How To Have More Time as an Entrepreneur

When you think about time, we’re all provided the same 24 hours in a day, yet we each use them so differently and it’s this use of time that is the key determinant in our level of success in life and, in particular, in business.  Indeed, one of the biggest differences between entrepreneurs that make a huge amount of money compared to those that remain struggling is based on how they use their time.

The truth is, you can’t get more time.  You can’t create or destroy time – you can only utilise or waste it.  There’s no shop where you can purchase a few extra hours for that particular day, each and every day has 24 hours, each hour has 60 minutes, and each minute has 60 seconds.  Your level of success is determined by how much value you squeeze out of each second of your day.

See, when you waste a few seconds, they quickly turn into minutes, and these wasted minutes turn into hours, and before you know it, it’s early evening and you look back at your day wondering why it feels you haven’t made any progress.  

The title of this post is how to have more time as an entrepreneur, but you can’t “have” more time – you, therefore, need to utilise your time more efficiently and effectively.  See, poor time management is likely one of the most significant issues that are stifling your business, yet they are so easy to address.

1. Be more efficient

If we use the metaphor of fuel, picture yourself having a transportation business – and giving each driver a fuel card that meant each day they would have to go the fuel station, park up, wait in line, pay the attendant, wait for the fuel to be dispensed, get back in the vehicle and recommence their journey.

If time is money, and in business it often is, we need to be more efficient.  For instance, you could buy in a number of gas oil drums to have ready and waiting at the depot, and employ someone to fill up each vehicle on arrival – or even put in an automated system.

The point is, you need to find ways to streamline and optimise your time; as otherwise, you’re always going to be running short on the most precious resource of all, because you’re going to be running around doing odd jobs here there and everywhere.

2. Laser focus

Many times, we spread ourselves too thinly across multiple projects.  As an entrepreneur, you often have to wear multiple hats but it’s really important to focus on one task at a time – like a laser, rather than a floodlight.  You need to concentrate all your energy and focus on that one task, get it done, then move onto the next task.

3. Batch tasks

Multitasking can be a valuable skill, yet it can severely hamper your productivity.  The concept of batch tasking takes into account the fact you can decrease distraction and increase concentration by focusing on a single task at a time, yet when you batch similar tasks together, your efficiency skyrockets as you’re in that particular zone of thought.  

For instance, writing five letters in a batch will be much faster than writing a letter, then dealing with an accountancy issue, then writing another letter.  Bask tasks into aligned genres or categories in order to power through them with great speed.

Header image: Pixabay.com

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