I don’t think I’ve ever met a business owner who wasn’t busy. Managing your time is one of the hardest things you’ll need to do as an entrepreneur. There’s always too much to do, so you’ll need to manage your time well in order to get everything done. Here are my top time management tips:

1. Find out what you’re doing with your time.

One of the first things to do is to actually find out what you are doing with your time. Try monitoring your time for a week and see what’s going on. Use colour coding if it makes things easier i.e. yellow for administrative tasks; blue for marketing; green for client work and so on. At the end of the week, you’ll be able to see what you’re spending too much time on and adjust your time accordingly.

2. Get organised

The more organised you get yourself, the more you’ll be able to handle all the tasks you need to do. Tidy your desk; set up filing systems; and have procedures to deal with the work that comes in. I know it’s hard, but try to deal with each thing only once so that you get it out of the way.

3. Practise the “Do it now” philosophy

As soon as a new task comes in, try to “do it now”. You’ll be amazed at how many tasks you can get rid of. Things very rarely take as long as you think they will once you get cracking.

4. Do things in short bursts

If you’re really not looking forward to doing a task, make yourself do it for 5 minutes only. If you know you’re only going to be doing it for 5 minutes, it doesn’t look as daunting. And once you’ve got started on the task, you’ll probably find you’ll continue on it once the 5 minutes is up.

5. Ask yourself “what’s stopping you?”

Lack of time is often used as an excuse for not doing something. If you find yourself putting something off because you “don’t have the time”, ask yourself what’s going on. Questioning what’s stopping you completing tasks can often really help you decide whether or not to do them.

6. Don’t be afraid to drop a task

Look, if you haven’t completed a task; you’ve asked yourself “what’s stopping you”; and you’ve reached the conclusion that you really don’t want to do it, don’t be afraid to drop the task altogether. We often agree to things that don’t actually benefit us and if a task falls into this category, make the decision that you have the choice to drop the task.

7. You have a choice

As entrepreneurs, we start each day with a blank piece of paper and choose how to fill our time. You don’t have to agree to everything unless you want to do it or it helps you to achieve your goals.

8. Set goals

Setting goals will help keep you motivated and focused. Decide on three personal goals that you’d love to complete over the next year and three business ones. The goals must be things that you really want to do. Your time should then be spent on tasks and activities that help you complete these goals.

9. Accept that it’s impossible to get everything done

There’s only so much time in a day. Even if you’re the most efficient person ever, if you have too many tasks you won’t get them all completed. Accept this and don’t feel too guilty if you miss out on a few.

10. Have fun

Finally, remember as an entrepreneur to have some fun. Running a business isn’t all about working – take some time off too. If you develop a hobby or an interest that takes your mind off the business, you’ll be much more productive as a result.

There’s no one solution to managing your time. The trick is to find things that work for you, Try different things, have fun and do the things that help you to achieve your goals for what you want from your business.

Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides advice and help for small business owners on their marketing and for people setting up a business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Helen_Dowling
http://EzineArticles.com/?Top-Time-Management-Tips-For-Busy-Entrepreneurs&id=1640727

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How to Do More in Less Time – Simpleology (Part 1)
By Marelisa Fabrega

The system “Simpleology – The Simple Science of Getting What You Want” was created by Mark Joyner following the basic tenet that simple, small things can have a profound difference in your productivity and in your ability to create happiness and success in your life. The first “Simpleology” course, “Simpleology 101″, teaches a system for managing your time based on years of productivity research, and it’s completely free.

“Simpleology” courses are straightforward, fun, easy, and entertaining. Their purpose is not to inform you, but to transform you. Each course applies proven techniques of Learning and Behavioral Psychology to improve your retention. In order to expose your mind to the ideas presented in the course in as many different ways as possible, the multi-media “Simpleology” courses include:

• Five-minute animated cartoon lessons.

• Retention-building quizzes.

• Memory joggers distilling the essence of what you need to know from each lesson.

• Step-by step course checklists.

• A “Virtuosity Book” (a downloadable PDF version of all the lessons).

• Audios of the “Virtuosity Book” so that you can listen to each lesson as you read along.

The “Simpleology 101″ course consists of 20 short, easy to understand lessons. You’re instructed to complete only one lesson per day. In addition, when you’ve completed the last lesson of the course you should go through all the lessons a second time.

“Simpleology” dictates that in order to hit a target you first have to clearly identify what that target is. That is, you have to know what you want. In addition, it explains that you need to start with the big picture: describe what your ideal or ultimate life would look like. Then you set milestones toward creating that ideal life-focusing on one element of your ideal life at a time so that you don’t scatter your energy–and you further break down these milestones into the smallest chunks you can think of. You then plan each day based on the small steps you have identified which will steadily move you toward achieving your goals.

In addition to the “Simpleology 101″ course, when you sign up for free for “Simpleology” you have access to a suite of software applications which you can immediately download at absolutely no cost:

• The WebCockpit is software that allows you to integrate the basic principles of Simpleology into your daily life for quick results.

• The DesktopCockpit allows you to extend the Webcockpit onto your desktop so that you can have instant access to these functions throughout the day.

• The Wimiki sits in the lower right corner of your desktop and directs you throughout the day to do things that will boost your energy and raise your productivity. It’s like having a mini-coach right on your computer.

By planning each day based on the small things that you can do on that day to steadily move you toward achieving your short, mid, and long-term goals, and toward creating your ideal life, you’ll be making optimal use of your time. In addition, “Simpleology” teaches not to add unnecessary steps to the path toward reaching your goals–such as wasting your time doing “busy work”, aimlessly surfing the net, constantly checking your e-mail, and so on–and that each decision that you make-however small it may seem-is either moving you toward your targets or away from them. “Simpleology” helps you to identify which actions are keeping you on the path toward hitting your targets and which ones are throwing you off course.

Written by Marelisa Fábrega who blogs at http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marelisa_Fabrega
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Do-More-in-Less-Time—Simpleology-(Part-1)&id=999711

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