Automate And Delegate To Improve Your Time Management
"I need more time."
"I wish there were more hours in the day."
Do these sound familiar? As entrepreneurs and business people, we are all challenged with making the most of the time we have each day because many of us don't have someone managing our time for us and telling us what to do. We are on our own to manage our time well, and it comes easier to some of us than others.
We want to put forth our best effort, but the day-to-day duties that keep our business running can often make us feel like we are constantly doing menial tasks and never making REAL progress.
If you find yourself struggling to use your time more wisely, then keep reading to find a few simple tips for learning how to sharpen your time management skills.
1. Ask yourself: “What’s the best use of my time?”
If you’ve started your business from the ground up, you’ve probably carried out every job possible, from scrubbing the toilets to balancing your P&L. As your business has grown, however, you may still find yourself doing the tasks that may no longer suit your long-term goals. You need to ask yourself, “What’s the best use of my time?”
The hard part is, only you can answer! Sure, some duties may be obvious (ahem, it’s probably time to hire that nightly cleaning crew!), but others may not be. Take time to reflect on how your business needs your unique skills to be successful, and how you want to spend your time.
After you’ve decided, ask yourself the next question...
2. Ask yourself: “Why do I have to control this?”
Our businesses are our babies, but even babies grow up and can start doing things on their own. Take inventory and decide if someone else can take care of some of the things that have been sucking your time.
Are you taking on tasks because you’ve always done them? Do you worry someone else won’t be able to do the job as well? Are you tired up doing tasks that you actually don’t like?
What is the worst possible thing that can happen if you decide to delegate your task to someone else?
Once you've answered these questions, then take the next step and...
3. Decide to remove, automate or delegate
Now’s the time to streamline your process for everything. Sit down and decide what you can put into a system. Also, check to see if certain tasks are even necessary anymore! It may be time to let things go completely!
Maybe you can even automate some of your less-thrilling jobs! Set up auto-pay on bills and shipments, shift to online merchants––anything that makes your job run smoother is worth it!
Perhaps the simplest option is to just hand the task off to someone else––and that’s ok! The best part about being an entrepreneur is creating your own opportunities to do work that you love. There are things about your job that you may not like––but other people do! Allow others to come alongside you and take on those things that are in their wheelhouse.
It’s important to remember that you do have control over your business and that you don't have to do everything yourself. Schedule times at least once a quarter to review everything and see what changes you can make to your time management to make things more efficient.
Time management is often an obstacle to success. To learn what YOUR obstacle to success might be, take my quiz: What Is Holding You Back From Success?
Then, learn more about my coaching services by clicking here and check out the Highest Potential Planner to get a handle on your time management.
