How to manage your time effectively as an entrepreneur.

Business Time. Management concept with clock

It’s a myth that entrepreneurs have a lot of time in their hands because they are their own bosses. Entrepreneurs never have enough time to do all that they need to do everyday, especially when they had just started their businesses. Juggling between raising funds and finding good employees can really be challenging, hence one needs to know how to effectively manage their time.

Time management is critical in everything in life, even in business. Your long-term success in entrepreneurship is determined by the way you manage your time. Business owners turn to have so many decisions to make and are expected to be innovative and stay in the game. All of that can really be overwhelming. Hence the need to learn the technique of managing your time.

Why is time management important? Firstly, it’s a determining factor for your overall productivity. The better you manage your time, the more productive you become. Secondly, it bears a massive impact on your psychological disposition. The worse you are at time management, the more stress you’ll experience, and the more easily exhausted you’ll be in your position.

So, business owner, here are 5 techniques you can use to better manage your time:

1. Draw the line.
Part of being an effective time manager is knowing what to do and when to do it. You must know when to “cool down” and have a firm “go home” time. This line will keep you refreshed, mitigating the risk of burnout, and will help you focus on the work that needs to be done. We know entrepreneurs are passionate about their work, so it’s tempting to take on as much work as possible. However, if you do this at the expense of your personal life, it could have dire consequences for your mental and physical health.

2. Take breaks.

A recent study suggests that working for 52 minutes and breaking for 17 is the optimal pattern for productivity. As ridiculous as it sounds, it is a fact that taking breaks will actually help you stay more productive.

3. Choose efficient modes of communication.

You don’t need to call an hour-long meeting every time you have an update.  Emails are instant, written and permanent, and can be executed much faster than a phone call. Try and communicate as concise as possible, and you could save yourself hours a day.

4. Delegate.

There is nothing wrong with delegating. Most new entrepreneurs see their businesses as their baby, and they’re intimidated to let anyone else take control. As a result, they take on a lot of tasks they otherwise wouldn’t and end up overloaded. Save yourself a lot of time and be an effective ‘delegator’.

5. Focus on one thing at a time.

Multitasking is good, but can be distracting. Do not attempt to multitask, and let yourself get distracted by items that have newly arisen. Instead, focus on one item at a time, and don’t stray from it until it’s complete.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:09+02:00March 10th, 2016|Entrepreneurship|0 Comments

Looking back to plan forward Part 3

GoalsThis week we will take a short journey through a series of exercises that we use to cement the leanings from the past year and prepare for the quantum leap into 2016.

Today we will begin to look ahead to 2016 and put pen to paper on what your BHAGs and WIGs are. Let’s start with goal setting, this is preached at every business and personal development and time management seminar you will ever go to and for good reason.

Setting Goals do actually work. Simply by writing out your goals and sharing them with other people, you have already done up to 40% of the work towards achieving them. So get going. Set some goals for 2016. We are encouraged by John Maxwell to set BHAG, Big Hairy Audacious Goals. These are goals bigger than ourselves, a little larger than we would be comfortable with and just out of reach of our normal way of operation.

What this does to us is causes us to grow in ourselves and learn to rely on others to achieve them. Both are not so bad things. We are also told by Covey to set and keep a list of WIG’s, Wildy Important Goals. These are the top 3 to 5 goals that we spend 80% of our time on each day. We read them when we get up and re read them before we go to bed, they are top of mind at all times.

So what are your goals for 2016? Write out a list of 20 main objectives for the new year. Remember to include some of the following categories: Finance, Business, Personal Development, Family, Fun Time, Product Research, Networking and Holidays. Have fun with this and allow your mind to dream a bit. If your list scares you a little you have done it right. Now select your top 5 WIGS and circle them in red. Job done.

By |2016-11-01T10:20:17+02:00November 19th, 2015|Business Resources|0 Comments

EI launches Lunch ‘n Learn

 

EI launches Lunch ‘n Learn

Business people and other interested stakeholders showed massive interest as they tucked into the EI’s newly-launched Lunch ‘n Learn programme.

The EI’s Lunch ‘n Learn programme, which kicked off with a bang on Wednesday, May 6, 2015, would see weekly one hour sessions dedicated for business people or any interested person to spend their lunch hour learning, networking and sharing business ideas. 

Each week there will be a speaker sharing ideas on different topics that are aimed at empowering and instilling knowledge that would help in improving the attendees’ businesses.

During the maiden session of Lunch ‘n Learn, the EI’s Bruce Wade shared on Time Management for Entrepreneurs, which provided valuable lessons not only for entrepreneurs but for professionals in general.

In his presentation, Bruce touched on the “Time Wasters”, which are the little things that become ‘time thieves’. He explained that in order to manage time properly, people needed to be aware of those things.

Some of the “Time Wasters” could be the internet, social media, e-mails and bad habits. He said it was important for one to identify, schedule or eliminate them.

Bruce Wade giving a presentation at the first session of Lunch 'n Learn

He further elaborated as follows on some of the techniques one can use in order to improve on time management as an entrepreneur, which he termed the 4Ds:

Do it now – If you do not do tasks immediately, you may forget to them later;

Delegate to someone else – We always have people around us who can help us. Give the tasks that you cannot do to them;

Diarise it for later – If it is not urgent, put it in the diary for later and focus on the urgent tasks first; and

Dump it in the bin – If it is not important or urgent, do not waste time on it, and dump it.

The first-ever Lunch ‘n Learn session set the bar quite high and if it is to be used as a yardstick, then upcoming events are expected to be even more insightful.

 

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By |2016-11-01T10:20:25+02:00May 7th, 2015|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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