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Busy Entrepreneurs and the Time Management Tips They Use (Pt.1)
Effective time management is important for anyone but it's absolutely crucial for entrepreneurs.
Because entrepreneurs are ultimately responsible for every aspect of their business, allocating the right amount of time to the right tasks is critical to keeping your business running smoothly.
1. Take Advanatge of Just-in-Time Learning
Pat Flynn www.smartpassiveincome.com
"Just-in-time-learning" changed everything for me. That is, I only consume content related directly to the next task I have in the current project I'm working on. Blog posts, podcast episodes, videos—they must help me with completing that next task on my priority list, or else it doesn't deserve my attention...at this moment.
FOMO (fear of missing out) does make this hard though, because there's so much great stuff out there we don't want to miss, however if you're smart about it and as you come across interesting and potentially helpful content you put it aside into a tool such as Evernote for easy access later, it can truly change how much you get done versus how much you learn.
Just think of all the content you're consuming—are you actually putting 100% of that into action, or are you wasting time learning things you don't need to know right now?
2. Prioritize and Delegate
Elizabeth Grace
Know your personal and professional priorities and plan your priorities in your calendar. Everything else needs to fit around them or be dropped.
Get a great assistant you can delegate scheduling and other routine activities to. This person can be one of your biggest productivity boosters and stress reducers.
3. Just Start
Craig Jarrow
Just Start
Most entrepreneurs never really start.
And most business ideas end before they ever truly begin.
Stop waiting for the perfect time…. there isn’t one.
Stop waiting for the perfect product… launch with a minimal one.
Stop waiting for someday… it will never come.
You can’t finish… if you never start.
5. Use a Notecard System
Gregory Ciotti
To better spend your time, start by understanding where your time is spent. There are great tools out there to track time, but in all honesty, I prefer to keep it lightweight—Marc Andreessen's notecard system has always worked for me.
If you haven't come across it before, it involves a simple 3x5 notecard, which you use to keep track of your main to-do's from the day. On the back of the card, you're supposed to write things you got done that you didn't initially plan to get done the night before—the workday always likes to sneak in plenty of extras.
By looking at your 3x5 card at the end of the day, you'll see what you prioritized (and if you got it done) and what work was added to your plate. Extra work is fine, but if you're not clearing off your main tasks day-after-day, something is wrong. That's my simple litmus test.