Feeling busy?
Just about every small business owner I speak with or see or read their blog or whatever is busy.
It’s just a position where there are a lot of things to do and the real issue is there is always more to do.
In a position like that you’re really fighting to find ways to be more productive and to find more time in the day. But the Catch-22 of it all is that you’re busy doing things so there really isn’t even time to sit back and think about how you can make it better.
Because if you take time to do that you’ll get behind on your tasks that need to be done today. And it gets pushed back and back. You say you’ll do it at this time next week and more things come up and you have to push it off again.
If you’re struggling to find more time I have 3 hacks for you that should save you time. They have saved me time and they have saved time for others I know.
This can get your more time and it can even let you focus on other things.
1. Notifications
This is my biggest one and I’ve written about it before, but it fits perfectly in this post.
Smartphones are amazing. You have all the information in the world in the palm of your hand. It really is an incredible time to be alive, but one of the things I dislike about phones is the notification.
One of my favorite golfers is Fred Couples. He famously said that he didn’t like answering the phone because someone might be on the other line.
That’s how I feel about notifications.
I get afraid to look because their might be a task on the other line.
That’s not how all notifications work, but they also make your brain stop doing what you’re doing and you have to switch gears. I’ve read that switching gears can be good for you actually instead of doing the same thing over and over, but I think scheduling things as best you can is the way to go.
Get your tasks for the day. Work on them taking breaks and working on them on and off, but cut off the daily notifications like calls and emails. It really helps and saves time even if it’s just the time it takes to look at the notification. That time adds up.
2. Tasks You Don’t Need (Or Don’t Need To Do Yourself)
This one is surprising. There are things you don’t really need to be doing even as a business owner. It might not be required for your business.
I used to spend a lot of time with new inquiries for Ghost Blog Writers. That’s obviously something that still exists, but I looked at the process and figured out how to cut down the number of calls and emails.
Some of the communication just wasn’t necessary. I was overdoing things. It wasted time and it actually wasn’t helping at all.
So I cut that out and got more time. And the business became better. The process got better.
The next step beyond that is not doing something yourself. As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to think that we build the business and we know everything and need to do it all.
But that’s not the way to grow. You have to delegate at some point. So that means, in my case, fixing the inquiry process and then delegating it to someone that can do just as good of a job or better.
3. Customers You Don’t Need
This one might be a little controversial, but the 80/20 rule can apply here as well. Sometimes, depending on your business, a few customers could be taking up a lot of your time.
And if that’s the case you have to decide if you really need that customer. If not, it can really free up a lot of time if you decide to move on from them. It will probably be better for both parties.
As entrepreneurs, that’s a tough pill to swallow because we mostly want to pleas everybody and we want to think we can do everything for everybody. But it’s just not always possible.
Conclusion
The goal with this post is to find little things in life that are sucking the time out of your day. You might not even realize it, but little things can take up a lot of time. It’s almost like the 80/20 rule where the little things take up most of your time and you don’t even know it.
So hopefully the hacks above have at least got you thinking. Or maybe you’re jumping on the idea and already getting the ball rolling on saving more time.
That’s what I hope because if you make a few changes you’ll have more time, you’ll be more productive and you’ll be happier and healthier.