If you recently entered the world of entrepreneurship, you probably heard people talking about time management and its importance. However, if you still haven’t found the time to check what the term is used for and what exactly it covers, we at EWOR have prepared a brief introduction to this underrated, yet very essential business skill.

What is Time Management?

Time management is about organising and planning how to divide the time you spend on certain activities. It’s crucial for better performance and good organisation skills. When starting your own business, a to-do list may seem endless and impossible to finish. However, with good organisation skills, everything can be doable.

The idea behind this clever organisational strategy is to divide your activities based on their significance and complexion. Tasks and assignments that are more time-consuming need more attention, while simple, easy ones can be done within 15–30 minutes.

Therefore, you need to create a plan or a schedule based on your activities. Then divide the time given to get the most efficient results. Not only is time important for achieving the set goals, but it can also give you an advantage in reaching a successful business built from scratch.

If you invest in your time, it will reward you with enough opportunities as you mark off your success. Remember, it is all about well-thought out organisation!

Why is Time Management Important for Entrepreneurs?

The development of technology brought a lot of benefits and made modern living seem easier. Because fast travelling information is just one click away, life keeps progressing faster than ever before.

Contrary to this remarkable evolution, many people struggle to balance their everyday life and keep up with their busy schedule.

For entrepreneurs, this may be overwhelming, because when starting their own business, they become pressured with a lot of new information. Every beginning is hard and starting a company from scratch is difficult. That’s why time plays an important role in the everyday life of an entrepreneur.

Quality of Good Time Management

If you’ve already started your business, you probably know that by now. Even if you’re dealing with deadlines or have only a short period to perform certain activities, if you stay well-organised, there is not a single task you can’t do!

It’s not about the quantity of time you have, it’s the quality that matters. That is why efficiency is another achievement on the list of excellent time managers’ possessions.

If you invest a lot of time in something that gives you no profit or few results, it’s better to change your strategy and invest time into something else. Something that takes less time, but brings more benefits.

Time Management Techniques Anyone Can Learn

Imagine if you could save some time while preparing your breakfast in the morning or travelling to work. Prepare your meal the night before or consider working from home, if possible, to increase the time you have left until the end of the day.

Even if you save just 5 minutes a day, it would still result in 25 minutes in an entire week and about 100 minutes in a month. This means, you’ll save over one hour to spend on actions crucial for building a sustainable and successful business.

These skills include productivity, curiosity, creativity ,and communication. It may be overwhelming at first, but looking on the bright side, anyone can learn how to do it. With practice, you can master time management too!

Anyone can learn how to manage their time better. We even thought of some actions you can take in order to improve it.

Productivity and Time Management Tools

If you already are a subscriber of EWOR or you follow our mission, you may have encountered the Top 10 Productivity Tools for Entrepreneurs. We prepared that post to help you improve your productivity. It will create more time for more important things listed on your schedule.

The primary goal of time management is not to cut your tasks and assignments. It’s not even necessary to extend the day from 24 to 48 hours. We are not magicians, and such great power is beyond our reach. Still, there is something we can do to create more time for taking action that matters.

 5 Easy Time Management Tricks to Increase Your Productivity

Time is money, and it’s worth more than ever, so here is how you can raise your profit:

1. Turn repetitive actions into an everyday routine. There are a lot of things we do every day without being aware of them: waking up, brushing our teeth, dressing up, etc. Although it sounds trivial, making sure we create a consistent and easy flow by doing the routine step by step can create more time we can use for doing more important things.
   
   Once your brain gets used to the routine, you will automatically follow through it step by step. You won’t waste too much time on planning your next step. Thus, creating more free time in the morning for you to sleep longer. You can do some revision before starting your workday as well.
   
   Maybe you can even make coffee at home! You won’t have to spend extra money for it on your way to the office.
   
   
2. Schedule your week ahead of time–We have already shared time management tools and how they can help you manage your time. One of the most important tools is you! Have you ever seen people sharing their weekly meal-prep? Or even noticed how proud they are of their weekly gym plan? Then you probably know where this step is taking us.
   
   Every Friday afternoon, create a list of major tasks that should be completed and schedule them accordingly. This can be done over the weekend, if you prefer. Create Weekly Wednesdays, where you will go through your last week’s report. Or reserve Mondays for making a good online marketing strategy. Boost your content marketing by creating a brainstorming session with other team members.
   
   
3. Make sure you leave easier tasks for last–Based on Mark Twain’s famous quote: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Brian Tracy wrote a book called – Eat that frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time – that explores the frog technique and helps you stop procrastinating.
   
   The main idea is to eat the frog first thing in the morning, before continuing with your day. This so-called frog technique, where the frog represents the most difficult, time-consuming, and most important tasks set for that day, has been proven to increase productivity and keep people focused on the most important tasks.
   
   If you do them first, the hardest part of your to-do list will be done while you are still fresh and rested. Everything else will seem like a piece of cake, and who doesn’t like desserts?
   
   
4. Take brief breaks in between your tasks and avoid multitasking. Although multitasking can benefit your brain, studies have shown that it’s not effective, especially when completing serious and challenging tasks. A person who is focused on one assignment at a time and moves to something else after finishing the first one always performs better than the person who keeps jumping from one assignment to the other.
   
   Multitasking distracts us from our job and lowers our performance. Make sure you follow your to-do list step by step. Take breaks in between your activities to help your brain recharge and get ready for the next challenge.
   
   
5. Create a safe place for your personal things. Lost your keys again or can’t find your wallet? Try creating a safe place for certain things you use every day, for example: wall keyholder.
   
   Every time you enter your home, just like you would hang your jacket, hang your keys as well. Keeping your wallet in the bowl with fruit will make it harder to lose it at home. That way, you will always have an eye on your things and won’t have to waste time thinking about them.
   
   When was the last time you saw your pen? Where did you leave your car keys? If you follow this simple advice given above, you will never ask yourself those questions again.

Don’t Forget to Make Time for Yourself

Starting an entrepreneurship journey is stressful. Apart from your everyday tasks, you have extra assignments to take care of, and for that, you need a certain amount of rest as well. While good time management can help you improve your schedule and open more time for business growth, take care of your health. Hard work is not efficient without a healthy diet and enough sleep. After all, you, too, deserve a suitable reward for coming this far and not running late.