by: Norio De Sousa
If you're finding yourself going through entire days without achieving anything. If you're tired at the end of the day but can't remember the last time you did something important - then this article is for you.
It's very easy, when you're starting your company, to lose track of time.
I, for one, can spend hours thinking about what I should do next without actually doing anything. I find it very easy to amuse myself by myself - but that doesn't help my company at all!
The question is, how do you stop yourself from wasting precious hours in your day?
How do you get things done?
The first thing you should do is create a list of important tasks that need to get done for each day. So, before you go to bed each night, spend some time writing down just SIX things that are important to do the next day.
I personally don't mind if they're personal goals or business goals. As long as I do at least SIX things each day that bring me closer to achieving my goals in life.
So, for me, a typical list might look like this:
1. Practise guitar for 1/2 hour
2. Invoice clients
3. Buy accounting package
4. Spend 2 hours on Project X (Where Project X is the name of a particular project I'm working on
5. Automate web site subscriptions
6. Re-write salesletter for front-page
It looks pretty easy doesn't it? It isn't. It takes a lot of discipline to get just 6 important things done each day.
When I first started doing this, I had a lot of motivation to get these things done, so my business grew in leaps & bounds. The problem is that I eventually got demotivated and started losing track of my time.
I started spending hours just reading email, posting on forums and generally doing things that weren't helping me achieve more!
Until today, that is. I've started a new "plan" to ensure I don't mysteriously "lose time".
It's a simple plan really. All you need is an exam pad and a pen. Then, down the left of the front page, write down time slots in half-hour increments like this:
06h00
06h30
07h00
07h30
08h00
...
...
21h00
21h30
22h00
Then, as each half hour passes, quickly jot down in a word or three what you spent it doing.
This is going to help you see where all your time is wasted and will also give you something to answer to. If you're checking up on yourself every half hour (by jotting down what you've done), you'll find yourself more disciplined to do the things that count.
This is a very basic technique taught in many time-management classes, tapes and CDs and it works wonders. I never tried it out until now but if you do it, and you're honest with yourself, you'll quickly find out why you're not getting any REAL work done!
Those 2 techniques together have helped me grow my business much faster than my previous self would have.
When you're an employee - you don't mind wasting a few hours here and there but when you have to put food on the table each month, suddenly your hours start being your most important assets!
I hope this helps you! Good luck :)