4 Simple Time Management Tips

By keeping a record of thoughts and conversations, you are able to free up valuable headspace to focus on what’s important. This strategy will assist you in reducing clutter, which can easily devour precious work time. By de-cluttering your mind you will improve your productivity.

A wise man once said, “I use this for memory”, gesturing to a note pad and pen, “…and this for thought and creativity” gesturing to his mind. So it’s time to start working wisely.

2. Use efficient organisation tools

There are so many productivity apps in the marketplace, almost too many, that our search for the best tools is starting to become counterproductive. It is easy to spend too much time researching apps, considering their features and how they may work for the business. To save you precious time and assist you in the search for efficient organisation tools, we would like to introduce you to the amazing application, Wunderlist!

Wunderlist is a simple app to keep things together in one place. Tasks, projects, stock lists etc. This app stores everything in the cloud, giving you the flexibility to access data from multiple devices and by multiple people.

Key features:

• Share lists with team players and update tasks in real time.
  This is a particularly useful feature if your team is working remotely, as team players are able to assign daily tasks that appear on their smart devices immediately.
• Set due dates and reminders so you do not forget anything.
• Share tasks for others to complete, via email
• Print task lists
• Allow managers and employees access to your business lists. For example, you could have a “stock order list” which is able be updated in real time from either on-site or from the supply store, to save multiple trips and miscommunication

It can also be used as a personal brain-unloading tool, if you wish to keep your lists private.

3. Learn to be an effective delegator

One of the biggest obstacles business owners face is learning when to seek help from the team, when certain projects become too much to handle.

It’s important to know when to hand over tasks or projects to your team, to allow you more time to handle the high-touch projects. In order to be able to delegate, it is important to ensure there is clear communication and trust in the team member taking over the task.

It is also important to ensure that there has been adequate training to guarantee the work being delegated is executed with the same high standard. When projects aren’t completed sufficiently or communication falters, it could lead to setbacks in which effective training could have prevented. Invest time into your team during the quieter periods, so you can delegate confidently during the busy season

4. Avoid multi-tasking

Many business owners believe that multi-tasking will allow them to accomplish more throughout the day. Here’s something to consider however…research published in the Psychonomic Bulletin and Review showed that only 2.5% of people are able to successfully multi-task, as one activity tends to be done poorly.

So many time management experts suggest focusing on one task at a time to reduce the chances that one project will have to be redone.

As an ancient Chinese proverb states, “The man who chases two rabbits catches neither”