{"id":8607,"date":"2014-10-09T09:39:52","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T14:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/?p=8607"},"modified":"2014-10-09T12:03:27","modified_gmt":"2014-10-09T17:03:27","slug":"time-management-vital-for-small-business-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2014\/10\/time-management-vital-for-small-business-productivity.html","title":{"rendered":"Time Management Vital for Small-business Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Clock\"<\/a>

Photo (CC) I Believe, on Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Do you own a small business and find you have no free time?<\/strong> Have you recently found yourself too busy to have lunch with a friend? Does your family start dinner without you?<\/p>\n

While these are not perfect predictors (life happens), being \u201ctoo busy\u201d may be a symptom that your business time management needs some adjustments<\/strong>. Depending on how often it happens, it might even suggest that you have lost control of your life.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s society seems to expect any serious business owner to suffer from overload. When we meet someone, whether a network acquaintance or a new friend, it isn\u2019t long before we are talking about how busy we are.<\/p>\n

It seems to be a badge of honor if our response indicates that there is not time available for relaxation.<\/p>\n

We often give such a response for ourselves as well as others. To the outside world, it suggests how well things are going. Plus being busy often is considered a virtue. To you, the owner, it is reassuring that you are maximizing your efforts.<\/p>\n

Today, though, more and more people are beginning to question these statements. And more and more studies and anecdotal information point out that being busy does not correlate to being successful<\/strong>. Some researchers might argue that the exact opposite is occurring.<\/p>\n

So what can the business owner do to take back control of his or her schedule<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

The first requirement is to realize what is happening. Often the \u201cbusy-ness\u201d is self-inflicted. You just can\u2019t say no.<\/p>\n

A related issue is the owner\u2019s inability or unwillingness to delegate. How often do you tell yourself that doing a task yourself is easier than getting someone else to do it to your expectations? We want to feel indispensable, plus it feeds our need to be busy.<\/p>\n

Another reason we stay busy is based on how we prioritize. Instead of taking on the big tasks, we avoid them by filling our lives with small chores.<\/p>\n

The connected world also provides myriad ways to stay busy. And this issue will just continue to grow.<\/p>\n

So what can you do to get back some free time<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0It starts with priorities<\/strong>. What are yours? There are many ways to approach priority setting. Pick a method that works for you and do it every day.<\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0It helps to go back at times and check some of the red flags mentioned<\/strong> as to why we feel the need to be busy and what we are doing to help us feel that way.<\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0For the electronic overload, pick out the best information sources<\/strong>, then use an online aggregator to pull all of that information into one location, and, finally, allot one time during the day when you go through the information.<\/li>\n
  4. \u00a0Similarly, opening every email the minute it comes into your computer is not necessary<\/strong>. Set aside two or three times a day to look at them. And when you read them, handle them right away if at all possible.<\/li>\n
  5. \u00a0This idea may sound just too simple, but it works for some people: Use small notepads to jot down your daily to-do list<\/strong>. It limits how many things you can list. At day\u2019s end, you maybe can check them all off.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Control of your time starts with yourself. Winning the game of the longest to-do list isn\u2019t the goal. Taking some time away (and leaving your mobile devices at home) is a much better choice for you and your business<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Do you own a small business and find you have no free time? Have you recently found yourself too busy to have lunch with a friend? Does your family start dinner without you? While these are not perfect predictors (life happens), being \u201ctoo busy\u201d may be a symptom that your business time management needs some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,8,17,21],"tags":[88,155,157,48,156,89],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Time-I_Believe-Flickr.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8611,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8607\/revisions\/8611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}