If you’re a small business owner, a freelancer, or anyone else who has full control over your time, you may have run straight into a common but devastating realization: It’s a lot harder to manage your time and projects when you don’t have someone breathing down your neck. So, how can you manage your day-to-day schedule in an effective manner?
As an entrepreneur, your time is subject to more crisis demands. There will be many things that require your immediate attention, including phone calls, meetings, emails, and in person business visits. However, this does not diminish the need to have a general system of organization for your time. Know when you’re going to start work each day, and start consistently at that time. While you may sometimes end up working beyond it, set a tentative end time for each day as well and try to stick to it. Burn out is no friend to a budding entrepreneur.
Beyond setting your “start” and “stop” times, you will want to divide your day into segments for when you intend to complete specific tasks. At the commencement of each business day, examine the tasks that you would like to have completed by the end of the day, and create a rough and flexible outline of how your time will be spent on that day.
To stick to this outline, you will also need to manage your distractions. Distractions come in many forms, including PDA notifications of new emails, notifications of social networking updates on your desktops, or people calling your office. Rather than allowing all of these distractions to constantly enter your mind, eliminate any unnecessary notifications, and set rules for what requires your personal attention. Notify employees as to when they should avoid trying to get your attention directly, and encourage them to use email or other non-disruptive methods of contact.
You aren’t obligated to keep your email inbox open all day long, respond to every voice mail you receive within minutes, or address every employee concern as soon as it comes up. Instead, set aside specific times for “batch processing,” where you organize and respond to all the notifications you’ve received in a specific medium. For your most commonly used notification systems, such as email, you’ll want to set at least two to three sessions throughout your day to process these items. For less important methods, such as social networking sites, you can get by with once a day or less.
Even with effective time management and organization, it’s possible for your anxiety and stress levels to go beyond your normal capabilities. To maximize your long term efficiency and avoid burnout, it’s a good idea to research stress management techniques. Everything from breathing exercises to stress balls to yoga can be helpful, and you will want to find the methods that work best for you.