by Marcia Francois
One of the most common goals my clients tell me about is that they want more time.
If you can relate, I have good news for you – if you put just one of these tips into practice, you will save hours every week:
1. Learn to say no
Saying no helps you set strong boundaries.
What do you have to say no to so that you can say yes to your goals this year? When you stop saying yes to other people’s agendas, you’ll free up time in your own.
2. Play to your strengths
With everything in life, I believe you should play to your strengths.
If you’re terrible at cleaning your house, hire a cleaning lady. If you’re not great at organising, hire a professional organiser.
My strength is not in doing anything routine since I have ZERO patience! Since I started using a virtual assistant to do my routine work about 18 months ago, I have TONS more time in my business – I use this time to focus on product creation but mainly, just to relax :)
3. Learn to prioritise
When you know how to prioritise, even if you only get one or two things done daily, they will always be the right things and not just busy work.
Tuesday is newsletter day for me. Before I do anything else, I write the newsletter. I often get nothing else done (especially now I’ve had the twins) but at least the MAIN thing is done.
4. Set up systems
Systems save you space, time, energy, money and stress.
Meal planning is a system for organising and preparing meals. Regular computer back-up is another system to keep your computer running smoothly.
What kinds of systems can you put in place? Organising your business will also save you TONS of time on a daily and weekly basis.
5. Work smarter
Group tasks so that you only do preparation ONCE. Make your client calls all at the same time. You’ll be on a roll, get through them a lot faster and save energy because you don’t have to get into phone mode more than once.
When you cook supper, cook double and put the extra meal in the freezer. It takes almost no extra time but will save you at least 30 minutes when you use that frozen meal.
Make your work do double duty. If you type a certain type of email often, make an auto text entry and save the template. If you write a comment on a blog, expand that same comment and write a blog post of your own.
Don’t get overwhelmed – work on just one of these tips consistently until it becomes a habit and then keep adding another until you have them all mastered.
Marcia Francois is a time management and organising coach who empowers small business owners and other busy professionals who want to make the most of their time. You’ll get simple, practical organising and time management secrets to help you work less and enjoy life more! Visit http://takechargesolutions.org for your free Organising Success Pack.
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