Time Management Tips Part One

Posted under: Time Management by Todd


In today’s “Ask Todd” series I’m answering a problem that MANY of you are facing - Time and Time Management. When I asked “what is your biggest business challenge?” an overwhelming amount responded that they DON’T have the time to start their business.

So, Ive decided to dedicate the next several posts to finding the time in your life to make your business work. Below you will see some general tips and over the next few days I will be launching specific tips designed to help you find the time in your life to change your life! Enjoy!

One of the most difficult aspects of running your own business is the time it takes to do it. When you have a family as well as a business, this can mean that time is also taken away from the ones you love. Sometimes it seems to be a double-edged sword. If you spend too much time with your business and not enough with your family, the most important relationships in your life can suffer. But if you spend too much time with your family and not enough on your business, the success of your company can be in jeopardy. And, since your business is likely your main source of income, its success can determine the well being of your family. Is there really a way to balance out business and family time so that neither is pushed aside for the sake of the other? As a matter of fact, there are several ways, and it doesn’t take a superhero to manage any of them. All it takes is some patience, a little savvy scheduling and a lot of willpower. In fact, if you have the time to read the following tips, then you have the time to do them!

Tip #1: Schedule every minute of your day. Well, maybe not every minute. You don’t need to set aside one minute for chewing and 30 seconds for swallowing, but do schedule the time you’ll spend on business-related activities and family-related activities. Part of the reason we have a difficult time balancing work time and family time is that our activities are so jumbled in our minds that we can’t begin to schedule time for each of them. If you actually sit down every night or every morning and write out a schedule on how much time you plan to spend with each and every activity, from calling a client to helping your kids with homework, you’ll be more able to organize and manage time for everything.




Tip #2: Know it’s OK to say no. If something doesn’t fit into your schedule and impedes on another activity you’ve already planned, just say “no.” Say, for instance, a client calls at 6:00 in the evening and pleads with you to have a teleconference with him at 7:00, but your son’s basketball game starts at the same time. It’s really OK to tell your client, “I would love to be able to help you, but I have a very important event to attend tonight.” Or perhaps your daughter rushes into your office and begs you to take her to the mall, but you’ve already scheduled yourself to work on a project for the next two hours. It’s fine to tell her, “Honey, I know this is important to you, but I really need to work on this project right now. Can you get one of your friend’s parents to take you?” In fact, showing her your actual written schedule may help her to understand and teach her a little time management of her own.




Tip #3: Take a day off from work at least once a month. Remember when you were working for someone else and you would tell yourself, “I wish I had my own business. Then I could take a day off whenever I wanted.” Well? What are you waiting for? Chances are, you’ve been working more days with your own business than you were when you were employed by someone else. If you don’t take the weekends off from your business, make sure you take at least one day a week for no work and all play. Then, on top of that, schedule one day per month for a mini vacation. For one day, do no work whatsoever and spend all day with your family. That means no computer (unless you’re helping your kids with homework or playing games), no business phone, no fax, no meetings, and no paperwork for one entire day. In fact, leave the cell phone and the laptop at home and take your family to the beach, the park, the movies or wherever they want to go!




Tip #4: Take a day off from your family at least once a month. This actually means taking a day off from your business and your family. It means taking one day to spend with yourself and only yourself at least once a month. Come on, don’t feel selfish. It’s only one day a month — that’s only 12 days a year, less time than a lot of people get for vacation annually. Tell your family, your clients and everyone else that you’ll be out of pocket for a day. Then leave all electronic communication devices and all family members at home (or even just in another room!) and be alone for a while. Take a road trip, sit by the pool, go to a museum, exercise, take yourself out for dinner — just do something that makes you happy and that you would never be able to do without this one day off. This may seem impossible when you have 10 projects due by next week and a newborn baby at home, but one day isn’t going to keep a project from getting done and just about anyone can find a babysitter for only 24 hours! If you still feel a little selfish, consider this: If you’re so tired and worn out that your mental and physical health are in danger, what good does that do your business or your family? Both will suffer in the end. Taking care of yourself first once in a while is the only way to ensure that you’ll be able to take care of everyone else the rest of the time.




Tip #5: Use your family for cheap labor. There are incredible benefits to getting your family involved with your business, and they aren’t restricted to time management benefits, either. It may take some coaxing, but if you can get your spouse to help you balance the books, your son to help you pack boxes for shipping and your daughter to help you lick envelopes, you’ll manage to spend quality time with your family while spending time at work. They may not seem too happy about it at first, but they will most likely realize the benefits themselves when they see how much more time they were able to spend with you while they were helping. If you do enlist your children’s assistance, you can use the opportunity to teach them to have a good work ethic. Pay them a little something for their time and let them experience the satisfaction of earning their own money. This is especially beneficial for younger children who couldn’t have a job outside of your home. And when they are helping you, don’t be critical of them. If your son isn’t packing the boxes correctly, just calmly show him how to do it. Don’t get frustrated with him or neither one of you will find your time together worthwhile. This should be a time to lighten your workload and brighten each other’s day.

Tip #6: Become a master of compromise. If you learn how to successfully make deals with your family and clients, you’ll find how simple it is to balance your time between both of them. Many times, we let the stress of running a home business and running a family get us frustrated and moody. This can lead to snapping at people when they demand time from us. Calmly compromising with them instead will allow you to get your immediate priorities met while they leave satisfied with the deal. If a client gives you a week to complete a project, yet she contacts you two days prior to the due date saying she needs it right away, don’t let your frustration show in your voice or your words. Say something like, “Well, this will definitely be a time crunch. I’ll tell you what, why don’t I give you what I have already completed now and then I’ll work tonight and tomorrow on the rest. I’m very sorry, but I expected to have two more days to complete this project. I simply don’t have it done yet.” Or, if your husband insists that you spend Saturday helping him in the yard, but you know you have a huge project due Monday morning, compromise with him by promising to help him with something else another time. Say, “I know you’ve been working hard all week, too, sweetheart. I really wish I could help you with the yard, but this client is firm about my getting his project done by Monday. How about if I cook you your favorite dinner Saturday night and then I’ll leave plenty of time next weekend to help you with whatever you choose?” That’s incredibly more effective than saying something like, “Don’t you realize all of the work I have to get done this weekend?! How can you be so selfish?!” Showing your frustration and using negative, abrasive words will only anger the other person and could result in your losing a client or getting a record making silent treatment from a family member.


Conclusion


I’ve started this time management series with a few general tips. Some of them may apply to your situation and others may not. But, keep with me because I plan to hit this topic from MANY angles and I know one or more will be applicable to your situation.



Todd@Biz4anyone.com

Work At Home MLM Lead Generation