Time management skills are a myriad of habits that need to be changed. It has to begin with the knowledge of habits required, such as being face to face in front of people, doing productive activities, planning your day ahead of time and not performing low priority activities.
All of these begin with forming great habits, so whatever they are, know that your habits control your time. In most cases, the core issue of changing habits comes down to having someone holding you accountable to your goals on a daily basis.
I was an Olympic runner and at the end of a work out my coach would come to me, go over my goals, and check if I had hit my times. I wanted to please him because I was being held accountable with nobody else to blame but myself.
People who work on their own have many opportunities to blame their lack of results on something else. However, when you look closer, their lack of results are often due to the inefficient habits they have formed and are consciously not aware of.
Such people can often do better with somebody holding them accountable to forming new goal orientated habits so for business professionals, solopreneurs, and entrepreneurs looking to gain more time during the day, I would say this.
At a minimum, they should have an organisational piece of technology like Evernote where they can put everything in, re-sort, plan and set goals at the end of each day.
Keep in mind that goals drive time management, so the number one tip in my professional opinion (after having seen this for twenty five years), is to focus on changing habits that rob you of your precious time.
It’s simple.
Identify the new habits you need to form, and get someone that will hold you accountable to stick to them.
That way, you can’t give yourself excuses and you’ll be more conscious of your performance throughout the day knowing that someone is going to call in the evening to check up on you.
So to end, the number one issue when looking to gain more time during your day is to form habits that keep you on track with growth building activities.
Most struggle to do it on their own, so consider getting the help of an accountability partner, or joining an accountability group. The aforementioned are great solutions when operating on a tight budget as both options are usually free, but be mindful of working with the right people, because your time, of all things, is not free.
Ideally, you’ll increase the chances of getting results when you have some ‘skin in the game.’ In other words, look at hiring a coach who amongst other things, can help you to gain more time during you working day.
Chuck Douglas, Business Success Training In Irving, Texas, USA
