Have you ever found yourself saying,"There just aren't enough hours in the day?" As busy entrepreneurs, we're wearing multiple hats and putting out fires as they come. But everyone has 24 hours in a day. So what separates Warren Buffettand Elon Musk from the rest of us?
The answer is time-management skills.The most successful people are able to squeeze the most out of every second — not by working more hours, but by prioritizing their tasks so that their time spent yields positive outcomes.
Here, I offer four power tips to help you work less and get more done.
1. Conduct a Time Audit
We all have specific activities that we struggle to find time for due to our busy schedules — whether that's networking, business development, upskilling, or strategic planning.
Tracking time is the only way to see where your time actually goes. Many tend to overestimate how many hours they work on tasks. Most people let distractions and busy work suck up their time.
Fortunately, there are software tools that automatically track your time and provide reporting features. This lets you categorize activities and visually see where your time is going.
Track your time for a week or two and look for areas to optimize. If you see yourself spending endless hours in meetings or administrative tasks, it's time to cut those out.
2. Use the Eisenhower Matrix to Set Your Priorities
If you constantly feel busy and overwhelmed but don't feel like you're actually making progress, there's a good chance you're consumed with busy work rather than meaningful work.
The problem is that most people make to-do lists without considering the importance of each task. That's where theEisenhower Matrix comes in. The Eisenhower Matrix organizes your tasks by importance and urgency.
So How Does It Work?
Start by making a to-do list. Then categorize your tasks into any one of these four buckets:
• Quadrant 1 (Do): Tasks with deadlines or consequences
• Quadrant 2 (Decide): Tasks with unclear deadlines that contribute to long-term success
• Quadrant 3 (Delegate): Tasks that must get done but don't require your specific skill set
• Quadrant 4 (Delete): Distractions and unnecessary tasks
Your main priorities are getting tasks in Quadrants 1 and 2 done. You'll first work on tasks that must be done immediately, which has clear consequences and impacts your long-term goals. Once you tackle the Quadrant 1 tasks, focus on Quadrant 2.
Everything else should be delegated, outsourced, or eliminated.
3. Leverage Parkinson's Law to Your Advantage
Parkinson's Law is the concept that your work expands to the time you give it. Let's say you're given a two-week deadline to complete a project. Even if it takes five hours to complete, the distant deadline causes you to take much longer than necessary. Research suggests that we think of how much time is available to complete a task rather than how much time we actually need.
That said, you can use Parkinson's Law to your advantage by setting self-imposed deadlines. You'll need to make realistic time estimates for each task or project and set your own deadlines accordingly.
4. Practice Deep Work
Most people fall under two camps. Camp one is where you have a dozen tabs open on your internet browser, an email drafted, and Slack notifications turned on. Camp two is where you're completely immersed in a task to the point where you often lose track of time and ignore outside distractions.
Which one can you relate to?
If the second one is you, you're likely someone who practices deep work — a state of peak concentration that allows you to create quality work quickly and learn hard things.
The most important principle of getting into deep work is to avoid multitasking. One study found that humans lack the ability to perform two tasks at once. Instead, we're task-switching at a rapid-fire pace, but that affects our ability to concentrate. This also contributes to shorter attention spans, stress, and overwhelm.
Deep work means you're fully engaged and channeling all of your cognitive abilities into one task. There are all types of benefits you'll get from deep work, such as higher quality output, increased productivity, and even creative breakthroughs.
Intense and undistracted focus helps your mind dive deeply into a problem, so your mind can explore various angles and possibilities.
When you switch from shallow to deep work, you'll likely find that you can get more work done faster, giving you more free time.
5. Delegate and Outsource
It's too easy to fall into the trap of thinking, "Well, I can just do everything myself."
When you run out of hours in the day, you have two choices: 1. Stop growing your business. 2. Keep growing by delegating or outsourcing and paying another person for their time.
Even if you still have more time in the day, your focus is finite. You only have limited hours of peak concentration, so taking time to recharge is just as important.
Start by outsourcing low-level tasks or activities that don't suit your skill sets. Remember, time is your most valuable asset, and outsourcing can save you time and make you more money.
Unlock Your Productivity With These Time-Management Strategies
As a business owner, time is your biggest resource. By finding the right time-management techniques that work for you, you can make the most out of your days. A series of productive hours turns into productive days, which turn into productive weeks, months, and years.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
