Are you using your time efficiently?

As we wrap up 2022 and quickly head into a new year, it’s important to remember that the efficient use of your time will play a critical role in your 2023 success story. As a leader, getting sidetracked and focusing on issues that are out of your control are very common.?It’s also potentially very dangerous.?Regardless of the task you’re undertaking, there is only so much you can do in one day, week or month.?In business, time is very precious, and a leader must maximize the “positive results” generated over the time spent working on specific activities.?I refer to this as “Rate of Return on Time Invested”.?If you spend your time focusing your attention, worries and conversation on areas of the business which you have “zero” control over, you will find yourself chasing your competition forever and never maximizing the “rate of return on your time”.?This could be devastating for your business.?Soon you’ll simply be a “dot” on your competitor’s rear-view mirror.?

Make certain your team is focusing their attention on activities that will drive positive results for your business.?Whether those activities are geared towards driving sales, maximizing gross margin rates, or controlling expenses, make certain they are being accomplished with the utmost efficiency so you can maximize the “rate of return on their time invested” as well.

As you go about your day think about all the time you’ve wasted throughout your professional career focusing your attention on events or circumstances which you had “zero” control over.?If you added all those hours up and multiplied them by your average hourly earnings, what would the total dollar amount of “wasted expense” be??Obviously, it’s impossible to truly quantify, but a business leader understands this all too well.?However, understanding and execution are two different things.?Rather than focusing on the negatives that you can’t control, would time be better spent investing in the development of your team??How about spending the time studying traffic patterns so that you could better schedule your personnel, so they had more “time” to deliver an exceptional customer experience??Perhaps spending this time “building vendor relations” or analyzing a “reinvestment of profits” back into the business??The list goes on and on.??

In any economic climate the leaders that succeed are the ones that prioritize activities and work intelligently, as well as efficiently.?They maximize their “rate of return on time invested”.?This concept can also be applied to recruiting.?With today's recruiting challenges, it's imperative that you recruit talent that has the appropriate skill sets.?Spending time trying to develop a team member that does not possess the skills sets or desire to succeed is simply not the most efficient use of your time.?Therefore, your recruiting practices are also directly related to the “rate of return on the time invested” in recruiting.?Make certain you define the skill sets and inherent capabilities of the candidate(s) you are searching for prior to beginning your search.

Here’s an exercise that has helped me over the years.?At the end of each day ask yourself,

• Did I generate "maximize positive results" out of each activity I handled personally or through my team??
• Did I maximize the “rate of return on time invested” on each task??

If the answer is no, take a step back and evaluate what is truly important to your business.?Start with prioritizing what activities will generate the most profit.?Then make certain the activities delivered to your team are…

• Clearly understood
• Realistic in nature
• Will deliver a high “rate of return on time invested”

Remember, it all begins with truly understanding the “key” priorities of your business.?Best of luck in your leadership endeavors in 2023.?I hope this article helped a bit.?-MC