Time Manage Your Day

By Christina Suter on Jun 17, 2017 at 02:16 PM in Business Issues

Time Manage Your Day

Like you, I have a purpose in the world. I have been an entrepreneur for over 17 years and as much as that is part of my purpose, being a mother to my 7-year old daughter is also my purpose. Every day I pick my daughter up from school and I'm able to do so because I manage my time and my business in a manner that allows me to be available when she gets out of school. 

If you read my posts and/or listen to my radio show, most likely you're an entrepreneur who also believes in purpose. If you don't know how your business serves you, sit for 10 minutes and write down how your business fulfills your purpose in this world. How does your business serve you and how does it serve others in the world? If you're seeking to do better or in need of a solution, these topics surrounding the conscious-minded business owner are for you. Doing your business is part of your purpose; from making homes nicer to giving to others, your business flows from your heart and mind. Treat your business and your focus on your business with the level of value that purpose deserves. 

Time management is what you do with:
Your day
Your files
Your calendar
Your employees. 

Time management is about keeping your commitments to yourself, clients, family, and employees. When you're able to keep to your to-do list and check things off, you are keeping your commitments. I heard someone say "Can you imagine what your life would be like if you kept 100% of your commitments?" That level of confidence in your self, time, and to-do's would be so powerful. 

Time management helps you work on your business and not just in your business. You want to be narrow when it comes to the to-do's of your business, but you want to expand and be able to step outside your business and work on things that will help your business grow. 

"Your mind is for having ideas, not for holding them." - David Allen- Getting Things Done

We weren't build to be hard drives, to store things. In 9 nanoseconds we forget things. We take in loads of information every minute and we remember maybe 1 thing per minute. Our brains aren't built for memorizing which is why our minds push away things we don't need to remember. We are constantly choosing to remember the few things we need to remember.

David Allen's systems is what I use for managing my time. His first recommendation is to do a mind dump. For 20 minutes write down everything you need to get done. Not details, just the broad tasks, from kid duties to work responsibilities, to cleaning, and appointments. After the first 20 minutes divide the brain dump into tasks (those things that you can sit down and do in one-step i.e. call brother) and projects (those things that have 2 or more steps i.e. plan brother's birthday party). Put the tasks in a task list and for the projects list, write one task associated with that project.

Allen says to break your task list out by context meaning what tasks can be done at home, which can be done at work, which ones do you need access to your computer or employees for? This will allow you make a hierarchy based upon where you are. 

If your task is stuck, it means you don't have enough information to perform your task. Right now I need to get my walls painted but I have to first Google some painters in my area and choose one to start the painting. So, paint walls isn't a task because I don't have enough information. 

Go through your to-do list, trust yourself to pick the most important ones out of the list. I pick 3-5 things I can actually get done in a day and check them off throughout the day. Allen suggests that things that show up in your day that are urgent (sick kids, client emergency) and things that are important, but are maybe not important. Just the same you'll have things that are important, but aren't urgent meaning they don't need to be done immediately. Keep the urgent and important things and do them first. If it isn't urgent nor important, get rid of it; put it on what Allen calls a 'someday maybe' list. 

Being a business owner means being a leader, you are a leader who made a promise and using your time managment system allows you to keep your promise.