Busy Small Business Owners
Top 5 Time Management Tips for
Mums and Dads or
Busy Small Business Owners
One thing about time management in families & small businesses that is so different from larger organisations is that everyone has multiple roles and a lot more to do with fewer resources.
Whether Mum is wearing the Taxi Driver hat or Dad has the “Tim the tool man” repair belt on everyone is busy busy busy.
So here is my top 5 list of time management tips which apart from saving you time and effort, I hope they make your
family and small busy relationships smoother with less frustrations.
1. Keep your To Do list, e-mail and calendar as separate purpose tools.
I admit that keeping a To Do list is a chore itself. But without a list many things fall of the plate and it is hard to get the
overview needed to decide what is really important to do now. The biggest benefit of keeping a list is that, if you keep
it up to date and trust it, then it is externalised from your mind. No need to wake up in the middle of the night thinking I must remember to call Jenny on the Parents and Citizens committee. Relax it?s on your list.
Likewise if you use a diary or calendar then this is the place to put anything that is date or time specifically bound.
Look at that first thing of a morning before you check your e-mail. And while we are on e-mail, don?t use it for a list or play with flags. Make the three tools separate.
2. Decide on the outcome required together before trying to nut out what to do.
When you have a project to do such as renovate the back yard or create a product launch, if your team is not on the
same page working towards the same goal, there will be friction. What if you are thinking low maintenance easy to
clean concrete and your partner thinks tropical Asian inspired terrace garden. Have this conversation up front and
brainstorm the results. You can then sequence the order of the steps and refer back to this document when you feel
you are diverging.
3. Be clear on who is going to be responsible for what.
Having organised what to do, in what order, you need to be clear on who is going to tackle what sub project / tasks.
One of the biggest issues for small business is that of staff conflict. To me this is like a friction burn. Either someone is
being held back from doing something they want to do or being dragged towards something they don?t. If you talk
about his up front and decide who is better at what type of things, the less friction there is to get things done. Me I?m
big picture and very poor at details.
4. Group things to do by context to get more done with less effort.
Do you have a folder that you put all your bills to pay into? Why do you do this? The reason for many is that while you
are paying one it takes less time to pay 3 or 4 at the same time. By why stop there what about calls to make, errands
to run, things to do on the computer, things to do at home, things to read/review, Things to talk to a particular person
about. Every action on your To Do list can be categorised and grouped in this manner. Try it and feel the pride as your
burn through a few at a time.
5. Get together at least weekly to review where you are at and where next.
My favourite weekends are when nothing is planned. I get to relax and take it as it comes. But I don?t want to find out
Saturday lunchtime the relatives are coming for an afternoon BBQ. On Friday after lunch I want to look back at the
week I„ve had, check the week ahead and update my to do lists. By getting my next steps decided and out of my head
I have a chance to enjoy my time off.
I hope that if you follow the above 5 tips you get and enjoy more time off too.
