Quickly Cut Your Work Hours In Half With These 7 Foolproof Time Management Tips
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If I told my old self three years ago that I can work five-hour days, four days a week, I’d think I was either bluffing or dreaming. Like most entrepreneurs, I used to work ten-hour workdays seven days a week. Most people suffer from overwork because we think that if we don’t work hard enough, we are leaving opportunities and sales on the table.
During one of my usual late-night work sessions, I realized that pushing myself to spend more hours on our business wasn’t sustainable nor smart. I would run myself and our business to the ground. I needed to figure out how to effectively use my hours and get the most out of my workdays without having to trade time for money.
Since then, I have been on a quest to work smarter and more productive and create more results with less time.
If you’re feeling tired of having to sacrifice life for work or feeling burnout by your business, here are 7 time management tips you can use right away to get more productive and work more effectively:
Tip #1. No email in the first 3 hours
Do not check emails and messages during the first part of your workday and responding to other people’s priorities. Use this prime time when your brain is refreshed for proactive, creative, and strategic thinking. Tackle the most important tasks of the day first.
Tip #2. Use the 90-15 Cycle
Set several work cycles of 90 minutes followed by a 15-minute break throughout the day. I was introduced to the concept and the tremendous impact of deep work by Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
To effectively apply this time blocking technique, choose 1 task or 1 theme for each 90-minute work cycle. Once you’ve reached 90 minutes, take a break and refresh your mind so you can keep the momentum going in the next 90-minute cycle. Optimize the effectiveness of your break by taking a walk or getting stretching exercises.
Tip #3 Zero distraction
Make sure to remove any distractions, including emails and messages, during your 90-minute deep work. This also means no distractions from team members. Consider block off times on your calendar for your 90-15 work cycles to minimize distractions.
Tip #4 Focus on Your 90-Day Goals
Always know your top 90-day goals, and map out the action steps required for you to achieve these goals. Make these action steps your priority as you plan for each week of your next 90 days, which ensures that you are consistently making progress every week towards your 90-day goals.
Click here to get the 5 steps to achieve your biggest goals and make your resolutions a success.
Tip #5 Time Block for Emails
Instead of responding to emails and messages throughout the day as they come in, set designated times to check emails. While technology helps us communicate efficiently, people now spend more time on emails and talking about how the work will be done rather than doing the actual work.
By assigning certain times of the day to check our inbox and responding to people’s inquiries and needs, you can delegate more of your day to focus on the important tasks.
Tip #6 Batching
Define a theme for each day of your week. These themes are essentially the type of work that you regularly perform, such as content creation, design, administrative tasks, client meetings, research, product creation, delivery services, etc. Depending on your work, your themes would be different. Assign 1 to 2 themes to each of your workdays. For example:
Monday - Content Creation
Tuesday - Design
Wednesday - Internal & External Meetings
Thursday - Product/Service Fulfillment
Friday - Administrative Tasks & Planning
By focusing on 1 to 2 themes each day and covering different themes in a week, you can practice deep work every day while also covering every major area of your business
Tip #7 Stop Perfecting
Stop trying to perfect everything. Perfection doesn’t exist. When you try to perfect your work, you end up not meeting the timeline you set because you constantly think that your work is “not ready yet.”
Create a realistic timeline for every project. When the time is up and the tasks are technically done, you’ve reached your milestone, take the next step so you can keep making progress.
If you’re feeling unsure and start hearing the voice of self-doubt creeping in, check out these two posts, 3 Most Common #Fempreneur Self Doubt and How To Conquer Them and Overcoming Insecurity, Doubt, and Fear In Your Business.
Want to know how to stay productive and stop feeling overwhelmed throughout the week? Click here and read this post.
Tired of your never-ending to-do list? Make sure you get our 7 Best Tools & Tips to 5X Productivity.
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