Running a business on your own is no easy task.
Even if you have a business plan and a solid vision of what you want to achieve within a couple of years, making sure things flow smoothly every day is almost impossible.
That business plan does not tell you what you have to do daily? Once you get in it, you realize that there are so many tasks that you never thought about.
How do you prioritize things when everything seems to be a priority? The struggle is real, and you’re not the only one facing this problem. How do you juggle all those important emails and phone calls and meetings and content production when you only have 24 hours in a day?
If you’re trying to find the answers to those questions I mentioned above, look no further! The secret to achieving success even within a limited time frame is inside this article. Read on to find out more about the 5 easy ways you can prioritize your tasks when you’re an entrepreneur!
1. Just Do It!
Yes, it’s that simple. When you are working with limited time and limited resources, you can’t afford to procrastinate. Just think of it as spending time you don’t have – it’s like shopping with an empty wallet! So if you have a mountain of tasks waiting for you to sift through, you better get started right away.
The thing is, it’s easy to find reasons not to take action – especially when you think you lack experience or lack money. But with the right attitude, you can actually work around these so-called roadblocks.
Be productive and consistent. Start today. If you manage to finish all the things you need to do, and you do it consistently for at least a week, it becomes a habit. And when productivity becomes your habit, you won’t easily be able to shake it off. Eliminate all the excuses for inaction. Take control of your time and just do it.
2. Focus!
This one is for the daydreamers out there. If you find yourself drifting off in the middle of an important task, you’re not gonna get anything finished. It’s like getting stuck in the middle of an ocean and then refusing to row your boat because you’re admiring the clouds.
There is no magical way to eliminate procrastination – no matter how you look at it, change is going to come from inside you. You’re gonna have to focus on these tasks, so that means you can’t just forego anything important for anything that can be second priority.
Checking all your social media accounts for a couple of minutes will eventually eat off all your hours – as if you had lots of time to burn off in the first place. Try not to get distracted when you’re in the middle of something. You might struggle with the temptation, but if you manage to get a hold of yourself, you’ll be on your way to becoming more productive.
When talking about business endeavors, a lack of focus is always the root of all evil. Steer clear from it.
3. Limit Your Phone Calls and Don’t Check Your Emails!
This may sound counterproductive, but hear me out. When you wake up in the morning and the first thing you check is your email, you’re already burning off minutes trying to find anything important. Most of the time, these emails won’t be top priority, but they seem more urgent than they really are.
If your business allows it, allocate a specific time in your day just reading all of these emails and responding to them. If you can’t afford to miss any of these emails, have an assistant read through all of them and flag the important ones that need your immediate action. Besides, one bad email in the morning can ruin the rest of your day…now that’s counterproductive.
The same thing goes for phone calls. If you really are in a hurry to finish things, you can’t waste all those precious minutes chatting away on your cellphone. If it’s not business-related, tell that person you’re busy and give them 3 minutes to tell you what’s going on. Promise them you’ll catch up when you’re no longer busy. If it is business-related, limit that call to 15 minutes. Within a quarter of an hour, they should be able to tell you exactly what you need to know. If they’re not ready, have them call you again later. Otherwise, just let everything fall into voicemail and respond to them when you’re able to.
As important as emails and phone calls are, they can be a huge distraction for a busy person like you.
4. Get Healthy!
This should be one of your main priorities, really. Even if you’re the owner of an extremely popular brand, your body can only do so much before it collapses. When you’re busy, you get stressed out, you get tired, and you can even get sick. This leads to a lack of focus, decreased determination, decreased productivity, and decreased quality of results.
Even if it sounds like you’re taking a step back, make sure you have time to rest and eat. You can’t function properly without being healthy, so take all the necessary steps to shape your body to its fullest potential. Walk a couple of miles every morning, get active, and eat healthy.
The result: you will have more energy to face the rest of the day, and you’ll be working at your fullest.
5. Prioritize Properly!
This is where we get really practical.
You may look at your workload and see everything as a priority, but that can’t be farther from the truth. There are main priorities, and there are things you can put off for a couple of hours before you eventually have to face them. Then again, there are tasks that don’t have a direct impact on your company’s results. The key here is to prioritize your projects based on their value and profitability.
The reason you’re running a business is because you can profit from it! So if you can identify which tasks are likely to be the most profitable, then you can easily sift through them. Remember that “urgent” is not always “important”. If you’re constantly putting out fires and you’re not trying to fix your system or eliminating the root cause of your problems, then you’re only running a viciously unproductive cycle.
Strip down your tasks and find the ones that your brand could not exist without. Focus on those first, and then spend the rest of your time working on everything else.
With all of these tips, you can see that the main trick is to work smarter, not harder. When you have the time to work, you have the time to concentrate, leaving no excuse for anything that is counterproductive, or anything that is getting you nowhere.
Remember that time is a valuable asset – it’s a resource that you can’t ever get back, so use it wisely, and make the most out of it.
