Track - Eliminate - Simplify - Automate - Delegate
Not having enough time in your day can impact in so many ways. You feel stressed, your work suffers, you begin to lose clients, you miss important family time, your business does not flourish. All of these are important and the reasons will differ for each of us, but the answer to getting control over your time again is the same: Track, Eliminate, Simplify, Automate and Delegate.
Download the free workbook that goes with this post.The workbook which includes a simple time tracking template and workflow chart will guide you through the 5 step process to being more productive.
Free Productivity Workbook
- Discover how to recover the time lost every day in the 5 simply explained steps…
So you can use growing your business rather than just working in it. - Downloadable worksheet to help track your time and see where its going throughout the day.
- Simple flowchart to take you step by step through the process so it becomes second nature.
Track your Time
Most of us know we are too busy, but it’s hard to say exactly what we are spending time on. It’s also easy to underestimate how long we spend doing regular tasks; so the very first thing you need to do is to work out where your time is going.
Start now to make a note of everything you do during the day. Get a notebook or start a new electronic document of your phone or PC, whatever works best for you. Just note down briefly what the task is and how long it took. Even if it was just 5 minutes to reply to an email. You will soon see how long you actually spend on common things every day.
The longer you do this the more useful the log will be, so try to keep it for at least 5 days to get a good cross-section of the work you do weekly. Even better, get into the habit of doing this every day, because as your business grows the tasks will change, this is an iterative process.
Now add to the list anything that you know you do on a regular basis, that are not on your list.
Now that you know where your time is going; you can start to recover some of it.
Eliminate
As you look through your list look at each task and ask yourself these 2 questions
- Do I really need to do this?
- Does this add value to my business?
If the answer is no, then get rid of it.
You’ll be surprised at just how many things you do are unnecessary with just these 2 simple questions.
Be ruthless and learn to say no. If you really are not sure and can’t face removing it completely then move it to the very bottom of your priority list. If it’s still there after a few days and nothing disastrous has occurred because of it; get rid of it.
Simplify
Simplifying what you do is the next step in recovering valuable time.
Very often we do tasks in a particular way “because that’s how it’s always been done”. However; just because you always do it that way doesn’t mean its the most efficient way. Look at all the task you have not eliminated and find ways of simplifying them.
- Document the process so that it’s easily repeatable and could be done by anyone, even if it is their first time.
- Make sure all the equipment or data needed for the task is always available in the same place.
- Are there steps in the way you do things that could be removed?
Once you start doing this for everything you ; you will begin to see that making very simple changes can bring big time savings.
Automate
Now that you have eliminated and simplified the things you do; consider if you could automate them.
Automating can be the key to taking your business to the next level. Not only does it save time it can also help in many other ways such as:
- Your business will be more efficient
- You will have more consistency and fewer human errors
- You and you staff are more engaged by working on higher value tasks
- Your clients will be happier as you become more productive and responsive
Here are just a few ideas to get you thinking about how automating could help free up that valuable time.
- It could be as simple as setting up recurring invoices in your accounting system, instead of manually creating them every month.
- Automatically schedule your social media posts using tools like publer or buffer, instead of posting them manually each day
- If you get the same enquiries coming from your website or social media every day, consider setting up a chatbot, faq or automatic replies to common questions rather than answering them individually.
- It could be also be more complex automations such as automatically processing Video call recordings, saving the files in client folders in your cloud storage platform and emailing the client the link.
There are so many possibilities to consider. Download 10 ways to kickstart automation in your business for more ideas.
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- Access 10 Simple Automations you can use in your business today.
- Discover how to recover the time lost doing repetitive, mundane tasks…
- Spend time growing your business rather than just working in it.
Delegate
It may not be able to automate all of your tasks, but that still does not mean you need to do them yourself.
Ask yourself these questions
- Am I really the best person to do this task?
- Is it good use of my time or could I be doing something that adds more value to the business.
If the answer to either of these is no and you have been through the other steps above then it’s time to delegate.
Remember however that while you can delegate the task down through your staff, you should also ask if they are the best person for the job.
Perhaps this could be outsourced to a Virtual Assistant or freelancer. Examples of such tasks could be
- Managing your to-do list and calendar
- Writing blog posts
- Screening emails
- Answering phone calls
- Basic data entry
- Customer satisfaction surveys
“Never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something that can be automated or streamlined. Otherwise, you waste someone else's time instead of your own, which now wastes your hard-earned cash. How's that for incentive to be effective and efficient?”
What Now?
Download the free workbook that goes with this post
The workbook which includes a simple time tracking template and workflow chart will guide you through the 5 step process to being more productive.
Rinse and repeat
Saving time isn’t a once and done process. You’ve saved time by following these steps, but there is more to be saved. Every time you do a task from now on, whether you have done it before or it’s completely new; get in to the habit of asking:
- Can I eliminate this?
- Can I simplify this?
- Can I automate this?
- Can I delegate this?
Soon it will be second nature and you’ll be much more efficient and much less stressed.
Use the time wisely:
Now that you’ve been through this process; you should already have saved yourself some valuable time to use to further develop the business.
Remember however that it could just as importantly be to spend more time with your family or pursuing your hobbies. So don’t just rush into adding lot’s of new tasks to your list, think about what your priorities are use the time wisely and in the way that benefits you.
Free Productivity Workbook
- Discover how to recover the time lost every day in the 5 simply explained steps…
So you can use growing your business rather than just working in it. - Downloadable worksheet to help track your time and see where its going throughout the day.
- Simple flowchart to take you step by step through the process so it becomes second nature.