Time Management – Delegate, Prioritize, Focus

Time management is of vital importance if you want productivity in any type of business. Many entrepreneurs make the grave mistake of thinking that they can manage time just like they manage staff members. Here is what they fail to realize, sometimes a little bit too late: you can tell a worker what to do and at what time to get it done, but you cannot tell time to wait on you to start or complete any task. There are some steps or actions that you must take to ensure productivity.

1. Manage time spent on incoming calls
Get your gatekeepers involved in screening the calls that come to you. This way, if the person who answers the call can take care of the caller’s need, it would save you the time it would take to listen to the caller then delegating duty to someone else.

2. Avoid checking mails constantly
Just like you do for incoming calls, let someone else check your mails and pass on to you the ones that require your specific and immediate attention. Even then, you should ensure that responses are made according to priority. Use valuable time to successfully grow your business.

3. Create and manage your to-do list
You will see more personal and organizational productivity when you decide what goes on your to-do list, than try to manage time by prioritizing what is on that sometimes unorganized and unnecessary list. Delegate first, then make the list and stick with it. In this case, doing less is actually doing more.

4. Cut out meeting times
In the world of business, meetings are usually unnecessary and taxing. Productivity is decreased when people leave their assigned duties to meet face-to-face. However, if a meeting is scheduled and you have something to say, you can pre-record your comments or join the meeting via Skype if necessary. If you only want an update on the meeting details, you can assign someone to attend the meeting and jot down relevant information for you.

To have sustainable wealth and good physical and mental health, you have to stay focused and have a system that is designed to manage your time. Time management is effective delegating, staying focused and prioritizing.