Managing your calendar to be a successful business owner

Managing your calendar to be a successful business owner

They say you can’t manage time. And while that is true, you can begin managing your calendar to be a successful business owner.

Last article I talked about playing the game Whack A Mole. Whack A Mole is an arcade game in which players use a mallet to hit toy moles, which appear at random, back into their holes. And in my experience so many business owners run their business this way.

Have you found yourself saying any of the following statements?

• I don’t have enough time
• Time seems to just disappear
• If I had more time I would… (fill in the blank)

And have you or do you now, find yourself wondering where the day went frustrated that you can’t seem to get the most important things done? Or maybe you don’t even know what those important things are.

The importance of looking at the time you have available to work

I love a good process. And using your calendar is just that. First you need to know what goes on your calendar. When you are running a business, it’s important to know what your pillars are.

When I work with my clients we work with a business framework. I break that out into two segments. Foundational and Supporting. And I consider time management as supporting.

I also love to look at time blocks as time containers. You can only fit so much into a time container before it overflows and you are left with more to do than ta done.

I don’t know about you but I want more ta dones than to dos at the end of a day, week, month, quarter, and so on.

Take a look at your business. What is it you need to do to keep it operating, improve it and grow it for the future? Make a list. More than likely you have Operations/Admin, Marketing, Sales, Client Delivery/Service and one or two other main categories. 

Under each of those categories, what exactly are you doing for each. And then the big question is when are you (or do you) doing those actions? It’s important to first know what it is you are doing.

How to use your calendar effectively

So now that you know what are doing. Look at your calendar and begin to estimate (unless you know without a doubt how long your actions take you) time for each. Then look at your calendar and review how much open space you have and then begin to choose where you’d like to put your actions.

This is where the rubber meets the road and where you may go “Oh no! I don’t have any open time.” Or “I have hardly any open time.” There in lies the problem and why you aren’t getting things done and feel that things are piling up. Or as one of my clients said to me: “I feel like my to dos follow me around.”

Ultimately to use your calendar effectively here is what you need:

• Know what you are doing
• How long something takes to do
• Have set times for specific actions/tasks (some examples are: Marketing Mondays, Sales/Consult Calls 10:00am-2:00pm Tuesday, Client Delivery every M/W/F from 10:00am-3:00p and Admin daily from 8:30am-9:30am and a weekday (end of week) wrap up session from 4:30-5:00p)
• Everything entered into the calendar ahead of time

Once you learn how to manage your calendar time will seem to expand for you. Once you can get out of overwhelm and into better focus you’ll be able to reach your business goals so much easier.

Do you struggle with doing playing Whack A Mole? Would you like to create a calendar that works for your business? I’ve played the Whack A Mole game and it isn’t fun. This is why I offer complimentary Business Blueprint Sessions. You’ll leave your session clear on what it is you are doing and when it’s best for you to do. This way you’ll be able to get it done! This session is my gift to you. I do this because I am committed to helping small business owners lead themselves with less stress and more success.