Save Time with These 5 Strategies
Accomplish more in less time and become more efficient and effective
Let’s save some time by diving right into the strategies.
1. Bundle Routine Tasks
Being scattered and jumping from one activity to another without finishing anything is spending time. You save time using a process called “bundling.”
Instead of handling phone calls and e-mail as they arrive, think of these activities as interruptions, and remember, it can take up to 20 minutes to regain your focus when you are interrupted.
To save time, bundle them! Schedule specific times during the day to check and reply to e-mail and snail mail, handle phone calls, and tackle social media related to your business.
Set aside time on your calendar to handle these activities in blocks of time and focus solely on them when the assigned time comes around. You will work faster and get more done in less time.
Which of your routine tasks can you bundle?
2. Create Processes
Identify areas of your business that can be streamlined, and then create and implement processes that can help you work more efficiently. While it takes time now to do this, you will gain much more time later with these systems in place.
- Use a software or app to push your posts to social media and track blogs you are following.
- Add a contact management program to your website to handle automatic responses to your opt-in.
- Use an online scheduling tool, so people can set appointments and meetings with you.
What processes can you put in place to streamline your business?
3. Outsource Routine Tasks
What are you doing now that takes time away from actually working on your business? Are you creating your own web content, blog posts, or special reports instead of hiring a professional to do it? Are you struggling with website design instead of using a website developer? What are you doing that someone else could do easier, faster, and better?
You may believe that you cannot afford to hire help, but maybe that’s not true. Hiring experts to do what they do best frees you to work on the parts of your business that you do best and that only you can do — those parts of the business that produce revenue. If your fees are higher than the fees of the people you hire, you are making money by using them. I recommend that you use contractors rather than hire employees since there is less paperwork and reporting required for contractors.
Whether it is running the business while you are away, managing your contact list, or fulfilling orders, delegation is your best friend and one of the most important ways you can invest your time and money now to save time later.
The key to successful delegation is to clearly describe the results you expect, establish deadlines, and locate and vet potential candidates. When you delegate, however, you must hand over authority and decision making to the person to whom you have delegated the task. Check out the person’s qualifications, credentials, expertise, and references before making a decision.
Where do you need help?
What can you delegate to someone else?
4. Get More Done by Taking Breaks
No matter how sophisticated we have become technologically, we are still at the mercy of our bodies. Unlike computers, which can run 24 hours a day 7 days a week, we are subject to rising and falling cycles known as circadian rhythms. If you have suffered from jet jag, it’s because your circadian rhythms were skewed, and your body struggled to align itself after moving to and from different time zones.
According to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, “Circadian rhythms are physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle, responding primarily to light and darkness in an organism’s environment.”¹
The most noticeable cycle is the sleep cycle, but hormones also follow cycles as do processes like digestion. Where you are in a cycle determines how alert you are, how energetic you feel, and how much you can accomplish during that part of the cycle. For example, experiments have shown that when people get half the amount of sleep they need, their performance suffers as if they were drunk. Light also affects cycles, both how much light you get and when you get it. Exposure to light energizes us, which is why many people need a good dose of sunlight to feel really awake in the morning and need to sleep in darkened rooms !
Understanding your body’s cycles can help you boost productivity by showing you how to schedule your time most effectively. The more you match your activities to your cycles or energy levels, the more you can accomplish.
Are you taking regular breaks? Try using the Pomodoro Technique. Check out this article for more information A Productive Summer: The Pomodoro Technique for Time Management.
5. Save Time Blogging
Do you avoid blogging because it takes too long? Blogging is one of the most important marketing strategies you have to improve your visibility and grow your contact list.
The easiest way to organize your blog and produce posts frequently is by creating a calendar. This is especially important if your business sales rely on certain holidays or seasons. Even if your sales are not affected by the calendar, you can still use it to plan. The most important thing is to post at least weekly.
Here are some ideas to make it easier.
Plan topics:
- Around seasonal events. What seasonal topics can you post about ? Fitness coaches can run posts about getting fit in time for summer swimsuit season; bridal consultants can target the months up to and including June; and nutritionists can focus on holiday eating in November and December.
- Based on family matters. An example of a topic you can blog about for families is getting ready for back-to-school. In addition, a professional organizer can provide tips to help families juggle multiple demands on time, keep track of school-related documents, and coordinate calendars across the family. A tutor can post about helping kids with schoolwork and motivating them to study. A travel agent can choose topics about what families can do on Labor Day weekend to end the summer on a high.
- Tied to holidays. Get a list of holidays and fit a topic to those that make sense. Don’t use just the standard holidays; look for odd holidays. An author can focus on Library Week topics; a personal coach can focus on Go for Broke Day or Fight Procrastination Day; and a pastry chef can write about new cookie recipes during Cookie Month.
See my article Mining Your Clients for Gold for more blogging ideas.