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Setting Priorities: How to Stop the Clock!

March 19, 2012 By Gail Gardner 30 Comments

This is a guest post from Christopher Wallace, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Amsterdam Printing, one of the nation’s largest providers of promotional products for businesses large and small.

Table of Contents

  • Tips for Managing Your Time to Make Your Business More Productive
  • Time management tips to conserve your most valuable asset
  • 1) Prioritize.
  • 2) Make a schedule and stick to it.
  • 3) Avoid multitasking.
  • 4) Never be afraid to delegate.
  • Gail Gardner
  • Latest posts by Gail Gardner (see all)

Tips for Managing Your Time to Make Your Business More Productive

Even though we all use digital calendars, having a Giant Desk pad to jot down important notes is still highly useful. Consider giving your clients Promotional Calendars featuring your business logo, URL and phone number. Great way to stay top of mind with your customers! ~ 2013 Calendars already 20% Off

You are a small business owner and you have many irons in the fire. If someone asks you to identify your most valuable asset, how hard do you have to think before coming up with an answer?

If you have to think hard, you are probably not thinking clearly.

For most small business owners,
the answer is as easy
as it is obvious—
your most valuable asset is your time.

No doubt you’ve often heard the old adage “Time is money.” And yet all too often small business owners are finding themselves with way too much to do and not nearly enough time to get it all done.

As a result, they often are forced to work extra-long hours, leading to stress, frustration, and usually less than enough productivity to show for it.

Maybe this is because many of them don’t really think about managing their time properly. Everyone knows that valuable things need to be carefully protected. You are very protective of your money and your other tangible valuables.

Be protective of your valuable time!


Time management tips to conserve your most valuable asset


1) Prioritize.

  • Start with the realization that you don’t have enough time to do everything you can think of, or everything you would like to do, or even everything you think you need to do. So you first need to identify the things that matter most.
  • When you make your “to do” list, assign a value rating to each item.

Base an item’s value on how much it influences
customer satisfaction and/or how much
revenue it will generate for your business.

  • Then re-work the list so that the high-value items get done first.
  • Don’t do the lower-valued items until the high-value ones are finished! Do this on a daily basis.

It is NOT wasting time to spend the first 30 minutes of
every day setting priorities and carefully planning your day.

2) Make a schedule and stick to it.

  • After you make your priority list, develop a schedule to get the tasks done. Assign a timetable and stick to it as closely as you possibly can. Realize that unexpected events will happen and some flexibility will be needed. But developing a routine is very important and there are smart ways to go about it.
  • Try to schedule important meetings on the same days of the week. This will let you get into a consistent pattern of being in the right frame of mind when they happen. And it will leave you more focused on the other days because you won’t be forced to lose your concentration or momentum by having to be diverted by meetings.
  • Do you know your peak times? For example, are you a “morning person”? If so, don’t schedule your most important tasks for afternoons.

Know the times when you are at your best and set your schedule
so that you do your most important work at those times.

3) Avoid multitasking.

  • Most small business owners try to do everything at once, thinking they will get done faster that way. But doing things fast doesn’t mean doing them well. Don’t fall into the “multitasking” trap!

Focus on tackling one thing at a time and when you do so,
give it your full, undivided, and yes, even intense attention.

  • Most importantly, give yourself breaks! After an intense 90-minute period of work, step away for a few minutes.

Give your brain a rest and re-charge your batteries so
that you can give that next task the full effort it deserves.

4) Never be afraid to delegate.

  • It’s only human nature for those of us in charge of running the show to also want to be personally involved in every facet of it. As a result, we often find ourselves wasting our time doing things that others can do just as well if not better.

Micromanagement is the worst time-killer of all
If you have employees, use them!

  • Train your employees or use their existing talents to manage the smaller things so that your time and energy can be focused on more important activities. 

If you don’t have enough of the right talent in-house,
don’t hesitate to outsource.

Running a small business is not easy. Business owners are busy owners. But being busy and making a business work are two different things.

Smart business owners are not afraid to take a good hard look
at their daily routines and ask themselves whether their hours
are being spent in the most productive way possible—
and if not, then do something about it.

Can you stop the clock? Maybe not completely, but if you manage your time smartly you can slow that clock down long enough to watch your business grow.


Christopher Wallace is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Amsterdam Printing, one of the nation’s largest providers of promotional products for businesses large and small. Amsterdam specializes in custom pens and other promotional items such as calendars, laptop bags and T-shirts. Christopher regularly contributes to Promo & Marketing Wall blog.


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Gail Gardner

Small Business Marketing Strategist at GrowMap
Gail Gardner is the founder of GrowMap.com. She is a Small Business Marketing Strategist who mentors small businesses, bloggers, and freelancers. After 23 years in the field with IBM and 5.5 years managing AdWords accounts, her focus shifted to small business marketing strategy. GrowMap.com is listed by Cision as a Top 100 Site for Marketers and has received three Small Business Influencer Awards from Small Business Trends. Named by D&B a Top 50 SMB Influencer on Twitter, you can follow Gail @GrowMap and on LinkedIn.
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Latest posts by Gail Gardner (see all)

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Filed Under: Increasing Productivity, Small Business Advice Tagged With: management tips, productivity, setting priorities, small business

Comments

  1. Mitch Carson says

    February 11, 2014 at 9:05 am

    Great Article. People will gained so much knowledge because of this! Thank You so much for sharing all these valuable Information.

    Reply
  2. Chuck says

    June 24, 2013 at 5:39 am

    The all important task of managing your time is something I am continually trying to improve. You have given some great tips here that I will now start to apply much more enthusiastically.
    Chuck would love you to read ..Who asks What Makes a Great Video Game?My Profile

    Reply
  3. Chuck Frankee says

    June 19, 2013 at 8:11 am

    Yes I agree with the points you made. One of the most important things is to have the ability to focus on an issue, until it is resolved. I presume this is what you mean by having to prioritize your schedule and follow through as well?
    Chuck Frankee would love you to read ..Who asks What Makes a Great Video Game?My Profile

    Reply
  4. austin says

    April 4, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    I like to work for awhile then take a short break, away from work, maybe grab something to eat, or have a coffee, then get back to it. makes my work more efficient.

    Reply
  5. Erwin says

    March 28, 2012 at 2:33 am

    Some solid tips… another suggestion would be breaking up tasks in half hours each with a 5 minute break. Something what the pomodoro technique does (go ahead Google it… its an interesting technique…)
    Erwin would love you to read ..What Is RSS? RSS Feed ExplainedMy Profile

    Reply
  6. Brian says

    March 26, 2012 at 7:06 pm

    Great tips and I agree about the caveat about multi-tasking. It’s a pure ADD fallacy. Anytime I try to multi-task, I end up not getting as much done as I could have by just focusing on one task. Even though I agree, I still find myself scattered sometimes and trying to accomplish many things at once. I think more than try to stay focused on one task of the many I have to do. I need to get rid of some of the other tasks so I won’t be tempted to tackle them.
    Brian would love you to read ..No More Landing Pages in the New Facebook Timeline? Facebook is Nuts!My Profile

    Reply
  7. David Sneen says

    March 24, 2012 at 1:28 am

    It is amazing how a bit of success can help one manage time! In the first two years of my blog, I had only limited success. I was easily distractable, and not likely to do anything in social media or my blog from one week to the next.

    Now, with visitors coming and commenting, I try and steal time to work on social media or my blog. It is something I enjoy doing!

    Reply
  8. Swamykant says

    March 23, 2012 at 3:50 am

    One task at any given time will surely improve our productivity as well as quality of work too.

    Reply
  9. Abe says

    March 21, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    Delegating is probably the hardest task I’ve seen people have problems with. A lot of people seem to be afraid to let go and put others in charge. But I believe if you put faith in your employees or co-workers, they will go above and beyond!

    Reply
  10. Andrea Hypno says

    March 21, 2012 at 3:35 am

    Very good post. I use some of them but surely I can improve especially regarding blogging where I tend to follow inspiration 90 percent of time. At least I’m able to stick to my schedule of one post per week. 🙂

    But surely being able to prioritize is a must do.

    Reply
  11. Paramedic Training says

    March 21, 2012 at 4:22 am

    I agree. After starting to run my own small business. Time managing is essential. I have so many things to do and so little time. I really don’t know what I would do without my calendar being connected with my phone.

    Reply
  12. Rick Castro says

    March 20, 2012 at 10:51 pm

    What’s important when it comes to working is that we have a clear understanding of what’s needed to be finished! Setting priorities is indeed very much needed..Thanks for the tips

    Reply
  13. Eric says

    March 20, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    I use these strategies at my day job, and they help me stay on top of my work. Making a prioritized list cannot be underestimated in terms of how much time it can save you. If you don’t make lists, you should start!

    Reply
  14. Sam says

    March 20, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    Time management is one of my biggest problems. I find that even when i set a schedule can’t keep up with it because i get distracted and i tend to procrastinate alot. I’m willing to try anything at this point so i appreciate the advice.

    Reply
  15. Rita says

    March 20, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    Those 30 minutes in the morning you spend planning can easily save you two hours during that day later on!
    Rita would love you to read ..Healthy Trim Reviews – What User’s Really ExperiencedMy Profile

    Reply
  16. Jim Jenks says

    March 20, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    Good points. I cut out multitasking a few months back and I’ve noticed that I get things done faster because I’m not taking the time to switch multiple times. I focus on one task and get it done before moving on to the next. All great points on prioritizing though, thanks.

    Reply
  17. Asher ross says

    March 20, 2012 at 9:42 am

    Time management is must if you want to achieve with defined with your business.

    Reply
  18. Robert Koenig says

    March 20, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    A rarely mentioned aspect of time management is knowing how to maximize FREE TIME. In a busy schedule, a few minutes of reprieve can be game changing. If you can pounce on a chance to get ahead or prepare for a future task, you get that task done more effectively and efficiently, giving you more moments of free time, giving you more time to prepare and get ahead… and so the process goes building on itself. Free moments are few and far between, I know, but being able to identify one and using it to be as productive as possible, the ease on your schedule will reverberate for days and days.

    Reply
    • Paul E. Lee says

      March 20, 2012 at 5:32 pm

      I completely agree with you Robert. It is not often that I think about how I can maximize my free time. Sometimes it is just so tempting to sit around and play a video game, like Starcraft or read a book and doing more work than necessary just seems overwhelming. I am glad that you mentioned this though, because then I know that I am not the only one who procrastinates! 😀

      Reply
  19. Jesslie says

    March 20, 2012 at 4:05 am

    It is very important to set the priorities we have because we need to know what is the purpose why we are doing things…
    Jesslie would love you to read ..I Am LanguageMy Profile

    Reply
  20. Tim says

    March 20, 2012 at 7:57 am

    Struggling to save time and increase personal productivity looks like an ongoing battle most of us have 🙂 And in order to win, you need a whole set of “weapons”. According to my own experience, there’s just no silver bullet that can make you organized and efficient in a blink of an eye. You need to mix and match various techniques in time management. Each of them might be a small one, but when combined, they might be really helpful.

    Reply
  21. Ejaz Alam says

    March 20, 2012 at 1:26 am

    Hi very nice post indeed about managing time . I agree to make a schedule but main problem with most of us is that we happily make schedules but ‘sticking’ to them gets us down. I expect a helping post on ‘How to stick to your schedule’ soon from you. Time is more precious than money of course. Thanks Christopher Wallace for the motivation.

    Reply
  22. dipesh says

    March 19, 2012 at 11:19 pm

    Time management is a key to success in all around field
    and as u mention “Time is money”.

    Reply
  23. Miranda says

    March 19, 2012 at 9:28 pm

    When we find ourselves already feeling overwhelmed with work, that’s a sign that we’re doing too much and accomplishing little. Sometimes, quality of work declines, too. So yes, if we can delegate smaller tasks to others, do!

    Reply
  24. James Whitey says

    March 19, 2012 at 6:48 pm

    Excellent article, I totally agree with everything written here. Also, one more important thing is called “schedule”. Having a schedule and following a schedule is always one great sollution for time-management problems, been there – tried this – solved that. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  25. stella says

    March 19, 2012 at 10:53 pm

    In my childhood my father teach me how to take your time in your hand…. actually this gonna happen only when you just set down your priorities order of work then it become easy to get hold on time space …..i completely agree with your post thanks

    Reply
  26. Becca says

    March 19, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    Multi tasking always lead to stress, i experience it many times. Now i know
    how to manage my time. And these are some great tips.

    Reply
  27. Sonia says

    March 19, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    Factor of multitasking vary from person to person and brain to brain, i think if someone can manage more than one task simultaneously, then it can be more productive. Anyways, well written article.
    Sonia would love you to read ..Sony Xperia Sola Unveiled and Comes With Android 2.3 Gingerbread.My Profile

    Reply
  28. Ryan Hanley says

    March 19, 2012 at 10:07 am

    Can’t agree with you more about the Multi-tasking (which I am doing right now… damn!).

    You feel more productive but that is just not the case. You’re not getting anything done. You’re treading water.

    I’m cutting multi-tasking out of my worklife TODAY!
    Ryan Hanley would love you to read ..Why Offering a Free eBook Can Destroy Your Email ListMy Profile

    Reply
  29. Andreas says

    March 19, 2012 at 10:51 am

    I recommend reading the “4 hour work week” by tim ferris. There’s a pretty good chapter on time management and how to work more efficiently etc.

    Reply

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