Are you an expert at time management?

Have you ever been asked to list your skills on a resume for a potential employer and added the coveted “time management”? 

We definitely have before, and it always feels nice to add in that skill… just for good measure, right? 

But, maybe you aren’t really sure if you’re good with your time. Maybe you aren’t even sure what it means to be skilled at time management. So, here’s a different question:

Do you run your life, or does your life run you?

It might be a tricky question to answer because, we get it, life can get crazy. 

You may think you are using every ounce of time that you possibly have in a day and still feel like nothing is really getting done. We’ve been there!

A lesson you’ll learn very quickly as an entrepreneur is that scheduling can be one of the biggest secrets to success.

Now, when you begin working for yourself, you can kind of get lost in the high of being your own boss and owning your flexibility. You can finally have a say over your schedule, and you really can work whenever you want. 

However, too much of this flexibility can quickly result in unfocused, unproductive days that leave you feeling burnt out and even further from accomplishing your goals. 

Scheduling and planning doesn’t need to be a bad thing — you can think of it as just making sure your energy is going to the most important tasks at the right time. 

Try to think of it as a fun science experiment where you have to try and adjust certain things to see what works best for you and your business! You still get all of the autonomy to dictate your own schedule… Let’s just make sure you’re making the most of your time. 

Simple ways to stay on top of your business

1. Protect your time

Keep in mind that whenever you say “yes” to something, it means that you are saying “no” to something else, and vice versa. 

Before immediately responding to someone, ask yourself:

• What do I intentionally want to say “yes” to?
• What do I intentionally want to say “no” to?

And, let me just make this very clear, you can’t always say “yes” to both! 

As an entrepreneur, you need to get comfortable very early on with setting boundaries and being transparent about your availability and capability. 

For example, let’s say you get a DM from a prospective client who is interested in a 30-minute discovery call. You might get the urge to drop everything and make it happen that day. And, we wouldn’t blame you. That is super exciting!

However, that’s just not necessary. Take a minute to look at your schedule. Then, message a time that works within your current plans, not a time that causes you to shift things around.

Then, you can reply with something like, “Great! I’m looking forward to our call together. I have Monday at 4pm or Tuesday at 3pm. Which time works best for you?”

Now you are able to stick to your schedule! And just like that, you are beginning to get good at this whole time management thing!

2. Make note of when you are most productive

Like we mentioned before, one of the greatest parts (but sometimes the most difficult to navigate) of running your own business is the fact that you can work at any time and set your schedule accordingly. 

This gives you the perfect opportunity to figure out exactly what times work best for you and your specific projects. 

Here at ITN, we sometimes have our team members do what’s called a Time Study. This is an effective tool to see your current standing with time management and how your productivity can be improved. We recommend you conduct a personal study for two weeks to see what sorts of tasks you are spending the majority of your time on. 

Once you complete this experiment, you will get a very clear picture of when you are most productive. Use this knowledge to your advantage!

You might notice yourself doing deep work in the early mornings and getting distracted in the afternoons. So, you can easily schedule yourself to do focused projects in the AM and smaller tasks in the PM!

It’s really as simple as that! All it takes is a little time to figure out your own energy levels.

3. Work smarter, not harder, with the help of automation

If you really want to become a pro at time management, you have to understand which tasks can be done more efficiently, which is where automation comes in! 

Not only will automation free up your time, but it can also help you be more consistent in the long-run on the day-to-day tasks of your business. 

We highly recommend using tools like Google Calendar, Asana, Acuity Scheduling, and Sprout Social, to help you focus less on small tasks and more on bigger projects.

For example, let’s say that you are going to rely heavily on social media to market your business. You might think, “Okay, I’ll just come up with a post every morning to stay consistent!” But, that will actually take more brain power and focus than necessary.

Instead, schedule a day that you can block off a few hours for designated content creation. Batch your social media posts and schedule them to publish automatically with a tool like Sprout Social. Then, you won’t have to worry about making time every single day to write a caption, choose a photo, and post!

4. Make to-do lists

This is an all-too familiar scenario as an entrepreneur… you have your day planned with dedicated work time on a big project. You’re super excited to deep dive and just hustle through some work — maybe you even drive to a local coffee shop to reward yourself for all of the things you’re about to get done!

And then… you remember. 

You forgot to do a few tedious tasks that you needed done like… yesterday.

Ugh! Now your whole day is thrown off schedule, you feel anxious, you have to scramble to get the work done, andddd now you just lost that precious dedicated work time. 

Look, we know that it can be easy to not make a to-do list, but we assure you that it is worth taking a little time to do it!! By making a to-do list, you are able to clear your head of any looming deadlines and make sure that everything is sticking to your schedule.

This is a huge component of becoming an expert at time management!

And, it doesn’t matter if you prefer making your list on paper so that you can get the satisfaction of crossing things off, or if you just keep it in an app on your phone. It just matters that you utilize it!

Time management will become your area of expertise

Imagine how much better you’ll feel after having an organized schedule and a clear understanding of your most pressing tasks!

Your clients, customers, and co-workers will quickly notice that you are more focused, clear, and present with them — as will the loved ones in your life!

If you want to be successful, you have to start scheduling the way successful people do and making it a priority to practice effective time management skills! Along the way, you’ll find what works best for you and your business! Plus, you’ll start to see that you have more time for fun and enjoyment!

What is the one piece of advice from this article that you are going to start with? Tell us in the comments below!