How to Use Your Time Better and Get More Done

When starting a business, I think one of the most important things you must ask yourself is “Where do I need to improve to become more successful?” While this list is long and ongoing, for me personally, time management and productivity are definitely on that list. This article is written with entrepreneurs in mind but anyone will be able to get real actionable takeaways from this article. Time management and productivity aren’t just for entrepreneurs and businessmen and women. They’re for everyone.

Why Do You Need Time Management?

I can work hard, and I can work long hours, but I’m not particularly good at making the most of those long hours. My lack of good time management has made the beginnings of building my business more stressful than they need to be. 

In case you don’t know, I am, as of this writing, building clocks which I intend to sell and make into a business. When I first started going out to the wood shop to design my product(s), all the ideas for the clocks that I wanted to build were swirling around in my head. I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t even know where to begin putting my time first. Both my mind and the effort I was putting into the clocks were all over the place. 

This began to cost me my most valuable resource. Time.

1. Create Checklists

I learned that creating a plan both on the day-to-day level and on the monthly and yearly levels is crucial. First, I needed to solve my “swirling head syndrome,” and that meant zeroing in on what was most crucial. I knew that I needed to build a website, look for customers, and I still needed to form an LLC. But none of that would matter if I didn’t have a product to sell. So creating my products was moved to the top of my list of things to get done.

Take the time to create plans and checklists for yourself. There is a lot to do, but don’t worry, just stay focused and get things done one at a time. It was crucial that I zeroed in on designing my products so that my head didn’t explode from the millions of other things that had been robbing me of my sleep such as “Should I become an LLC, Corporation, or self-proprietor?” “I need to build a website, but I don’t know how.” “Should I sell wholesale or retail?” “How will I ship my products to my customers?” “How am I going to get my customers in the first place?”  

This is just a taste of what it looks like in my head, and if you are starting a business then you know all too well what I’m talking about. But those questions don’t even matter unless I even have a product to sell. Those other problems are below “product design” on my checklist. In time they will be at the top and when that time comes, I’ll be able to solve them clear-headed, hopefully. 

2. Set Deadlines

I’ve started making checklists to get things done and setting the date that I wish to have it done by. As my girlfriend always likes to remind me, if I don’t set due dates for myself, I am not nearly as efficient with my time. 

Some people don’t like deadlines and that’s understandable. “Deadlines,” have been tarnished by our years in school and our jobs where we’re constantly bombarded with various deadlines. When we’re on our own, we don’t like to give ourselves these restrictions. We want to enjoy our freedom.

I don’t use my deadlines as they’re used in work and school. My deadlines are progress reports. I will set, often times very loose, deadlines on when I want my projects done. For example, I will write down “Finish all 6 clock styles in all 3 different sizes by the end of the month.”

That kind of deadline is enough of a guideline for me to get things done while also giving me plenty of freedom and flexibility. On a daily level, this may be as simple as writing down everything that I want to get done that day in the order of importance. Whatever doesn’t get done will get done the next morning.

If you need more or less flexibility for yourself, then simply adjust to fit your needs.

3. Control Your Time

Time management doesn’t have to be complicated or require intense willpower. You have to decide whether you control your time or if your time controls you. How often do you look at the clock and say “where did that hour go?” Or even, “Where did the day go?” Those are examples of time controlling you.

Writing down a checklist and creating loose deadlines, or for some maybe even an hourly spreadsheet is an example of you controlling your time. You have many things that you need to get done and you have only so many hours in the day to get them done. You can’t expect to get anything done unless you tell your time what you’re going to get done.

If you don’t control your time, it will disappear.

I still wouldn’t call myself “good with time management,” but I’m getting better and these are things I’ve done to improve. This will be an ongoing skill that I learn about and something that I will certainly write more about in the future.

Give these things a try over your next week. Control your time. Assign tasks to hours and days. Get busy, and get to work!