Hi everyone,
Time Management.
I have often been asked, “What’s the #1 piece of advice you can offer with regards to maximizing the time you have available during the day?”
We all struggle with how to get the most out of our time, especially when many of us are doing this part time. This is something that I’ve struggled with myself on and off over the years in doing business online.
When running a business, you have tasks that you need to accomplish, some are boring, mundane tasks that we might not LIKE to do, but we have to do them nonetheless. We also have tasks that we do that are specifically geared towards generating new business and new income.
Now.. the typical way to think is that we want to get the “boring” stuff out of the way so we can concentrate on the stuff that makes us money.
That used to be the way I thought about it but it turns out I had everything backwards.
Our first instinct when we start our day is to open our email, deal with that. Then open our Skype, deal with those messages. Then deal with any issues that your team is dealing with. Check voicemail and see if there are reports of any more issues that we need to deal with…
By that time, we’re exhausted and are all set to have lunch.
Then, we get back to work after lunch and try and do something that’s actually productive for our business. Unfortunately our brain is telling us that we’ve had enough, and trying to come up with new ideas just isn’t happening for you.
That’s exaclty what was happening to me. After dealing with the boring stuff, I had a hard time doing anything that required being creative. Blogging, programming, design work, ad copy, articles, video ideas… I was having to FORCE myself to be creative, which, as we know, is not the best way to jumpstart our creativity. It’s incredibly frustrating.
So I switched things up, and here’s what I do now..
My first tasks when I start my day are things that are focused on creating income and building my business. Simple as that. The morning is when my brain is ‘fresh’ (after my coffee of course), and that’s when the new ideas flow much more easily. That’s when all the ‘good stuff’ happens.
Then I leave my boring stuff until towards the end of my day. It doesn’t take creativity to do the mundane tasks that come with running a business, you just have to do them, very little ‘brains’ involved. Save those for later.
So, in closing..
My #1 tip for time management?
Do the things that make you money FIRST. Save the rest for later.
.. and my #1 tip for organizing your daily tasks?
Use your GlobalNPN TomorrowList in your backoffice. It keeps me totally on task and up to date. Use it. It’s in your NPN backoffice and you can also access it on your smartphone.
That’s it for now.
Have a great day.
– Geoff Stephen.