Business leaders have the most important roles to play. From pushing sales higher to driving company success, it is not a job for the faint-hearted. Being a leader demands 24/7 dedication. With such a monumental responsibility, it can be difficult for business leaders to manage their time competently.
To help you with this, we have rounded some of the top tips for managing your time well as a business leader.
Often, the main reason for being scattered and disorganized is when we do not prepare a to-do list. You may find this an unnecessary practice, but believe us when we say breaking your list into to-do tasks helps you stay ahead of time.
A to-do list helps you set deadlines that guide you throughout your workdays. All you have to do is spare 15-20 minutes every morning to set your targets for each day and allot time.
It is never a good idea to micromanage. Asking for help is the biggest step towards productivity. Leaders often grapple with the illusion that they need to do it all and on their own. Designating responsibilities and tasks to your team members helps you fulfill critical responsibilities in time and increase productivity by tenfold.
Being a slave to your email is another habit you have to break if you want to manage your time well. In fact, not only email but texts, messages, and other means of correspondence. It is good to be an active responder but not good where you let it distract you from important work.
Hence, it is best to fix certain times in a day where you allow yourself a ten minutes break to catch up on correspondence. Once you’re at work, refrain from letting emails, calls, texts, and others to distract you.
Most of the time, business emails are inevitable and unavoidable. They consume a huge portion of valuable time, but now you have a smart way to solve this. Instead of writing chunky texts for emails over and over, use reusable text blocks.
With helpful software tools, you can create text blocks that feature in the majority of your business emails. Then when you’re composing emails, simply incorporate these instead of wasting time typing everything over.
Flexibility and leadership go hand in hand. If you’re a business leader, you must be willing to devote as much time as it takes to help your business grow. With this mantra, try cutting down redundant, unproductive tasks, adopt technology that simplifies life, enhance productivity, and be willing to work extra hours if business demands it.
Of course, no one is asking you to burn yourself out for the sake of the company, but there is time, such as sales seasons and others, where you have to nurture your business more. Where possible, put in extra hours to complete projects and tasks that you know you have to do for the near future.
Preparedness and pro-activeness are the key to time management.
Virtual assistants are the best way to manage your time, as well as a leader. You know there are certain tasks that do not add to the value of the business but are important for smooth operations nonetheless. These include travel management, scheduling meetings, organizing and sorting emails, managing your bill payments, filing, and other dozen similar tasks.
By hiring virtual assistants, you can unload yourself of these time-consuming, burdensome tasks and turn your attention more to business-driving tasks. Let your VA handle what you don’t need to.
From electronic calendars to software tools and VAs, business leaders now have an endless variety of resources to increase productivity and spare more time for important business tasks. With the right approach and practices, you’ll soon be the most time-efficient leader there is.