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With many of us being solo business owners, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the mountain of work always at our feet. Using time wisely and effectively is huge when accomplishing our goals, while avoiding burnout. In this post, we are going to look at 5 tips to help you use your time effectively when running your solo business.
Make A Priority-Focused To Do List
We’ve all been there. You sit down with lofty goals of accomplishing everything and load up your to-do list. Then the end of the day rolls around, and you look at your list to find most of it incomplete. This can leave you feeling defeated.
With to do lists, less is often more. Reserve your to do list for priority items. These are the things that are the most important to you. You can re-evaluate your to do list throughout the day and add new goals if you feel like you are ahead of schedule. The key here is to maximize completed tasks at the end of the day which will provide a sense of accomplishment and a psychological boost.
Avoid multi-tasking when possible
While it may feel like you are getting more done when you take on multiple tasks at once, you are just spreading out those tasks over a longer period. Your brain can only focus effectively on one of those tasks at any given moment. Instead of bouncing from task to task, focus on seeing one task to completion before moving on to the next task.
Expect Distractions
Being distracted is human nature and can’t be avoided entirely. Managing things that can lead to distractions can help you avoid them from coming up when you are focusing on your most important tasks.
One good way to help minimize distractions is to provide yourself time through the day to be distracted. How this is set-up is up to your and your personality. If you respond best to being rewarded, one option would be to give yourself a few mins after you complete a task to browse the internet or look at your phone.
Even with a plan in place, expect to get distracted throughout the day, and don’t let it derail you. Acknowledge the distraction, set it aside if you can, and move on.
Recognize Your Most Productive Times
Are you most motivated to be productive as soon as you wake up? Grab your cup of coffee and seize the moment. Maybe you are a night owl and find that you can crank through your to-do list with ease after the family has gone to bed. Regardless of the time, take a step back and take note of when you are the most effective.
We know everyone’s schedule is different and not everyone has the availability to work random hours of the day. If you find your most productive time of the day is a time that just doesn’t work with your life don’t get discouraged. Even if you only have a few minutes during that time, look at your to do list and see if there is a small task you can cross off. Small progress is still progress.
Break Bigger Tasks into Smaller Accomplishments
When looking at the tasks on your to do list, think about how each task might be broken down into smaller tasks. For example, if your to do list looks like this:
- Clean office
- Make 5 Wall Art Pieces for Etsy
- Ship Orders
It might be easier to tackle if you broke it down like this:
- Clean Office
- Clean desk
- Clean workbench
- Sweep floor
- Make 5 Wall Art Pieces for Etsy
- Cut all pieces for wall art
- Assemble Wall Art
- Photograph Wall Art
- Create Etsy Listing
- Ship Orders
- Print shipping labels
- Pack orders
- Take packages to shipping carrier
While the second list may look bigger, it is composed of more easily accomplishable parts of each overall task allowing you to get the productivity-boosting satisfaction of crossing more completed items off your list.
Good Habits Take Time
If your attempts to better manage your use of time don’t take hold right away, don’t be too hard on yourself. Effecting change takes time and little wins every day can build over time to some real accomplishments.
Do you have any tips for time management and productivity? Share them over in the eRank Facebook group.