There’s only twenty-four hours in a day and you’re supposed to get seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Yeah right, more like five to seven hours of sleep if you’re lucky.
If you’re dreaming of the mornings when you can sleep in for an extra thirty to sixty minutes you should consider managing your time a little more effectively.
Time consumers come in many forms; email, interruptions, poor planning and mundane tasks. To streamline your day for that feeling of achievement at night follow these simple options:
- Plan EVERYTHING – Already have your calendar marked up, no problem. Take a few minutes to make any slight changes and remind yourself of your priorities. It’s harder to stick to a schedule that was made days or weeks ago; looking it over before the day begins will help you to be mentally prepared.
- Isolate yourself – If you need to get something done and everyone wants to bother you, close the door until you get done what needs to be done, done. Let your staff know you are unavailable for the next whatever timeframe. This also includes closing the door on text messages and calls.
- Stop with the email notifications! – Only have your email update when you tell it to and only look at it a few times a day. Once in the morning, once after lunch and once before you leave. If you are expecting something important, ask the sender to call or text when they send it over.
- Stop paying bills with checks – So many banks have a bill paying system, so why are you still writing checks? Automate as much as you can, just remember to have a master list of what accounts are paid on what date and for the approximate amount.
- The right app can be a good friend to have – There are so many apps out there that can save you time, store information to look at anywhere and access programs on the go. Find what you need and use it.
- Hand off tasks – Delegate the tasks that you no longer need to be in charge of. Your time is better spent looking for more business than stuck under a pile of work. You hired people to work for you so give them work. You will thank yourself later.
- Take care of yourself – Get some sleep, real sleep. A well-rested person is a clear thinking person.
