Time Management for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are constantly striving to be as efficient and effective as possible with their time. Many keynote speakers and small business coaches discuss time management. Regrettably, time management is a myth. Time is unmanageable. Second by second, hour by hour, it ticks away. It is never under your control, and you can never get it back.

What you can control and manage are your tasks. Life is busy. Business is busy. Entrepreneurs are notoriously famous for taking on too much and then beating themselves up when it all does not get completed. When, where and how you complete tasks as well as understanding why this is important will turn you into a entrepreneurial task management rockstar. Here are a few things I have implemented into my life and business to improve my task management.

  • What’s important now?  This is a question I frequently ask myself and others.  In a meeting, a phone call, a sales call, a morning leadership session, I ask, what constitutes success for right now?  I was guilty for a long time of entering an engagement such as a company meeting and trying to cover what was important three months from now while ignoring what was important for that meeting that ended in 30 minutes. Are you trying to cover too much?
  • What makes it crucial now? Once you’ve decided what is crucial right now, why, you might ask? What motivates completion and consideration of what success entails? The ability to filter tasks and rank them according to importance depends on your understanding of why you are doing what you are doing and when it is important.
  • Instead of a task list, schedule your tasks.  I recently got into the habit of scheduling my tasks just like they were appointments.  A growing list of tasks always overwhelms me as well as many other entrepreneurs that I coach and speak with.  Once I started scheduling my tasks, I felt a strong sense of control of my time, and was no longer overwhelmed in business.

What matters most right now in your company? not tomorrow or next week, but right now? Why is it significant? Will it result in earnings and revenue? Can it foster culture? When are you finishing these assignments? Do you have a schedule or do you feel overburdened by a task list? Weekly caffeine with me is available by clicking on the coffee cup. I publish a weekly newsletter filled with useful advice to motivate and ignite business owners to own and run their companies to the highest standards.

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