Life is hard enough without having to worry about running your business; especially if you’re working within a competitive market. Between booking new clients and trying to stay on top of your books, it seems like a never ending cycle that you can’t get a break from. If you’re like thousands of business owners, trying to get a competitive edge, follow the following five tips:
Plan out your day realistically
Although it would be great to get everything on the never-ending list done each day, majority of the time, it just isn’t possible. That’s why it’s important to strategically plan your day with the most important items first. Then move on to less important items, like something without a strict deadline or a few errands you have to do.
Make a revolving list
As you progress, take a few minutes to write out a list of things you need to finish by the end of the week. Continue adding things each day, as they come up and remove items that have already been finished. Use this list to track the most important items on your daily tasks and prioritize things as they occur.
Group similar items together
While you’ll always have the items that need to be completed daily, it’s important to try and group similar items together – to keep your time spent on them down. For instance, if you have a few errands to do throughout the week, try to keep them all scheduled for the same day. This way, you’ll only spend a few hours a week doing the one task, instead of an hour a day. The same goes for emailing, creating reports or returning phone calls.
Learn when to walk away
Running your own business can take a lot of time and energy, but it shouldn’t be the main focus of every minute of every day. Make sure you schedule time for your friends, family and time for yourself throughout the week as well. To optimize your time, make a schedule of your working hours and stick to it. When you’re not working, leave business emails, phone calls and other tasks until you’re back in the office again. If you can’t turn off the phone, at least set it on silent – so it’s not consistently going off while you’re trying to spend time with your family. When you’ve got a moment of down time, that’s when you can reach for your phone – not at the sound of your notification.
Take breaks throughout the day
Majority of small business owners are sitting at a desk (or on a job site) for extended periods of time – often without eating or taking a few moments to relax. As a result, they become burned out, stressed and fatigued – which can be detrimental to their health. Make sure you set aside at least twenty minutes a day to eat a proper meal, even if you want to hurry up and finish your project.
