With our collective world-wide dive into the echelons of creativity, self-discovery and accomplishment, the most successful to emerge yet has been… yes… the entrepreneur! It is the entrepreneur who has managed to carve out a unique niche in the world for himself – a self-groomed, self-initiated accomplisher, if you will… And while doing so, he has produced change in the world and opened up opportunities for others as well… Truly an exciting ride it is…
Entrepreneurship today has spread far and wide and all kinds of new and wonderful possibilities have opened themselves up to be seized by those willing to take that leap of “risk”…
And at a time when competition has increased and high productivities have been irrefutably prioritized, “management of time” has become the ultimate challenge for any entrepreneur. The important link between effective time management and productivity is one that cannot be ignored. It’s simple… if you manage your time and effort, you can do more work in less time. So, you will end up having:
- Better control over your organization
- Freedom from stress and anxiety
- Greater control over your deadlines
- Amazingly increased productivity levels
Anyway, the value of time management is universally recognized… Here are some excellent, proven tips to help you, the entrepreneur, get the most out of your precious time:
Always Set a Goals-List!
The most important things are:
- To know WHAT the goal is that you have set for yourself
- To know WHY this particular goal must be accomplished
- To know HOW to accomplish the goal
- To know WHO to use and WHEN to do whatever you have chosen for yourself!
Remember! Goals break down into tasks, and tasks must be set out in proper discrete terms… i.e. you must know when a task starts, when it ends, and how it must be done… These are basics of any entrepreneurial voyage… Without having proper answers to these questions, a LOT of time gets wasted… After all, if there is no set destination, and no proper providence, the boat is only going to spend time floating… It might even sink!
Keep Your Employees Happy
The moods and emotions of your employees is very important. Studies have shown that happy people work more optimally. A 2012 Happiness at Work survey indicated that happiness of employees produces 31% higher productivity, 37% higher sales, and 3 times higher creativity. There are several ways of increasing happiness among employees:
- Make them believe in the project they are doing (Motivation)
- Pay your employees what they deserve. Be just in this matter because if someone feels that they are getting value for their work, they are sure to be motivated
- Put people in where they fit. This simply means to give people the kind of work they would love to do
- Make sure not to overwork them or deprive them of sleep. A 2012 Harvard research reported that sleep deprivation had cost US companies $63.2 billion a year in lost productivity
- Make sure that the workplace is attractive and clean
- Encourage exercise as this is known to produce efficiency in employees’ work
Lead by Example: Schedule and Follow-up on Your Tasks!
Remember that it is you who your employees will look up to in every matter. So make sure that you provide the perfect example to them. If you follow your routine to the letter, keep your promises and deadlines, and observe perfect jovial manners, then you will see the incredible results this will have on your overall collective performance.
Don’t Mind Delegation!
Don’t try and do tasks yourself which others within your command structure are also capable of. Giving autonomy and free decision space to deserving employees is a great way to encourage entrepreneurial growth as well as free up time to indulge in other useful pursuits.
Cut Down Social (Media) Time While at Work
It is widely known that social media is one of the ultimate drains that threatens employee productivity. In a 2007 research conducted by Salary.com, personal internet usage (34%), socializing (20.3%) and personal business (17%) constituted leading time-wasting activities. It is common for employees to break in their emails, Twitters and Facebooks between bursts of work effort. So, it is a must for the entrepreneur to make sure that time spent on such non-work activities during work time remains harmless to the desired productivity levels…
Learn to Say NO!
Although most self-help authors encourage refrain from saying “no”, entrepreneurs seeking to manage their time effectively must learn how to say it. This is because the tasks are many but the time is less – and people out there, who do not recognize the value of your time, are only too willing to spoil your entire work effort. So beware! Learn to respectfully say no!
Choose Your Most Effective Work Hours
Ideally, this would be the morning time. It has been proven that the most efficient and productive hours are those from early morning up until 10 to 11 O clock. Make sure that you and your employees are utilizing these to maximum effect.
Use Technology!
Technology can greatly help you in optimizing your time. Some excellent time management software are mentioned below:
- Remember the Milk, Prouducteev – For planning and organization, these are two excellent programs to help you ease out your planning process
- Google Tasks, Checkvist – Brilliant “to-do-lists” to create functional, systematic outlines of all your pending and completed tasks
- Google Calendar, 30Boxes – Great Calendars to enable you to set appointments and plan your progress over weeks, months and years
- Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird – To help you organize your emails, free you from clutter and collect all your email clients on to a single platform…
These are just a few ways for any entrepreneur to better optimize time management and increase productivity levels. If you are looking for more information regarding optimizing your business and receiving other excellent business advice, then sign up for your free subscription to Successful Startup 101. You can find exclusive information for entrepreneurs and startup founders that you won’t find anywhere else…
