Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount you need to do? Ever cried, “I don’t have enough time” or “there’s not enough hours in the day”? It’s a common feeling amongst business owners, leaders and entrepreneurs.
You can’t manage time – there’s a set number of hours in a day and that won’t change – but you can manage yourself and your workload. You can improve your time management skills to achieve the important stuff. In this blog, we’ll equip you with tools and time management tips to set you up for success.
Believe it or not, you can create a business that works without you. You can have time to yourself and a life beyond work. You don’t have to work every evening and weekend. Here’s how.
What are the Benefits of Effective Time Management?
It’s all about taking control so the critical tasks get done and you achieve a better work/ life balance. Spoiler alert – you don’t have to do it all! Here’s why better time management is a good thing.
Better Performance
You’ll gain clarity on the specific tasks that you must do, rather than feel overwhelmed by the mass of activity that could be done. Then you’ll work better on those few critical tasks. And when you’re realistic about the amount of time you need to spend on a project, you tend to get a better quality outcome. Those essays you wrote at 2am before a deadline probably weren’t your best and the same applies to work.
Better Health and Wellbeing
By prioritising tasks and giving yourself enough time to do them, you can reduce stress levels. Remove the panic and rush to reach a deadline and life feels easier.
You’ll feel better about your work when you know that you’ve done it well. That sense of achievement when you’ve accomplished tasks, or risen to the challenge of taking on new responsibilities, is a good feeling.
Better Quality of Life
Imagine leaving work on time having achieved what you needed to. It feels great! Plus, you’ll have the time to do stuff you love – play sport, spend time with your family, walk the dog, whatever floats your boat.
Professional Development
Better time management allows you to allocate time to professional development. Gain new skills to progress in your role, increase confidence and enhance your career toolkit. Investing in yourself and/ or your team can reap real rewards.
What are the 4 Ds of Time Management?
We’ve looked at how you benefit from better time management. Now we’ll explain how you do it. The 4 Ds of productivity will help you to decide how best to spend your time.
1. Do – power through tasks that you can complete quickly. Things like responding to emails or calls, or preparing handouts for a meeting can get done pretty easily. You’ll feel a sense of achievement when you’ve done them and it’ll warm you up for tackling bigger tasks.
2. Defer – if it doesn’t need to be done immediately, leave it for another time. Schedule in time to focus on it later. In particular, this applies to new ideas and requests.
3. Delegate – this may come as a shock to some leaders, but you don’t have to do everything yourself. Pass on tasks that can be done better or more efficiently by someone else.
4. Delete – if a task’s been on your to-do list for months without being worked on, bin it. It’s surprisingly liberating and you’ll free up headspace and time for more important tasks.
Of all these elements, the importance of delegation can’t be under-estimated. It’s an absolute game-changer for regaining hours in your day. It’s also the aspect that many business owners struggle with the most. If you’ve heard yourself say, “It’s easier to do it myself,” then you know.
Top tip: I’m a big fan of using a time management diary. It helps you to visualise what you absolutely need to do and the time it’ll take.
How can you delegate tasks effectively?
CEOs who excel at delegation achieve an impressive 33% increase in revenue, according to Gallup research. These leaders recognise that they can’t, and shouldn’t, do it all themselves. They see delegation as a necessary and effective time management tool.
In order to get the desired outcome from delegation, you need to understand the tasks to be done and the capabilities of your team members. There may be some obvious tasks to match to a team member’s skillset. Maybe a marketing assistant could do your social media posts and reply to LinkedIn comments or produce your Microsoft Powerpoint presentations. Perhaps there’s bookkeeping or admin tasks that could be outsourced. Look for those opportunities.
Effective delegation not only frees up your time to focus on high value tasks, it also empowers team members. Being given additional responsibilities can result in a higher level of commitment to their work. Encouraging teamwork like this has many benefits. It can generate powerful new ideas and diverse ways of thinking that can inform your decision-making process.
The delegation process can take time. You may need to train and develop employees in new skills (hard or soft skills). They’ll need mentoring and you’ll have to monitor progress and provide advice and support without micromanaging. Don’t let this investment in time initially put you off as you’ll reap long term benefits from effective delegation.
Key delegation skills to remember:
Clear communication – be specific when you explain what you need the person to do
Set realistic expectations – explain the goals and how they’ll be measured
Provide clear instructions – make sure the team member understands each step
Regular check ins – don’t leave them to flounder, follow up with support and mentoring.
Top tip: watch out for the most common time management mistakes
Case study
“I started working with Phil in 2019 and he has been instrumental in helping Cain & Beer. There are many areas that he has helped with including developing a sales and marketing strategy, internal processes that have helped with recruitment and outsourcing. These changes have enabled me to spend more time on the business rather than in it. I now work a lot smarter and I’m actually able to take weekends!! If you’re looking to grow your business then you should look no further than Phil Chantry.” Paul Cain, owner Cain & Beer Accountancy.
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Make time to master effective time management
Don’t procrastinate or put off tackling your time management issues. Investing time in the delegation process and identifying the most important tasks to work on can radically change your work life.
If you want to get better at time management or would like someone to keep you on track, contact Phil Chantry for a free consultation session now
