If you feel like things are getting out of control and you’re unable to do anything about it, then this month’s challenge is for you. We are going to try and get your mojo back by starting to work smarter and not harder. It’s about working efficiently. Meaning, what you do has to move you towards your goal.
Time is one of your most precious commodities. It is the one thing that you can’t get back.
One of the best tools to start better managing your time is to create a flexible routine. This allows you to be flexible AND proactive.
This month’s challenge aims to get you working effectively only on the tasks that offer value and move you towards your goal.
Remember, if you want to learn more or need help, support or accountability, please join our Facebook group, Bloom on Etsy Support Group.
Action 1: Create more time in your day.
You may feel that you don’t have time to work on your goals as you are already maxed out. But it’s surprising where you can create time.
Explore how you spend your time and consider eliminating activities that don’t contribute to achieving your goals.
Only you know where you can make the changes, but once you start streamlining your day, it’s surprising how much time you can create.
Your target is to try and carve out some time that you can use to focus on working on your goals.
Action 2: Block out your time.
Once you have created some spare blocks of time, make sure you dedicate it to working on specific actions that move you towards your goal. This is key to working efficiently.
During these times, stay focussed on just one activity. Don’t get distracted by other activities. If the amount of time you have available is greater than one activity, think of it as more than one time block.
You will find that a short burst of more focussed concentration ends up being more efficient, and you are naturally distracted less.
Action 3: Create a flexible weekly routine for working efficiently.
Once you have identified your blocks of time, start fitting them into a regular weekly routine.
Creating a weekly routine takes the concept of time blocking and makes the blocks of time and associated activities easily repeatable.
Initially, think about building time blocks for morning, afternoon and evenings. Once you have the time blocks you want to work with defined, start allocating common repeatable tasks to each block.
A week’s worth of time blocks should cover all the essential activities you need to complete each week. Your aim is to create a routine that allows you to know what you will be doing on any given day, at any given time, without having to think about it.
Having a set routine means you can then focus on the work area for that specific time block. You can now focus on what you need to do in that time block without being distracted by ‘everything else.
The activity you allocate to a time block can be generic. The aim is to know the general thing you will be doing, such as admin, finances or social media. Etc. What you actually do may vary from week to week.
At the end of this step, you should be able to draw your generic week out as a grid made of your time blocks, with each block containing the activity you will be working on.
Action 4: Break down your tasks into bite-size pieces.
So now you have made time available to work on your goals.
You have allocated specific blocks of time to work on either particular work areas or goals. Now it is time to break down your big projects or goals into easily achievable pieces of work.
Firstly, identify the 3 most important goals you are working towards. Next, for each goal, write down all the activities you need to complete to help you progress your goal.
These activities should be small, easy to complete tasks, taking no more than a day to complete. If the activity takes longer than a day to complete, try and break the activity further into even smaller activities.
Nothing is more motivating than being able to tick things off a list. Creating lots of small, quick activities means you can get that motivation boost often and still work towards your goals.
Action 5: Plan your time daily.
Planning daily is one of the simplest and most effective secrets of good time management and working efficiently.
It is important to make consistent and steady progress towards your goals each day. If you don’t, you may get disheartened if you don’t achieve any results.
A daily plan can incorporate your flexible weekly routine. It will contain your time blocked activities that you have already identified. You then just need to plan for your remaining time on that day.
Your daily success planner should include the following:
- The 3 most important goals you are working towards.
- Under each goal, write down up to 5 activities that you need to get done to help you progress your goal.
- Who you need to contact.
- Who you are waiting to hear back from.
- List the top priorities for the day. These are the activities that have to get done today, no matter what.
This will help you focus on what is essential and stop you from getting distracted.
Our updated business planner has both weekly and daily planners to help you define your week and days, along with all the other goodness that will help you plan for your business.
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