OK, is any business out there truthful enough to admit that it’s crazy busy and not necessarily for the right reasons? I am probably too honest for my own good (then again, I wonder if there is such a thing as being too honest) so I’m just saying it how it is. Is time management a myth or is it possible? What is time management exactly? What should small business owners do about time management?
I haven’t blogged for ages. Yet I have a website with the blog as the front page. That is appalling, embarrassing and I know it does not give off the right signals. I have been less consistent on Twitter. I know I should do X, Y and Z but I’m just not getting round to it.
I know exactly what I should be doing but the reality is I’m just doing my best to make sure my group of clients are well taken care of and investing time into my businesses. I’m currently business building and I’m in the design business and it takes time, it’s not something you can put on a speedy conveyor belt. I could take on more clients (I need to take on more clients) but right now I’m investing a lot of time into my own businesses – this one and the Best of Zambia which we launch a brand new website for this month. I want to make sure that what clients I do take on we can deliver to. My whole team is working six days a week, 12+ hours a day, investing time because we believe in our vision. The honest, crazy truth is our biggest challenge is time, or lack of it. The crazy part is we all have the same amount of time and I can’t control the amount we all get. Argh!
So that’s the news from us – we’re completely and utterly out of time! So what do I do about it? And what are you doing better than me? Because everyone else out there seems a lot more in control of time than I?! How do you handle this time problem that plants all sorts of negative emotions like fear and worry in us? I’ll leave it open to the floor? Any tips will be gladly taken on board.
6 Comments
Hi Sara,
I think your honesty about it is so much better than making up excuses. We all have phases were we tell others to do things to improve their business but don’t do it ourselves because work gets in the way…we’ve all been there & it happens to the best of us!
The important thing is you recognise when this happens and take some action to do something about it, like you have done with this blog post today.
There is nothing wrong in devoting time to ensure your clients get the best possible results from you and that sincerity is so much more appealing to me than boasting and bragging about how active you are on Twitter etc!!
Good job..keep it going
Suraj
Suraj,
Brilliant feedback. Thank you. When you know what you should be doing it’s sometimes frustrating when you can’t. It was your 4Networking foresight as ‘the internet marketing guy’ that made me sit down and write this blog on my return from meeting you. I was putting it off because I was thinking up some slick business story but then I went for the honest story! To me honesty is the best policy – the human in people is much more attractive than a robotic fake! People here’s a top man to learn from. (http://internetmarketinghighway.com)
Thanks Sara, i’m glad my talk provoked a reaction from you which resulted in this blog post.
Totally agree about the honesty – it’s better not to do it at all and say you didn’t have time than to do it half-heartedly and make up an excuse. It’s so much more effort to do that anyway!
People buy from [human] people!
Thanks for the link
@welovebusiness shared a link originally tweeted by @Home_Business to a blog post with the title, ‘Kill your to-do list’. It’s a very interesting concept as it will get you thinking.
I understand lists can be limiting but I believe I have a healthy relationship with my lists. They are just goals for the day and reminders to do certain things. Without my list or day planner I’d forget things that must be done. Or have I got this whole thing wrong? Your thoughts?
Hi Sara,
I shared the link titled ‘Kill your to-do list’ but I think in some circumstances a to-do list is really useful and perhaps the only way you will ever get things done.
Like you, I have a healthy relationship with my to-do list but I think unusually for some people I actually finish my list entirely most days but the key to that is working out what needs to be done today and what can wait, separating the musts from the wants as Anthony Robbins might say.
Many things you do today could probably wait for tomorrow and as such should be kept off today’s list because nobody likes to relax when they know they have a lengthy list waiting for them when they get back to their desk.
So in a lot of ways, I find prioritising tasks to be very motivating and a good technique for relaxation.
Another way I get the most out of every day is to set aside blocks of time for tasks (based on an estimate of how long similar tasks have taken in the past) that way you can avoid overrunning and eating into time when other things can be done.
Having just read Duncan Bannatyne’s book on time management (well worth a read) I would say the best tip he offers is in relation to outsourcing any tasks that someone else could do better (or tasks that are so mundane they waste your time and expertise).
James,
Thanks for your valuable comment! I also get most of what I have planned done in any given day. I note your tip to read Duncan’s book and I shall get it – I’m book addict!
I think what I am suffering from is not the daily task management but the struggle with the mid term view (the next 3-12 months) and the knowledge that we have such huge tasks to accomplish of super high levels of importance! But then I reassure myself – it’s all about ‘how to eat an elephant’ – it’s as simple as breaking it up into small daily pieces. And since that is what we are both doing quite well then we should be doing just fine right?!
Thanks again for your thoughts!