Save time building your business

When it comes to owning and running your own business, it’s easy to lose track of time. Here are some tips on how to improve your time management skills, so you can improve productivity and achieve growth

It’s possible to grow your business and still have free time, but to do so, you must overcome ‘the time trap’ – that time is its own master and is not managed by anyone.

Time is money

Think of time as a resource that can be spent but not saved. Imagine a bank agrees to credit your account with $86,400 every day, on the condition that each night they cancel every dollar that has not been used.

Time is like that bank account. Each morning it deposits 86,400 seconds in your day and every night it takes out whatever you fail to spend. Your balance is never carried over, no matter what the reason. You can’t save time, you can only spend it.

“When you take decisive actions to plan and control the way you spend your time and factor in the time to work on your business you will find that you’re able to grow and develop your business and have time for more important things in your life

How can I use my time in the most productive way?

Here are five very simple yet practical steps to help you make the most of your time, so you can grow your business and still have time to do important tasks, unrelated to your business.

1. State your monthly priority: At the beginning of each month, set the number one activity that’ll bring you closer to your long-term goals. Usually this will be the activity that focuses on improving or growing your business. For example, if a long-term goal is to attract better customers, your next monthly priority might be to create a sales brochure that highlights the benefits of dealing with your company. Knowing your priority will help keep you focused on your long-term goals.

2. Run a weekly default calendar: Plan for the regular things you need to do to keep your business healthy – the important things that often get squeezed out by the demands of the day. Create a “Typical Week” diary and aim to keep to it. Select the regular activities that are important for your business and set aside blocks of time for these. During these blocks of time, focus solely on these activities.

3. Plan tomorrow tonight: Decide on tomorrow’s main tasks before you finish today and list them in your diary. While you sleep, your sub conscience will run through the list, getting you ready for the day, rather than worrying about what you should be doing. Schedule your most difficult tasks for the time of day when you are most productive.

4. Set achievable targets: The best way to ensure success is to practise being successful. Set yourself achievable targets. Set stretch goals, too, but make sure they can be accomplished. Don’t set impossible goals day after day. It’s soul destroying and compounds pressure. Tick off your tasks as you complete them: reschedule those you can’t and put a line through them.

5. Collate similar tasks: There’s a widespread myth that successful people multitask, but it’s not true. Multitasking means paying attention to multiple things simultaneously but the brain naturally focuses on one thing at a time, so when we ‘multitask’ the brain has to disengage from one activity in order to engage in another. Collate your tasks together. For example, if you’re working on pricing and quoting, shut the door, turn off the phone and mail notifications and focus on pricing that job.

When you take decisive actions to plan and control the way you spend your time and factor in the time to work on your business you will find that you’re able to grow and develop your business and have time for more important things in your life.

About The Successful Builder

Graeme Owen, based in Auckland, is a builders’ business coach. Since 2006, he has helped builders get off the tools, make decent money, and free up time for family, fishing,

and enjoying sports. Get his free ebook: 3 Reasons Builders Lose Money and How to Fix Them for High Profits at TheSuccessfulBuilder.com.