Time Management Tips for the Home Based Business

I have found invaluable time management tips that have worked for me and hopefully you can apply them as well. These time management tips keep you focused on the important items that will generate money, enhance your business and increase your market effectiveness.

Home based business owners need to learn time management skills in order to achieve their goals. Running a home business takes so much of your valuable time on a daily bases. We often find ourselves putting out fires such as fixing printers, dealing with computer issues etc. We easily can get caught up in numerous projects that waste our valuable business time.

Some Time Management Tips: 

• Focus on Your Business and Results

• Create a Daily Priority List

• Create a Weekly Priority List

• Don’t Procrastinate

• Create Action Plans for Problems

Focus on Your Business and Results

Part of your business plan is to know where you want the business to be in one, two and three years. In order to achieve these goals you will need to incorporate them into your daily priority list (which I will talk about below). If it is to advertise on a daily bases then that would always be on the priority list. If you need to write x number of letters then put it on the list. Since you are creating and growing a business make sure you are putting items on your list that will help you achieve your business goals.

Daily Priority List

A priority list is a list of the most important to the least important items that must be done to keep the business running smoothly from day to day. Since I created my priority lists, I find that each day is productive, on target and less stressful.  I know that each item on this list was important to some degree in keeping my business time in check.  I always put the most important first and then continue down the list to the least important.  Each day new items are added on the list as the day goes on.

If they must be done that day, I will move them up to a higher priority. I don’t get upset if my list isn’t completed. The most important part is that it helps me to manage my business time to the fullest each day.

Create a Weekly Priority List

Your weekly priority list is different then your daily list. The weekly priority list will help you to stay focused on the big picture. I ask the question; “Where should the business be heading to complete my business plan goals”. Then I will put down what has to be included on the list. Now with this list in hand, I prioritize it as well. Then put some of the items into my daily list for Monday and each consecutive day of the week. This way that list will be done by priority and mixed in with the daily tasks at hand.

The weekly priority list changes but not as often as the daily. The daily is always a constant creation as business issues arise.

Don’t Procrastinate

If there is one task that I don’t want to do and it is on my priority list, I try to get it out of the way as soon as possible. I find putting something off that I know I must do actually saps me of my valuable time. I continue to think about that particular item and how much I don’t want to do it. If only I could get all the time back that I wasted procrastinating instead of completing the task and keeping my mind clear for other important items!

Create Action Plans for Problems

When a big problem or challenge is presented to me, usually I have some time to figure out all the aspects of the situation and can create an action plan. Writing it down makes the situation clearer, allows me to focus my attention and keep tweaking solutions until I’m satisfied. With the action plan in hand I can tackle the challenge much easier.   

The above time management tips have been essential to maintaining a profitable and successful home business for me. Keeping control of your time makes your days less stressful as well as the great feeling of accomplishment when the work day is done. These time management tips could also be applied to your personal life as well.