Top 5 Tips For Owning Your Time

Are you a slave to the whims of your blackberry, email or phone? Do you wish you could go back to spending quality time with your customers? When was the last time you finished your coffee while it was still hot?

It’s inevitable, we all find ourselves stretched to the maximum sometimes. Often this is the norm more than an exception. It’s even more common for the smaller business owner since without you the operation can either become chaos or grind to a halt in a flash. You know you can’t keep working at warp speed don’t you?

The good news is you don’t need to overhaul everything in one big effort to ease your burden significantly. Who’s got time for that! Here are my Top 5 Tips for lightening your burden and perhaps clawing back some time for yourself.

1. Clear your space. An organized workplace leads our minds to organized thought.
2. Write it down. We often have several ideas and to-do items running through our heads at any given time. Once you write your thoughts down it gets them out of your head and opens room for concentrating on the task at hand. Writing things down eases the concern that we'll forget the task or new idea. I suggest you have a specific notebook or use technology so that you always know where to look when you do have the time.
3. Process-ize repetitive tasks. There are always pieces of our work that don't come naturally to us. Creating a process, checklist or schedule for the job keeps it simple and ensures you'll complete the important steps. Try to keep that process unburdened by extra steps that don't add value.
4. Create a routine. If you find yourself out of the office constantly for meetings and wonder why you never have enough time for the administrative things you need to do, try dedicating time for appointments and recurring tasks. For example, make Tuesday your offsite appointment day, Wednesday a sales and follow up day, Friday an administration day etc. You’ll probably never be able to stick to this 100% but I’ll guess that even 50% consistency is better than your current schedule.
5. BREATHE! This isn’t as silly as it sounds. Sit back in your chair, lift your eyes away from the screen for a moment, take a really deep breath in and lower your shoulders. You’ll find that the added oxygen will give you an energy boost and you’ll feel more grounded. Yes, it’s that easy. Do this throughout the day. 

Bonus Tip: Be kind to yourself. Take care of your body, mind and soul. This is not a cliché it is absolutely imperative because you’re all you’ve got. There are people counting on you and as much as they demand of you they’d rather not be without you. This may mean being selfish sometimes but if approached in a firm but gentle manner you’ll be okay.