Somehow, it’s 11 pm, and you’re locked in your office working on some tasks you started in the morning and didn’t manage to complete until now. You’re stressed that your to-do list is piling up, and you’re past due to some of your deadlines.
And you cannot stop but wonder how you can manage your time better to keep your company afloat and supervise your staff? How can you avoid feeling overloaded? Time management is your resolution for the new year because running a company is time-consuming, and you need to achieve a work-personal time balance to make your venture grow. The first step in managing your time better is identifying and rectifying the errors that could sink your company and lead your life to chaos.
Keep reading to learn how you can master entrepreneurship without breaking a sweat. Here are the mistakes that haunt your daily activities and keep you in the office until late at night.
Image source unsplash.com/photos/iJg1YzsEfqo
You keep falling into the time management trap
Time management strategies promise you to feel less stressed and overwhelmed if you work more efficiently. Specialists often compare time management with digging a hole at the beach; the larger you make it, the more water fills it. Your daily work program implies handling projects, committing to exhausting meetings, and assisting your staff with their tasks. So, if you manage to organise your activities better, you could squeeze more in a workday.
Time management can help you if you learn to focus on productivity. You’re running a business in a time when burnout is running rampant, and you need to adapt time management strategies to eliminate volume.
How can you prevent falling into the time management trap?
It’s obvious that the first step is to reduce the volume of tasks you complete daily and use a time management system to merge your to-do list with your schedule. The second step is to replace decisions with principles because too many decisions can trigger cognitive overload. And last but not least, you need to minimise distractions and structure your program to your advantage. Block all the apps and websites that deter you from focusing on the tasks at hand.
You think everything is a top priority
Goal setting is crucial when trying to manage your time better because your goals give you a vision and destination to work toward. You can better manage your time, priorities, and resources when you know what you aim to do. Well-set goals help you decide what tasks are worth spending your time on and what just distract you from your purpose.
How can you achieve your goals?
- Take action now. You already know what your end goal is, so why wait for the perfect time when you can get the ball moving now.
- Consider our expertise and aptitudes and adjust your plans to match them. Break large tasks into manageable ones and find ways to accomplish each of them. Your expertise and talent can help you achieve your goals.
- Delegate tasks to your team and trust their skill sets to do it right.
- Develop a plan of action that you use as a roadmap to get to your goals.
You use the wrong methods and tools
All tools and equipment you use to work daily impacts your performance and results. Ergonomic chairs and desks and smart devices can help you work more productively. If you experience back pains when working at the office, consider switching to a desk with a sit-stand function that allows you to adjust its position according to your needs. Standing up can boost productivity and combat sedentarism, but you should also have the option to take a seat when you need a breather.
Besides comfortable and ergonomic office furniture, you should also consider using time management software that allows you to organise tasks and keep track of progress. Timesheet management is an investment for your business because it provides you with the needed tools to manage projects, track company profitability, and work with your team or business partners online.
You undervalue the time a task requires to complete
If you’re an overachiever, then you’re most likely guilty of this sin. You always have the misconception you can complete a task in a couple of minutes, and you end up spending hours. You never want to turn down opportunities, but you cannot calculate how much of your time they’ll take.
Is there something you can do to avoid falling into this trap?
If you know that a task takes an hour, schedule it on your calendar to know how much free time you have for handling something else. During the initial stages of scheduling, double the amount of time you think a task will take. As you progress completing them, you can adjust the time frames for each job.
Map out your workdays a day before to organise your work and prevent getting overwhelmed because you don’t know what to do first. The ten minutes you spend on planning tasks save you hours during execution.
You skip breaks because you try to squeeze more tasks into your workday
All entrepreneurs get it; you have millions of things to handle and not enough time in a day. So, you find it counterintuitive to take breaks when you have little time to complete everything. But work breaks are beneficial because they offer you the opportunity to resent mentally. When you take breaks from your daily schedule, you feel less stressed and have more energy to make it through your day.
Frequent breaks can prevent decision fatigue and restore your motivation. Successful entrepreneurs take microbreaks of 10 minutes after completing a task from their list.
Besides taking breaks, make time to meditate and exercise to relieve stress and boost creativity. Time management and stress management go hand in hand. To create a stress-free workplace for you and your employees and avoid toxic work ethics that affect your productivity.
Disclaimer: This content does not necessarily represent the views of IWB.