When you start out in a home business, time management is an element of business management that is overlooked or neglected.

Everybody knows some person in small business who races at it like a mad dog all day, never enough hours in each day, all they do is panic and get overloaded - is it that this person is you! At the end of the day, when the rush settles, what have you achieved? Do you review the day and realise “what happened to the time, I didn’t get as much finished as I planned I should. If this is familiar, then you might simply have an organisational and time management problem.

Successful people do not seem to rush, they remain composed and unflustered. The difference with them and others is they have exceptional time management.

What is time management? It is just scheduling hours in your day in an organised and efficient process. Before we can really take on how to time manage our day, we first need to ask ourselves what we are attempting to achieve today, this week, this year and up to ten years from now. This is “Goal setting”.

The most effective method in my opinion to achieve goals is to write them down. You might think about your goals from time to time to make sure that they are meaningful and possible but not so simple to do that you don’t need to put in the hard work to achieve them otherwise what is the point of those goals in the first place?

At the start of a working year you can sit and plan what you plan to achieve this year. It may be that you need to increase your profits by 20%, you could plan to move into bigger premises, you can plan to get rid of your debt in a susbstantial way. From the first day of every new working week you could write down on a note pad or in your diary the important tasks that must to be achieved this week, and check on them at every day to be sure you’re making progress and hopefully mark some of those chores from the list.

You could put the list on your desk or on a spot where you could be constantly reminded of what has to be finalised throughout the week. This list can be in order of urgency so that the most important work at the top of your list get done first up. All the jobs not completed this week must be taken up to next week at a higher priority, this should demand it gets checked off.

The next thing you should be doing is having yourself a daily list of projects to accomplish. This can assist keep you focused during each day. Again, this list will be placed where you can persistently check on it and write off the projects accomplished. Ticking off the jobs should give you a pride of completion and let you know how you are progressing throughout the day. Always hold to this list where possible and try to keep working from top priority to low priority. I know issues will jump up during the day that can throw the whole day topsyturvy, but you have to either take care of the crisis and then return to the list or if the unplanned situation isn’t as time sensitive as some of the tasks on your list then put it lower on the list and continue doing the project you were doing.

Every piece of work you plan to finish must be written down for a couple of reasons. Firstly, so you don’t neglect to do it and secondly, so you have each day organised and you accomplish your daily goals. Beware beginning chores and not completing them. This may turn tomorrow in a mess of half finished jobs and can cause “list blowout”.

You will end up with the list being a mile long and you will throw it out in despair and revert back to those habits of working in a fuss during your day and accomplishing nothing.

Remember for each day you set your goals and check off all the tasks on your list, you will be a little closer to realizing your weekly and eventually your yearly and long term goals.

A few hints on Time Management:

• Do it once and do it well, it’s frustrating reverting to the job and needing to redo it.
• Learn to politely communicate to people when you’re busy with work and that you can return to them at a later time.
• Learn to give other people items that really don’t need your direct participation.
• Don’t take on wild goose chases.
• Don’t use up time by phone calls that will not take care of something.
• Don’t procrastinate.
• Check back on your list of things to do frequently during the day.
• “Map out your day” in the morning and write out your daily list right when you arrive at work. Don’t stop what you start.
• Prioritise all your jobs, always take jobs in their order of necessity to you and your business.

Get away from time wasters, people that just decide to chat all day, and if they are your employees, set them straight, or get rid of them.

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