Small Business Time Management & Productivity Episodes
These episodes of The How of Business podcast are on the topic of Time Management and Personal Productivity. These episodes provide insights, tips and techniques to help you better manage your time and improve your personal productivity so that you can start and grow your small business.
Take Control of Your Time. How to take control of your time, and trade stress, overwhelm and anxiety for peace, freedom and clarity, with Andrew Hartman. Andrew shares time management and productivity improvement tips and techniques for small business owners. He also introduces his time operating system designed ...
Managing Priorities. Managing Priorities – how to create better plans and make smarter business decisions with guest Harry Max. Harry shares his insights and tips on managing priorities and how improving our prioritization skills leads to better planning and smarter decision making. Harry Max is an executive player-coach, ...
Deep Work to Grow Your Small Business. How to perform in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive [thinking, reasoning, or remembering] capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and allow you to do deep work to grow your small business. David ...
Personal Productivity Tips & Hacks. Personal Productivity Tips & Hacks with Henry Lopez, to help you start, run and grow your successful small business. Systems & tools to stay organized and productive as a small business owner. Henry shares his thoughts and tips on personal productivity, including the systems ...
Productivity & Time Management for Entrepreneurs. Productivity & Time Management for Entrepreneurs with Lauren Midgley. Lauren Midgley is a business owner, speaker, author, and a personal productivity expert. She shares her story of becoming her own boss, developing for herself and helping others with the courage to succeed, and ...
Resources for Personal and Small Business Success. Resources for Personal and Small Business Success with Henry Lopez and David Begin. They discuss some of the personal and business productivity tools, systems and resources they use to stay organized and operate their small businesses. Resources for Personal and Small Business ...
Chaos Eradication for Business Owners with Susan Fennema. How to eradicate the chaos that can be part of small business ownership with Susan Fennema to help you grow your business and enjoy your life. Susan Fennema is the Chaos Eradicating Officer of Beyond the Chaos, a consultancy helping ...
Overcoming Perfectionism with Audrey Holst. Overcoming perfectionism to help you grow your small business with Audrey Holst. As a lifelong recovering perfectionist himself, Henry Lopez – host of The How of Business podcast – is fully aware of the challenges of being a business owner and a perfectionist ...
Dealing with Overwhelm in Your Small Business with Henry & David. Dealing with and managing overwhelm as you start and grow your small business. David Begin and Henry Lopez shares their thoughts and experiences, and practical tips, on how to manage stress and avoid being overwhelmed and paralyzed. What ...
10 Tips for Effective Time Management and Productivity
Effective time management and productivity are crucial for small business owners, who often juggle multiple roles and responsibilities. Here are the top ten tips, in no particular order, to help manage time more efficiently and boost productivity:
- Prioritize Tasks: Use the Eisenhower Box, Time Blocking, or a similar method to prioritize tasks based on their urgency and importance. Focus on high-impact activities that align with your business goals. Identify your top priorities, or Big Rocks, for the week and prioritize and allocate time to complete them.
- Set Clear Goals: Define short-term and long-term goals. Break these down into actionable steps. Clear goals provide direction and help you focus on what’s truly important.
- Use a Planner or Digital Tools: Utilize planners, calendars, and digital tools like Trello, Asana, Outlook Calendar, or Google Calendar to organize your schedule, set reminders, and keep track of deadlines.
- Delegate and Outsource: Delegate tasks that can be handled by others. Consider outsourcing functions like accounting, marketing, or IT to free up your time for core business activities.
- Limit Distractions: Identify and minimize distractions in your work environment. This might involve setting specific times to check emails, using apps to block distracting websites, or creating a dedicated workspace including perhaps working in a conducive location away from the business location.
- Implement Time Blocks: Allocate specific blocks of time for different tasks or activities. This technique, known as time blocking, can help you focus and reduce the time lost to switching between tasks.
- Take Regular Breaks: Use techniques like the Pomodoro Technique to work in focused bursts followed by short breaks. Regular breaks can prevent burnout and maintain high levels of productivity. You also want to be sure to schedule your exercise and personal time on your calendar.
- Streamline Processes: Regularly review and streamline business processes and develop systems. Automate repetitive tasks using technology solutions to save time and reduce errors.
- Set Realistic Deadlines: Set achievable deadlines for yourself and your team. Unrealistic deadlines can lead to stress and burnout, ultimately reducing productivity. This is related to prioritizing what’s most important and accepting that you sometime can’t get it all done.
- Reflect and Adjust: Regularly review your time management and productivity strategies. Reflect on what’s working and what’s not, and be willing to adjust your approach as needed. But give any new approach or technique enough time to become a habit and realize that new ways of managing your time or productivity may be awkward at first.
Remember, time management and productivity strategies can vary based on individual preferences and the specific needs of your business. It’s important to find a system that works best for you and your team. But once you develop a system that works for you, develop the discipline to stick to it and then look for continuous opportunity for incremental improvements.
Want to learn more? Schedule a free Coaching Consultation with Henry Lopez. Henry is a Serial Entrepreneur, Business Coach, and the host of the popular podcast for small business owners, The How of Business podcast.