Whether you are just starting your business as a solopreneur or you have a team of people supporting you, your time is valuable. The more productive you can be with your business, the more time you will have for self-care, time with family and friends, and the other things in life that are important to keep you in balance.
Here are five tips you can use to more effectively manage your time today.
Tip#1: Assess Your Current Use of Time
Start by becoming aware of how you are spending your time – awareness is the first step towards making positive change. Be honest with yourself and track everything you do for 1-2 weeks and see how long it takes you to complete various tasks. This can help you notice areas where you may not be as productive as you would like (e.g., creating a social media post turns into a two-hour activity since you spent 60 minutes creating and 60 minutes scrolling).
Tip #2: Establish a Routine
Use what you learn from tip #1, without judgement, to create a list of tasks that need to get done each week, grouping together tasks that are similar. For instance, can you:
- prepare emails and social media posts within the same block of time, potentially even repurposing content to reduce overall creation time;
- have dedicated hours for responding to client emails;
- batch create content for your business
There will likely be some tasks that you prefer less than others, which are equally as important for your business as those you enjoy. Prioritize your tasks based on categories such as (Urgent, Required, If Time, etc.) so that you always know what needs to be done first.
When you focus on getting the urgent things done first, you will feel more at ease for your creative “if there is time” projects/tasks.
Tip #3: Set Time Limits & Build in Breaks
Allocate a certain amount of time to a task and set a timer so that you stick to it. If you need more time at the end, carefully assess how this use of time will affect your to do list for the week. Be sure to build in mindful breaks so that you don’t burn out and continue to refresh your creative energy.
Tip #4: Do One Thing at a Time
Studies show that it is not possible to do more than one thing at a time. While we think we are multi-tasking, what we are actually doing is switching focus from one task to the next, not giving anything our full attention, and often taking longer to get things done.
Start with one item on your list and focus on that until it is completed. Take breaks as needed. If you find yourself in a writer’s block type scenario, switch to another task and come back to the initial one when you are ready.
By keeping your focus on one thing at a time you will more easily find a sense of flow in your work day and in the long run you will be more productive.
Tip #5: Eliminate Distractions, where possible
We live in a world where we are constantly stimulated and distractions can be a huge strain on your overall productivity. The best way to handle this is to eliminate them.
- Put your phone on silent/away from your work space
- Close all your other web browsers when working on a particular task
- Let others know that you are working on something important (you may even want to use a door sign such as “do not disturb” or “creation in progress” to indicate this)
- Meditate before you start to help ease your body and mind and prepare for a productive day
About Danielle
Danielle D’Souza is a yoga and meditation teacher focused on helping women bring more self-love into their life through movement, meditation, and mindfulness. She is the host of Release and Restore – Guided Meditations and also recently launched Awaken to Self-Love a Facebook community for women on the journey to self-love. You can find out more about Danielle and her company Yes and Yoga by visiting her website www.yesandyoga.com
Looking for guest contributor opportunities? Please email me at: catherine@catherinenikkel.com with a brief introduction to who you are and, how your topic of expertise relates to Mindful Media.
