10 Steps To Effective Time Management

Time management: it’s an age-old problem (lol). When you go it alone, you have to be able to keep track of your own time and hold yourself accountable.

Even with all the technology in the world at their fingertips, even tech start-ups are notorious for having poor time management. Here are 10 tips to help you manage your time just a little better (from a team that uses Cake Wednesdays and drinks trolleys on Fridays to tell which day of the week it is...).

1. UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH TIME YOU HAVE

The first thing you need to establish is how much time you have in a day to spend. Be honest with yourself: how long do you spend checking and replying to emails? How much of your 9-5 schedule is devoted to meetings? Was that 15-minute cuddle on the floor with the office dog necessary? (the answer to this one is yes, absolutely.)

Once you have worked out your limits, you can then start to allocate the time you need to spend on different aspects of your business. It sounds simple but many of us overlook this simple step. Fore-planning will save you a lot of heartache. And think about your route to work. Our brand new Aldgate East site is 2 minutes from the tube station and easy to get to on the Elizabeth Line — talk about a time saver.

2. PUT A VALUE ON YOUR TIME

“Time is money” as the old saying goes and it's time to put a price on yours. Not only will this help in the overall costings of your startup but it will also allow you to manage your workload. Price correctly and your business will reap the rewards; under-price and you may end up working too long on the low-value jobs. Time is a limited resource and expensive: managing your time is one of the hardest aspects of running your own business. You can find out more information for new businesses.

3. PRIORITISE

We’ve all been there: that annoying, niggly job that’s a high priority you can’t face starting. Guess what? It won’t go away! You must be courageous now: put on your wellies and get stuck in. Why not tackle it head-on and get it filed?

While most small businesses are pretty good at multi-tasking by nature, research shows that prioritising for better time management will help you stay in control. Finding it hard to motivate yourself to prioritise? Try using a personal reward system.

Every time you do a good job or accomplish a significant task, reward yourself in small proportions. A good place to start is rewarding yourself for meeting goals that are of reasonable size.

That’s right, we give you permission to purchase that bottle of wine.

4. MAKE REASONABLE TO-DO LISTS

Let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than busying yourself with a hundred jobs to do and never reaching the end. Make reasonable to-do lists, with your time limitations in mind, and feel the positivity that ticking off each completed task brings.

Don’t worry if your list isn’t a mile long – shorter lists are actually better. Breaking large projects into smaller iterations shows clear progress and will motivate you as you move toward the final product.

If you continually set yourself unreasonable goals, you will only slow yourself down, and the negative vibes of having an unfinished list can do serious damage to your self-confidence. Here are some more top tips on creating to-do lists.

5. BE DECISIVE

Decide each day what the goals are by order of importance (deadline, the volume of work, etc.) and stick to them. If you work in a shared office, avoid unnecessary conversations until you’ve done your task. Don’t get stuck on long telephone calls when you have a deadline looming and write short, polite responses to emails to keep lines of communication open.

Once you have made up your mind about which tasks are to be completed, stop deliberating! Second-guessing is just another name for procrastination.

6. STAY FOCUSSED
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Try not to let distraction get the better of you. Staying focused on the particular job at hand is key to your success as a small business start-up. Try staying focused for short amounts of time, say 20 minutes at a go, and then have a short break before diving in again. Being mindful of how long you have to spend per task will help ensure you stay within your timeframes. Alexander Cohan writes:

It’s easy to get distracted by seemingly urgent items that come up, particularly if you already know how to handle them. For example, I see questions come in from customers all day long that I could quickly answer with the particular perspective I’d want on the response. I shouldn’t though,  I need to focus on the important (but less obvious) tasks I’ve apportioned to myself for the day and let the customer’s assigned manager handle the question.

7. EMBRACE TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY

There is an abundance of online time management tools available like ClickUp and Toggl to name just two, you’re spoiled for choice! There are apps for monitoring how much time you spend on certain tasks, there are sprint timers, there are apps for blocking procrastination websites, there are apps for days. Lifehack recommends their 10 best apps.

8. RECOGNISE STRESS

While some stress like adrenaline may actually drive you to achieve targets on time, too much stress makes effective working impossible. This article sums up the issue of time and stress,

There are lots of things people can do to cut down on stress. Most people probably even know what they could do. It’s not the lack of knowing what to do in order to cut down stress; it is doing what you know you have to do.

Stress may lead you to waste time worrying about how you go about a project, and will even lower your productivity. And so, we recommend that you…

9. …TAKE BREAKS!

Be mindful that stress and time go hand in hand and if not managed correctly you can end up feeling like you have even less time to achieve your goals.

Recognise that being stretched for time is an unpleasant feeling and negativity is the ultimate productivity monster. Don’t rush things, take regular breaks and work systematically through your list of jobs to do in order of priority. Taking short regular brain breaks will make sure you’ll feel less tired at the end of the day and will probably achieve a lot more in the meantime. Be aware of your capabilities and mindful of your workload.

10. FINISH ON TIME

Stick to your deadlines and never make excuses – remember that if you keep avoiding work, it will eventually pile up. Tackling work as and when it comes in will help you be more efficient – but do remember to leave the office at a reasonable time. Tiring yourself out is never a good idea, and being kind to yourself is part of the entire philosophy of good time management.

Hopefully, our tips should have given you a better idea of how to manage your time and of the steps that you need to take in order to improve your overall productivity.

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