Recently we covered for you 6 Time-Management Secrets for your home business. Everyone has experienced the frenzy of having too much to do and too little time to do it in. Sometimes our poor time management skills require us to run even faster on that crazy hamster wheel. But you went into business so that you could have more time for yourself. So how did you end working even more hours? Here again, is a rundown of the six time-saving tips to help you manage your business and recover your life.
1. TemplatizeCreate form letters, standard documents, and redundant text for typical, lengthy emails.
2. Plan DailyTake a few minutes every morning to review your schedule and plan your day.
3. Prioritize TasksWhen we don’t prioritize our tasks, we run the risk of putting a lot of effort into something that isn’t crucial.
4. Avoid ProcrastinationIt would be interesting to count up all the time wasted simply by procrastinating crucial tasks.
5. Become a Speed Reader It also helps us to keep abreast of information that is crucial to our success in the tax profession.
6. Log InterruptionsSo take a simple pad of paper and for one week note each interruption. Be sure to note the time, date, interrupter, and the subject of the interruption. Once you have the information you can evaluate it.
The Biggest Problem That Kills Businesses
Procrastination is one of the activities that business owners participate in that could potentially bring their whole business down. And for us who have a habit of putting things off to the very last moment we know, and probably have experienced the affects of our procrastination. A study was completed by the University of Buffalo that stated that estimates 90% of college students procrastinate. Of these students, 25% are chronic procrastinators and they are usually the ones who end up dropping out of college. Often those habits follow us into the business world and hobble us in what we would like to pursue or to accomplish.
Procrastination is the art of avoidance of doing a task which needs to be taken care of. More times than not, this activity leads to feelings of guilt, inadequacy, depression and self-doubt among those caught in the habit. Procrastination has a high potential for painful consequences in one’s personal life, but have even more disasterous consequences to one’s business.
Reasons given for procrastination –
- Fear of Failure – Many business owners have the hang-up of what if I do and fail, or that they don’t have the skills necessary for the tasks presenting themselves or that they are missing the boat altogether. Fear is a great motivator, but it also is a great paralyzer as well.
- Unrealistic Expectations for Perfectionism – Some procrastinate because they can’t give it, “ample time” to do it right. . Their thought processes follow the line of thinking that, “you haven’t done the best you possibly could do, so it’s not good enough to pass off.”
Difficulty Focusing – When you sit at your office desk you find yourself daydreaming, staring into space, looking at pictures etc., instead of doing the task at hand. You probably notice that all of the examples you can think of promote wasting time, which increases your frustration.- Fear and Anxiety – Along with the fear comes the anxiety. One can spend a great deal of time worrying about upcoming deadlines, research and projects, rather than completing them.
- Personal Problems – For example, financial difficulties, problems with family, health concerns, etc.
- Poor Time Management – Procrastination means not managing time wisely. You may be uncertain of your priorities, goals and objectives for the project you’ve undertaken. You may also be overwhelmed with the tasks facing you. As a result, you keep putting off what you need to accomplish for a later date.
How much time and energy do we spend worrying about one of those important to-do items? How often do we distract ourselves with silly things like straightening our desks or purchasing unneeded office supplies in order to delay unpleasant tasks? Take a deep breath and procrastinate no more. Here’s some things we can do to stop the vicious cycle of procrastination
- Identify self-defeating problems such as; fear and anxiety, difficulty concentrating, poor time management, indecisiveness and perfectionism.
- Once realized, write down your own professional goals, strengths and weaknesses, values and priorities.
- Compare your actions with the values you feel you have. Are your values consistent with your actions?
- Discipline yourself to use time wisely: Set priorities.
- Develop the mentality of doing the project and doing it right now. Times a’wastin’ and you need to get it done now!
- Gear yourself to the accomplishing of the projects that face you that day. Take the time to plan out your day in the morning, and estimate the time you’ll need to get the tasks completed. Reward yourself after you complete a task.
- Dwell on your past successes, and hopes to succeed in the near future. Break large assignments into small tasks. Keep a reminder schedule and checklist.
- Modify your environment: Eliminate or minimize the distractions that trigger your procrastination. Have necessary equipment at hand. Don’t waste time going back and forth to get things. Take a few minutes to straighten your desk. Whatever it may be, take away those triggers that get you into your old habits of putting things off.
Stop sabotaging your success! You can get it done Being more aware of how you’re spending your time is the first step in better managing it. And as a business owner, you’ll find yourself sweetly surprised at all the time you save for yourself in the end once you start managing your time so that it no longer manages you.
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