. Using a calendar allows you to keep track of meetings, plan out how much time you need to spend on certain tasks, and keep an eye on deadlines.
By using a calendar, you can more easily prioritize and de-prioritize certain tasks. Have a meeting you need to prepare for? Create a block of time in your calendar to do so.
While calendars should be flexible enough to accommodate the changing needs of any new businesses, they can also be helpful in establishing routines. For example, creating a workable and consistent morning routine can make any person more disciplined with their time. This is a quality that is particularly necessary when running a business.
Delegate More Effectively
If you are a business owner, your workload will no doubt be enormous. This can result in a lot of pressure, even if you are particularly efficient and well-versed in individual time management skills. An important skill to learn, in managing your time, is how and when to delegate tasks.
Delegating tasks can result in a feeling of failure or inadequacy because you feel you are unequipped to take everything on. But it shouldn’t. In fact, delegating tasks is vital in efficiently and correctly managing your time. You can’t do it all, and you shouldn’t have to.
As well as delegating, business owners should learn how and when to say no to certain tasks. If the task can be completed by a colleague or employee who has the time to do so, then it should be given to them.
Delegating tasks is a good way to free up your time for more pressing work and save your money, too. The work that you give to employees can be a good professional development for them.
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Focus on the One Task in Front of You
In this digital age, studies show that distraction in the workplace is at an all-time high. Since you are never far from your phone, you are never far from our emails or messages from colleagues or employees. This can result in feeling as if you are being pulled in a hundred different directions at once.
This can be incredibly damaging for your productivity and sense of time management. You end up doing one task while thinking about all of the others. You lend your time to so many tasks that you end up not adequately focusing on any of them.
It is therefore vital to learn how to approach your work one task at a time. If you do, you will manage your time more effectively. You will give 100% of your focus to that task, meaning that it is done more quickly, efficiently, and correctly.
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