Regaining Control of Your Time in Your Business

Many small business owners feel like they are in a constant state of overwhelm. No matter what their intentions are when they start their day, their business seems to pull them in so many directions that they can only think in terms of their company’s short term needs. Planning for the long term feels like a luxury when you have cash-flow, people, customer or day-to-day operational issues.

Here is a simple way you can regain control of your time in your business and spend less time fighting fires.

American business executive and author, Jack Welch famously said “You can't grow long-term if you can't eat short-term. Anybody can manage short. Anybody can manage long. Balancing those two things is what management is.”  

Time is a limited resource, so if you feel like much of your time is wasted, or you do not have enough hours in the day – you need to take an in-depth look at how you are spending it.

Use the stop watch on your phone and every 15 – 30 minutes record how you used that time. Try to do this activity for an entire week. It will feel laborious, however business owners who really examine how they currently use their time, can start to regain control of it and develop habits that will ensure their time is used on things that matter to them and their business in the future.

After the week of recording your use of time, closely examine each time slice and break them into these four areas. I recommend to my clients to use four different colored highlighters, or you can use the symbols in the diagram below.

Important activities have an outcome that leads to us achieving goals, whether these are professional or personal. Urgent activities demand immediate attention, and are usually associated with achieving someone else's goals. They are often the ones we concentrate on and they demand attention because the consequences of not dealing with them are immediate.

Important and Urgent

There are two types of urgent and important activities. Ones you could not have foreseen, and others you have left until the very last minute. If you have a lot of urgent and important activities, identify those you could have foreseen, and how you can schedule similar activities ahead of time, so they no longer become urgent. You can eliminate last-minute activities by planning ahead and avoiding procrastination. You can't always predict or avoid some issues and crises. However, if there is a pattern of important and urgent issues arising in your business, think is there a system solution you can adapt in your business to mitigate this constantly reoccurring.

Important but not Urgent

These are the activities that help you achieve your personal and professional goals, and complete important work. Make sure you have plenty of time to do these things properly, so they do not become urgent. As a business owner, these activities should be a priority in your work week. Carve out time in your work week to focus on these important tasks in your business. They should ultimately help you get closer to being in control of your business versus the business controlling you.

Not Important but Urgent

Urgent but not important tasks will prevent you from achieving your goals. Ask yourself whether you can push these tasks to a later time, or delegate to someone else to complete. Sometimes it's appropriate to say "no" to people politely, or to encourage them to solve the problem themselves. If your diary is full of Not Important but Urgent activity, ask yourself whether you can train someone to be responsible for these items in your work week, or is there a system solution that will help alleviate this interruption throughout the week. 

Not Important and not Urgent

These activities are just a distraction – avoid them if possible. You can simply ignore or cancel many of them. However, some may be activities that other people want you to do, even though they don't contribute to your own desired outcomes. Again, say "no" politely, if you can, and explain why you cannot do it. Alternatively, empower others to complete this activity or task themselves.

As a business owner, the vast majority of your time should be spent on the important activities (either urgent, and not urgent). By pushing out, deleting or delegating all the activities you do each week that are Not Important, you will start to feel more control of your business and your life.

ActionCOACH Team Sage is a firm of coaches located in the Historic Biltmore Hotel in downtown Coral Gables, just minutes from Miami. We are committed to transforming the economic landscape of South Florida. At ActionCOACH Team Sage, we work with business owners and leaders to help them get the most out their business, to grow their business, to actually have your business support you in your life.

Visit our www.actioncoachteamsage.com to learn more.