Self-made doesn't mean you have to do it all by yourself. Naturally we want to save money and be the cook and the waiter in one person, or the designer, accountant, customer service rep at once. On top of that we may have families to take for and relationships we don't want to neglect. We can try to keep all balls in the air, but eventually we are deemed to fail. At best before that happens to you, you should pause for a moment and reconsider how you spend your time.
When it is obvious that you cannot to complete everything that comes along your way you should ask yourself what the best way is how you can utilize your time and energy today. I suggest sorting all things you want to accomplish in three different lists. The first list contains items that are absolutely vital to keep your business running. The second contains all things that go along with your long term goal. For example if you wanted to write a book and count on writing a chapter each day, this would be list two. Finally the third list contains all these tasks that are not absolutely necessary or you things you would do because they are either easy or nice to do. Prioritize list two and three. Then for the day complete all items on list one, half of the items on list 2 and finally one or two from list three. When you have completed these you can tackle to finish items on list two and then three. The point is that by finishing the most crucial items first you make sure your business keeps running and it'll probably give you a huge boost of accomplishment when you completed all these.
Another method would be creating one prioritized list for the week with all planned tasks on it. Start with working on the first five then reconsider the remaining ones. Something that may have come up you can add now and complete the next five items, and so forth. Checking off items is very satisfying, but checking off important items is a blast. It will give you the motivation to working on finishing all tasks through the week.
A very successful tactic is also creating sub-tasks, i.e. smaller junks of tasks. Let's say you had to complete a brochure for your business. Tasks one would be to brain storm what you information you want to include, task two to identify the different sections, then the color scheme, etc. Or you wanted to answer customer emails, make each sub-task a block of five customers. The reason for the success of this tactic is that you can see the progress, whereas before even though you had already answered half of your customers emails you still hadn't completed any task.
What also helps is to include tasks concerning your health and well being or with your family and friends in at times you would usually still be busy. Assuming you are usually starting early, add a task to have extended breakfast with the kids or relax in the park. Whatever you enjoy doing but think you shouldn't be doing it because other things are possibly more important, that make a high priority in your time management list. It is very important to also prioritize for body and soul, and relationships with family and friends. All these are very important, they help avoiding that we feel burned out and completing these "tasks" gives us back important energy to keep going.
In our minds we are often limitless in what we think we can achieve during a day. The amount of time something takes is usually only very roughly and way too optimistically accounted for. That is why it is very important to set ourselves limits ahead of time. These would be the maximum time per task and the maximum time per day we want to spend working. Sure there is always something coming up. But not getting much done because you are exhausted and lost all focus is just a waste of time. It happens quite often that after sleeping over a problem it is easily solved the next day.
Knowing your own strengths and knowing when you need help are keys to success. Things you can't do well take you much longer than it would take someone who is an expert in it. There are also some tasks that don't even need a highly qualified person to do them, like small repair jobs or cleaning. These can often be done relatively cheap by someone else. In any case it can be absolutely worth having someone take some of the weight off your shoulder, because the greatest asset to your business is you and you need to treat it well.
When it is obvious that you cannot to complete everything that comes along your way you should ask yourself what the best way is how you can utilize your time and energy today. I suggest sorting all things you want to accomplish in three different lists. The first list contains items that are absolutely vital to keep your business running. The second contains all things that go along with your long term goal. For example if you wanted to write a book and count on writing a chapter each day, this would be list two. Finally the third list contains all these tasks that are not absolutely necessary or you things you would do because they are either easy or nice to do. Prioritize list two and three. Then for the day complete all items on list one, half of the items on list 2 and finally one or two from list three. When you have completed these you can tackle to finish items on list two and then three. The point is that by finishing the most crucial items first you make sure your business keeps running and it'll probably give you a huge boost of accomplishment when you completed all these.
Another method would be creating one prioritized list for the week with all planned tasks on it. Start with working on the first five then reconsider the remaining ones. Something that may have come up you can add now and complete the next five items, and so forth. Checking off items is very satisfying, but checking off important items is a blast. It will give you the motivation to working on finishing all tasks through the week.
A very successful tactic is also creating sub-tasks, i.e. smaller junks of tasks. Let's say you had to complete a brochure for your business. Tasks one would be to brain storm what you information you want to include, task two to identify the different sections, then the color scheme, etc. Or you wanted to answer customer emails, make each sub-task a block of five customers. The reason for the success of this tactic is that you can see the progress, whereas before even though you had already answered half of your customers emails you still hadn't completed any task.
What also helps is to include tasks concerning your health and well being or with your family and friends in at times you would usually still be busy. Assuming you are usually starting early, add a task to have extended breakfast with the kids or relax in the park. Whatever you enjoy doing but think you shouldn't be doing it because other things are possibly more important, that make a high priority in your time management list. It is very important to also prioritize for body and soul, and relationships with family and friends. All these are very important, they help avoiding that we feel burned out and completing these "tasks" gives us back important energy to keep going.
In our minds we are often limitless in what we think we can achieve during a day. The amount of time something takes is usually only very roughly and way too optimistically accounted for. That is why it is very important to set ourselves limits ahead of time. These would be the maximum time per task and the maximum time per day we want to spend working. Sure there is always something coming up. But not getting much done because you are exhausted and lost all focus is just a waste of time. It happens quite often that after sleeping over a problem it is easily solved the next day.
Knowing your own strengths and knowing when you need help are keys to success. Things you can't do well take you much longer than it would take someone who is an expert in it. There are also some tasks that don't even need a highly qualified person to do them, like small repair jobs or cleaning. These can often be done relatively cheap by someone else. In any case it can be absolutely worth having someone take some of the weight off your shoulder, because the greatest asset to your business is you and you need to treat it well.
About the Author:
About the Author: Alex McRight runs a great blog (DarnOffice) about how to get more done with the right time management. Check it out!
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