A helpful post to make you feel super focused to tackle anything that may come your way…go get ’em people! If you have killer time management tips to share, please do leave a Comment.

1.      It’s all about attitude!

To successfully deal with time pressures is to acknowledge your actions. If you repeatedly tell yourself and peers (and Twitter, and Facebook!) that you don’t have enough time or that there’s too much to do, your negativity and delaying tactics (making yet another cup of coffee) will become your shackles.
Action: Focus on what you can definitely achieve, not just “like to”.

2.      Clear the decks!

Does your desk constantly look like a paper factory explosion? Always looking for documents and notes that you know you had “just a minute ago”?  A messy desk (ahem), *isn’t* the sign of a genius as some say but a disorganised system robbing you of valuable time because you can’t put your hand to vital information…quickly!
Action: Take 10 minutes at the end of your day to tidy up your desk, file papers and capture tomorrow’s most important tasks. If you attended a networking meeting that day, ensure any business cards handed over don’t languish forgotten in the pocket of your briefcase or bag.

3.      Tactical Tasking

If you look at your To Do list and it appears overwhelming, firstly stay calm! Chunk several small tasks together i.e. a phone call, make an appointment or two, pay a bill and whittle down the filing pile for a quick win in 30 minutes max. It’s surprising what you can achieve when you start “chunking” your workload. Eliminating smaller jobs will give you the motivation to face up to that bigger project you have been repeatedly putting off.
Action: Use the 30 minute Tactical Tasking rule and “chunk”!!

4.      Prioritisation

I know this sounds obvious!  But…all too often we leave ourselves with a huge task to do, without enough time to complete it…o my gosh, you chipped your nail polish, the dog ate your keyboard or…whatever!  You know you’ve been procrastinating and so the job becomes rushed. You become defensive and irritable because you know you should have done the work days ago. You become super stressed when you acknowledge that the job is not to your usual high standards and contains errors because you didn’t have time to check it.
Action: Review your objectives and make a list of “Must Have”, “Nice to Have” and “Ongoing”. As you tick each project off with glee, channel in from “Nice to Have” and “Ongoing”. Why not take advantage of technology and find the right software or an app such as Evernote to help you keep on track?

5.      Schedule & Focus, Focus, Focus

Commit to blocking out regular slots of time in your calendar to complete important work and focus on the job in hand. It’s too easy to be distracted by social media and YouTube videos of cute kittens dancing in saucers of cream! If you have a call answering service, forward calls for an hour or so. Absolutely forbid yourself from reading or responding to emails, tweets or LinkedIn notifications within your allotted time.
Action: Congratulate yourself for each job well done, stress-free and procrastination free!

On a final note, it is SO not an admission of defeat to say you feel overwhelmed or stressed running your business. None of us are superhuman and I outsource my personal/domestic tasks to keep my home life running smoothly. If I didn’t, I would be a disorganised mess with an unironed Cape and unpolished Super Boots but, more importantly, unable to help my clients with the things that I do best. 

If you are looking for a professional resource that can help you manage your time more effectively and let you focus ON your business, please don’t hesitate to connect with me either on my website or blog – thank you for reading this article.