No matter why you'd like more time away from the day-to-day basics of your business, there's one sure solution that will allow you to get this extra time: saying no more often.
We're all victims of an inability to say no at one time or another. You don't want to say no to a project involved with your child's school, or you don't want to turn down work because you're afraid a client won't come to you again if you turn him or her down.
The truth is we all need to say no for the sake of our own sanity. If you say yes to everyone who asks something of you, you won't have time even for the basics that sustain your business.
You'll be working so hard for everyone else, doing things just because other people want you to, that you won't really be working for yourself anymore. You'll be in exactly the situation that you were trying to get away from when you started your own business!
The next time someone asks you to do something and you really don't want to do it, say no. Just plain no is a fine answer, but if they press, say you're too busy. It's true, because you're busy building the life of your dreams, which doesn't involve doing things just because someone asked you nicely.
You probably don't want to make a habit of turning down work, but if a client is consistently coming to you with work you don't want to do, that's a sign that you need to tell that client you don't want that kind of work or that you need to stop working for that person.
The ultimate goal is to remove from your life anything that doesn't fill you with passion and joy. If you aren't waking up with a smile, excited about what you get to do each day, then you need to start saying no a lot more often until that smile is glued to your face!
When you are happy about your work and your life, you're a better worker, partner, spouse and friend. Your work will get done faster and will be better. Best yet, your enthusiasm may very well be contagious, too.
I was always the type of person that had to arrive at an appointment 10 minutes early, make a time schedule for every job I had, make a list for the grocery store and keep track of every minute for every thing on my schedule, so for me, I lived in a world of time management. However, there are many people that have a problem with time. They run out of time for everything that they try to accomplish, the natural phrase that they have is, "I don't have time for anything or I ran out of time." Is this how you feel?
There are many tips and shortcuts to time management, the reason most of them are overlooked is because we tend to think that by doing some of these that we are wasting time. When in reality, by doing these simple steps, we become much more productive, not only in our home life but in our businesses as well. Try these and see how your productivity will increase and your stress level will decrease.
1. Set a Goal Make a list of everything that needs to be accomplished for that day. This will give you a starting point, a schedule of events and a time frame to do it in.
2. Keep track of wasted time We all need to take a break every once in a while during the day, but do you realize how many wasted minutes we tend to use up? Keeping on task is one of the faults of wasted time scheduling. Start a task and complete it and then you have earned your break. If it is a large task, break it down into smaller tasks and give yourself a break at the half way point. Then keep track of wasted minutes, when they were unproductive and why.
3. Interruptions It is inevitable that there are interruptions in our lives on a daily basis, but are they consuming time that we need to accomplish goals? If that is the case it is time to set some rules such as: Let the ringing telephone go to the answer machine and return the call later and the neighbor or business associate that stops in will have to call and set a time that is available to you.
Time management is the ability to reclaim the minutes in your day and to make them productive minutes and not time wasters. Once the list is made and the goal set you have total control over how it will be controlled. You set the limits as to how they will be used.
It makes everyday start out with a purpose and end with accomplishments that reduces stress, organizing your time and gives you a feeling of control.
Both Mike Mccoy & Jan Hayner are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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