Organizational skills are perhaps the most undervalued trait of successful business men and women. Today's business environment requires its leaders to manage the incredible amount of information from different sources they are inundated with each day and to be able to process it effectively. Here are 10 techniques and strategies that you can use to manage your time more effectively:
- COMPLETE A BUSINESS AUDIT EACH MONTH
Take a look at your business and make a note of your top priorities for each day/week/month. Make a decision on where you want to focus your energy and then look at everything else you have been doing and decide what to do with it. - DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
Work out what areas you add the most value to the business and make a decision that at least 80 per cent of your time will be spent on these activities. - DELEGATE
Let go of the reins and delegate your work more often. Whatever task you do from now on ask yourself "Should I really be doing this?" and "Can someone else do this instead?" - OUTSOURCE (VIRTUALLY)
You and your staff do not need to do everything you know! Nike doesn't actually make shoes! Could you outsource some of your tasks and operation to a third party outsider? - PERSONAL ORGANIZATION
Make proper use of TO DO lists and your diary - make using them a habit. Can you automate any tasks like getting email on your mobile phone? - PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
By simplifying your business and your processes you can make it a lot easier to run and this in turn will lead to saving you a lot of time. - IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS
You will get the most out of your staff and save yourself a lot of time in the process if you can communicate what you want in a clear, concise manner. Assertiveness skills will also allow you to say "NO" in the right way to requests and will allow you to manage the frequent interruptions that you get on a daily basis. - FOCUS ON STRATEGY
Know where you are heading and why you want to get there. This will keep you focused on what is important. Continually revisit your strategy to make sure you keep on track and away from all of the distractions. - IMPORTANT AND URGENT TASKS ARE NOT THE SAME
As soon as you can make this distinction you will be able to categorize your tasks accordingly and know what to do with each one. - KEEP ON IT!
Keep analyzing where you are spending your time on a monthly basis and make adjustments to what you should be doing and how you are doing it. We all stray off track from time to time so don't beat yourself up about it, just take stock and move forward.
There are so many distractions in today's world of business technology that few people manage their time effectively. Cell phones, PDA's, email, RSS News feeds, the Internet, online meetings, software updates, the telephone, conference calling, and online bill pay, all created to make our work more productive, can make time much less manageable if not used wisely .
As people try to get more activities crammed into their lives and more business accomplished, scheduling, managing, and prioritizing tasks has become even more critical.
There is a broad difference between quantity and quality when it comes to managing the use of our time. Few business owners spend a fraction of time managing their own time compared to watching the activity of employee's time.
Imagine the feeling at the end of the day, knowing you accomplished everything you set out to do and made the best use of your time.
Imagine having a plan for each day that actually worked!
Imagine completing each task, that was most important to you everyday based on what you said you want it to accomplish in your life to manifest your dreams and your purpose.
Imagine not managing time any more (what a relief), but managing a To Do List driven by the importance of your goals.
I'm going to let you in on a little secret: It's not about TIME!
Get my eBook here: "Effective Time Management Strategies-The Secrets to Control Your Time"-this eBook will give you the strategies and tools you need to get the fulfillment and balance you should be receiving from each day.
To Your Success,
Coach Steve Toth
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