How to organize your time more effectively

How to organize your time more effectively.

Where did it go? Where did your time go? In order to know that, you need to know what you are doing. Knowing that, leads to how to organize your time more effectively.

Time management is something I love to talk about. I love to teach about it and I love to make it work.

Though, it’s not as easy or as straight forward as it should be. There are things that you need to know about it. Things that if you don’t it’s rather hard to actually succeed at.

Back in February, I wrote a whole series on productivity. I talked a good amount about time and how to use it to your advantage. And that was prior to everything we have experienced since then. Pandemic, anyone?

Cut yourself some slack.

Life is different now. Quite different for a lot of us. Things that we could easily get done in “no time at all” now take a lot of time. So first, cut yourself some slack. Second, re-think how you are using your time.

Get out a piece of paper and list out everything you have been doing in your business for the last six months. 

Ask yourself this…Out of everything I have been doing:

• How much of it leads to new business and more income coming in? 
• What is on that list that is administrative and could potentially be outsourced or condensed so it’s done faster?
• Where am I doing tasks that I dislike (or hate) to do?

Here is where you cut yourself some slack. Acknowledge where you are. Wherever that is, stellar performance, needing some help or just downright falling down. And…

Let it all go. That’s right, acknowledge, and then say “Ok, I’m letting this all go and will begin right where I am.”

It’s time to rethink how you are using your time for the most important thing in business, making money.

Rethink how you are using your time.

It is time to get clear about the time you have to work (do your work), be honest with yourself about what it is getting you the results you want for new business and income, and do a time analysis.

Here’s how:

1. Get clear about the time you have to work. Get out your calendar/schedule. Go back over the last several weeks (or more) and see how many hours you actually spent working. I’m talking about actually getting things done. Not taking a break or checking Facebook. Do this per day and per week. So you spent 5 hours on Monday, 7 hours on Tuesday, etc. and then by the end of the week you worked 47 hours. Be as specific as you can. This is a key component.
2. What are your revenue-generating activities (RGAs)? Out of everything you are doing in your business, what leads you to the money? Make sure you are crystal clear on this. In business, most of the time when we speak about results, we mean results as in financial results. Sure there are other results we’ll watch and measure but ultimately a business is supposed to make money. Make a list of your revenue-generating activities.
3. Run a time analysis. Just like at the end of each month you run a profit/loss analysis you’ll want to run a time analysis. By that, I mean you will find out how much your activities and RGAs are taking you. Some examples: RGAs: following up on leads, signing on new clients and working with clients. Administrative: Responding to email, making phone calls, updating financials. For everything you are now doing in your business, estimate how much time you think it will take you to do and then figure out how long it takes you to actually do it. See here for more specifics on how to run a time analysis.

Your next steps.

So now you have a better idea of where your time is going. It’s time to be completely honest with yourself. Are you spending your time in ways that support your business goals or are you merely wasting time?

You may have noticed that you spend more time doing things that are not leading you to the money. Or you may have seen that you thought they were leading you to the money and now know better. 

It’s all good. Because you can cut yourself some slack. You did what you did because of what you knew (thought you knew) and now you get to change it! 

I remember when I did this for myself. It was eye-opening. I may have shared this before. I realized that I had moved away from what I love to do, which is coach amazing business owners like you to reach success. And moved into being a marketer. 

I love to market, don’t get me wrong. I love to strategize with my clients on how best they can market. Heck, I designed a VIP Day program so I could do just that and help more people succeed with marketing in ways that feel good to them and their business.

My next steps were:

1. Schedule more time into my work week for my brilliance work of working with clients to help them move their business forward via strategies for marketing, client attraction, money mindset and more.
2. Create a marketing plan for my business that was simple, easy to implement and accomplish in under 60 minutes per week.
3. Cut out about 60% of work that did not lead to any of my RGAs.

What are your next steps? Hit reply and let me know. 

Not sure where to start?

Want to set yourself up for success in the upcoming months but you are not sure what your next steps are? I offer a free 30-minute laser coaching session for just that! Click here to schedule now.