Tips for Effective Time Management for the Self-Employed
These come from a successful internet marketer named Travis Sago:
If you are self-employed or run a business from home, here are some helpful tips on how to maximize your time and have more energy at the end of your day and week:
Good morning! Good to be hanging out with you again. How are your project(s) going? Well...I hope! You are doing at least one right? If you are GREAT! If not, listen, no scolding from me. I know how hard it is to find the time & energy. And when and if you get a few moments... you want to spend them on yourself...yeah? I know! I battled this for years. So this week's project is about MAKING TIME and finding ENERGY. Now...don't boo me! Please. If you can make an extra 2 hours a week and GET A PROJECT done. Then you've just added to your income just as much if I gave you another "do this do that" project details... Right? And please know...if you haven't done any of the projects yet... THIS may be the MOST important project YET! Okay? Cool! So... Here's the BIG question. Where can you find the time to squeeze in these projects into your schedule? ...and sometimes more importantly how can you find the energy and motivation? (Now I could just say wake up earlier and watch less tv, but we all know that is like trying to stay on a diet. It works great. But not long term.) Now...I am no "time expert" and didn't go to business school but these are the ways I was able to free up enough time to work on my business despite working 60 to 70 hours a week for my boss...and finally find my freedom. See, Freedom is like a rocket that expends most of its fuel(time) & energy getting off the launching pad and breaking through the earths atmosphere. So here's my tips for getting off the launching pad. They worked for me and... I pray they work as well for you too. 1. Hire it out! Sometimes I really think my gardener is responsible for my success. Seriously. I started having success once I started spending the time I used to spend on mowing, raking, trimming, and all other outside chores... on my business. Even better... It has the DOUBLE BENEFIT of leaving you with EXTRA ENERGY! My gardener costs roughly $100 a month. That is ONE PROJECT. Think about that! And since the projects are residual. Once you have done the one project. Your "gardener is paid for" and you are still free to do more and more projects. (It's like you are getting your lawn mowed free now.) I can say it is truly AMAZING how much I got done and how much better my frame of mind was/is after I got that monkey off my back. So what is your biggest "time monkey"? Can you hire it out? I BET YOU CAN! And yes. I know you have to be concerned about affordability. Obviously...some things like hiring out the cooking...would be quite expensive. ...and if that is a big time monkey...you might have to wait until you have a few projects under your belt:-) But, I bet there is at least one or two monkeys that you CAN get off your back RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!! Imagine if you just didn't have to do the laundry? Don't just say you can't afford it okay? Do some calling around, get some estimates, you will probably be quite SURPRISED. You can hire a book keeper to pay the bills or have them all debited electronically. If you REALLY can't afford to hire the whole house cleaned. Have just the bathrooms and kitchen done...or just the vacuuming. Did you know most towns, even my tiny town has errand services. Yes! You can hire someone to take your dry cleaning in or pick it up. Take fido to the vets...etc...for like $10 an hour! There is a wonderful benefit to this too, that I think can only be believed when you experience the phenomenon... And that is the feeling that you "start to see some light at the end of the tunnel" which gives you even more energy!...more time and accelerates you faster to becoming the SUCCESS that you have dreamed of for so long. You can actually see the launching pad BELOW YOU NOW! And can start seeing the blue sky ahead. Then with the momentum. You get more monkeys off your back. And become what people think is like this "human dynamo". Now, a WORD OF WARNING! Do NOT try and hire family members or just delegate to family members. Maybe your family is different than mine. I love them dearly, but I tried to have Eric mow the lawn and it caused way MORE problems, MORE headaches and MORE stress. He would forget. Wouldn't do his best work. Or moan and complain the whole time. Far easier to find a professional gardener and PAY HIM...okay?...just believe me. 2. Get 20 minutes a day exercise! This one is HUGE! If you are not getting exercise already take your first time savings and BEFORE you invest that time in anything else. Invest it in focused exercise. Running around doing errands or chasing kids ...does NOT count. My exercise routine SAVED MY MARRIAGE as well as gave me a ton of EXTRA TIME and EXTRA ENERGY. Here's why: I was working myself to death mostly 70 hour work weeks or more when you added my "on call" time. And I was sooooo grumpy...agitated and sometimes just downright nasty to my family. I felt under so much pressure and stress. Jeannie and I would argue about something silly for nearly an hour or more a week. I am so ashamed when I think about it now. and...I knew...and thankfully Jeannie knew that I was not my "happy go lucky" self. One evening we decided to go out and play some badminton in the yard...and we were running around acting like fools and just having a great time. And afterwards...I just FELT so good...elated even... That's when it really hit me...that I had completely abandoned all of my exercise. So...I made a commitment to walk, run, do tae bo, ANYTHING for at least 20 minutes a day. Not even for my health. Just because it put me in a better frame of mind. I became a NEW MAN (according to Jeannie) . Really my old self. But...it made such a dramatic difference in my outlook on life. The way I treated my family improved dramatically. And... I also got a multitude of SIDE BENEFITS. **Just NOT arguing over dumb stuff gave me HOURS every month...and UNTOLD amounts of energy. I don't know about you, but arguments are completely energy draining for me. **With a clearer mind, I made less mistakes at work and at home that saved me many hours of redoing or fixing mistakes. (I forgot the electric bill once for example that wastes about six hours!) **My very best and most profitable ideas come to me when I am exercising. **and I could go on and on... Where do you start? With what you know...or what you think would be fun. Fast walking. Getting the Pilates DVD you've been wanting Taking that martial arts class Getting back on that rusty bike etc... Just make sure there is aerobic benefit to it. When I started I could barely run a mile. Today...I am running 15 miles a week and weight training 3 days a week. Which I am doing because I want to. And because by doing 1 and 2 above and using that time to build my business ...I now have the time! 3. I am sure you have heard of make a list and put priorities on your list...etc...etc. You know. That really works. When you do it. I just can't do it consistently. I think it has something to do with "taking my freedom" away. Weird huh? Even though I made the list. When I go to do it the next day...I feel like I am my own slave! I know I still have work to do in that area. In the meantime...this really has helped me. TIME CHUNKING. If you break up your day...you usually have only a few categories of stuff that you do. Remember when you can to "hire out" any time monkeys that you can. But for example one of my big ones is "correspondence"... For email I do this once in the morning and once in the evening. (I used to do it like 12 times a day) I also have Private Messages from forums which I am trying to answer once per week. etc... But the key is to think about...or even better to write down what you do in a day...and categorize it. Then try to put them into continous blocks of time. This is so much more efficient...and for me doesn't have the same restrictions as writing a priority list. (I do use a list of stuff that I MIGHT forget that is different from the norm of my day) If you can use the priority list method, by all means use it. Otherwise... This may be your alternative because you are still forced to look at how you are spending your time and can't help but notice that if your main goal is to get more visitors to your blog...that answering email ain't gonna help ya a bit. So... Here's your project for the week (repeat as necessary) 1. Get one time monkey off of your back! 2. Once you have that time monkey off...put the first time savings into your EXERCISE PROGRAM. ***remember, this will make MORE TIME not less! it is counter-intuitive************ DO IT THIS WEEK! okay? After you have your exercise program in place. Put that time into your PROJECTS. You should not only have time now. But, feel invigorated, refreshed and ready! 3. Chunk your time into similar activities. Don't spend your precious business building time checking sales statistics 15 times a day. Okay? Cool? I hope I didn't come off as a smart alec, or a know it all during this project. That certainly is not my intent. This is what has worked for me. It has worked way better than I could have ever imagined. And I wanted, in my excitement, to share with you.