Avoid Time Suckers By Tracking Your Time

I know I have written posts in this matter before, but I think it is so important (and easy to forget) so I just had to focus on it again. As a business owner you are often worried about those things that sucks your time away. But many times the most biggest time suckers are not the obvious ones. Innocent activities like your mobile phone(!), social media and email can destroy hours every week. Not that you can be without them, but it takes some planning and tracking your time can be really helpful.

So what do I mean with tracking your time? I have recently written about time-management and it comes back to it now. It really is about managing what you do with your time. Let’s say you have a fixed number of working hours every day, but you still don’t have time to finish all your tasks. So you have to solve that problem, right? Some things you can do are to delegate, outsource and schedule your time to be able to focus on your income producing tasks.

But that will only help you partially. You still do have some hidden time suckers that you can take control of. If you can find these hidden secrets, not only will you feel better being a business owner, but you might even be able to take that day off and head for the beach. A thing you only could see in your dreams. So let’s dig into the those hidden suckers.

Hidden time suckers that you may or may not be aware of and how to deal with them:

Social Media — OK, you can not be without it, but in the mean time this can be a tremendous time sucker. How easy isn’t it to follow some updates from family and friends and suddenly realize that you have spent an hour. I suggest you separate your social media work sessions from your personal. Period! Remember to schedule your social media work time.

Email — Are you constantly monitoring your email? And maybe on your mobile too? You’re not alone. But the best solution is to set up a time every day when you read, take action and delete/save your emails. It is incredible what you can save in both time and distraction.

Mobile Technology – Are you using a smartphone with updates every time you receive an email or a social media update. Don’t! As I just told you, you will save plenty of time and take away one of the biggest time suckers this way. Most people don’t need to be connected continuously to be successful.

Non-income Tasks – OK, I have told you this before in my previous posts, but it is so important. Make sure you focus on your INCOME PRODUCING TASKS before you go over to this section. You are running your business to make money, right?
Family & Friends – This is a tricky one. Especially if you are running your business from home. But in order to avoid discussions, it is better to be direct about it. You have your business hours where you need your full attention on your work tasks. Why don’t you tell them all about your scheduled time and make sure they let you do your work. They will see a less stressed and happy you when your daily tasks are done.

Home Life – Work smarter, not harder! Millions of business owners are having problems balancing work with home life. But following my advice you will be able to schedule your time and in the end become more flexible when needed. Just remember to track all time suckers and try to eliminate or reduce them.

I hope you found my little tricks useful. How simple they may sound, it’s not an easy task to change ones behavior. But get started with one step at the time and you will get there.