5 Easy Ways To Increase Your Productivity & Manage Your Time

Please, small business owners, stop wasting your time on task lists that do not directly affect your long term business success. Your time is the most valuable resource you have. It’s time to increase your small business productivity and manage your time like a productivity rockstar.

Are you finding that you do not have enough time for the daily tasks, causing you unnecessary stress? It seems that by late afternoon, you are reliant on a double espresso to reach the energy levels needed for your long to-do list.

Your stress level is at an all-time high, and you are less productive than you'd like. If so, don't worry – you're not alone. Many small businesses struggle with poor time management and business processes to get tasks done in less time. However, what time management strategy you can do to increase your productivity and better manage your time. This post will explore five easy ways to do just that.

One: Plan Your Week and Days

The best way to manage your time is to focus on the most important tasks first. Yes, I’m talking to you self-proclaimed procrastinators out there. If my sister reads this, she knows I’m talking to her.

I’m not going to lie; this can be a common challenge for a new business owner learning how to manage a work-life balance as an entrepreneur. They are working hard on business growth, business goals, and all the day-to-day operations.

When I started my own business, my common mistake was going from an employee to being my own boss. I spent time on administrative tasks and social media posts instead of investing time into the deep work required for business growth.

You’ll have thoughts that try to talk you out of doing the hard things you know, like sales and lead generation.

Yep, you will spend a lot of time on the easy tasks instead of the most important things that will make a difference in your life and business—those specific tasks that push you outside your comfort zone and into what your brain perceives as a looming failure. That's okay; do it anyway.

The first step is to do a mind sweep to identify the various tasks that are floating around in your head.

David Allen provides a mind-sweeping list in the book Getting Things Done. He also has a YouTube video that walks you through the prompts.
Here is the link.

Once you have a list, block time on your calendar to complete the important tasks.

Make a deal with yourself that it’s not a negotiation. If you struggle with this, I recommend you check out The Life Coach School course Monday-Hour One training, which is amazing. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who struggles with time management skills.

In the blog post “How Do You Manage the Busy in Your Life,” I discuss scheduling the big rocks; here is the link.

Essentially, you first add the big, non-negotiable items to your calendar, the big rocks.

Followed by the tasks that must be done that week. Each task is assigned a day and time that will be worked on and completed during that timeframe. This is where your mindset comes into play right here. You will believe what you tell yourself; believe that you can.

These focus blocks allow you to manage your time by setting a non-negotiable deadline.

The goal of focus blocks is to ensure that you complete your tasks on time. If you procrastinate and struggle to complete your tasks on time, try these time-blocking techniques.

I speak from experience with this one friend.

I’ve always scheduled my tasks in calendar blocks, but I didn’t tell myself I could finish the task within the given time of the focus block. This effective time management tool can reduce stress levels and increase confidence in your time management skills.

A key to planning is understanding what will be best for you. Do you need lots of white space in your day? Do not overschedule your days. Pick one thing you will win the day if you accomplish it each day. When you do a weekly review and look back on all your wins, these daily accomplishments add up!

Try the Pomodoro Technique, working in time sprints of 25 minutes followed by short breaks.

When planning your day, an Eisenhower Matrix or Covey Time Management Matrix are effective time management strategies for helping you decide what tasks to focus on.

While both are effective, the Eisenhower Matrix is geared toward determining what tasks you should do, delegate, defer, or delete. The Covey Time Management Matrix is designed to help with task decisions based on your long-term business goals.

Two: Set Goals

You may wonder why I suggest setting goals for better time management and productivity. Setting SMART goals helps you focus on what matters most to you and your business growth.

Let’s say you’re working to grow your online business organically by creating new blog posts each week.

You’ve created a daily schedule to focus on your creative projects first thing in the morning for quality of work when your brain is fresh.

A reminder has popped up for you to write your blog post.

At that moment, your mind attempts to rebel; you can get it back on track by asking yourself if you would rather honor your commitment to growing your business or sit on the sofa, drink coffee, and read your book.

This may or may not be a real-life example.

Which choice will make you proud, and which option will leave you with regret? It’s your choice, so own it.

Three: Where Do You Waste Time

Do you have a good idea of where you use time during your business hours? If you do not have specific times to dedicate to your small business, I suggest you schedule a repeatable schedule.

If you reach the end of the day and look back and have no clue what you accomplished, you need to do a time audit. Hear me out: To increase your productivity and manage your time, you must understand all the little time wasters in your day.

Who knew opening the door and letting the dogs outside could take ten minutes?

It can; I’m not even teasing you.

Where are you losing those ten minutes throughout your day? Figure out your time wasters and have the plan to either not engage Hello Instagram or have a timer set to avoid getting lost in time.

I’ve heard of this referred to as time blind. It has to be real if it has a name and research behind it, right?

Four: Create repeatable workflows

In the past, I’ve created fancy Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that work great.

What I’ve found easier for my team members and me is to create repeatable workflows.

I use Asana for this; however, Clickup and Notion are perfect for increasing productivity. The key is to find a project management tool that works for you and your team. Too often, I see entrepreneurs trying to use confusing project management software that doesn't work for their minds. This is essential if you fall on the spectrum with ADHD or ADD. You'll want to find the right system that doesn't overwhelm you.

I've done this a few different ways in the past for my clients.

The simplest way I’ve found to create repeatable workflows is to screen-record the whole process as the work is done, have it transcribed, and then make a template in project management software.

It is nice that all the conversations and questions the team has on the process can be asked inside the project management tool, so you’ll know exactly what they aren’t picking up and what you’ll need to change.

If you have not nailed down your exact process yet, I suggest you screen-record each step and add the records to the task in your project management software. That way you only need to record one section vs the whole process when you make changes.

If screen recording is not for you, the Chrome plugin Tango is another option. It will take screenshots and create the workflow for you. Add the link to the Tango process to your project management tool.

Repeatable workflows allow you always to know the next step and approximately how long it will take you to finish it.

What else does a workflow help with? You’ll never miss a task because you have all the tasks in front of you. You'll be less likely to make decisions or backtrack, resulting in increased productivity.

Five: What are you able to delete or delegate?

Are you the only person who can do the task?

Do you have enough hours to focus on revenue-generating business operations, which is the most important thing for the health of your business? Be honest with yourself. If you want to increase your productivity and manage your time, you should answer this truthfully.

So often, when I work with business owners, they think they are the only ones that can do the work. I hear excuses such as training someone will take too much time.

Or it’s just not possible; I’m the only one who can do it. I think business owners hold on to things they should let go of for far too long.

If a repeatable workflow can be set up for a task, it must be delegated. Think of all the extra time you’ll have to focus on the creative or billable work.

When you review all the tasks on your list, ask yourself if you’re the best person to do that job.

Would you be able to hire someone for $20 an hour to do the work? How many $20 tasks are you doing?

When learning time management techniques, you should track how long it takes you to do the work. Multiply all that time by the amount you'd receive from a one-on-one coaching client.

You'll quickly discover that the math does not add up to success in your online business.

Is this task necessary? Maybe it's a task that you’ve always done. Make sure to question whether it is still essential.

As your online business evolves, so should your tasks. Understand why you’re doing the task and how it affects your productivity, time, and the bottom line of your small business.