Life lessons in making more time
Time is money. Three little words that will strike a chord with any business owner. When you run a business, being productive pays. There’s a direct and undeniable correlation between the time you put in and the results – money, reputation, work/life balance, job satisfaction, all the sexy stuff we all go to work for – that you get out. While there’s still no way to make money grow on trees, or to stop a biscuit crashing into your 3pm brew, there are plenty of ways to make more time in your day. Give some of these a go…
WAKE UP EARLIER
Okay, we hear your; advice to wake up earlier if you want to get stuff done, how ground-breaking! But there’s a reason this pops up on every list of ways to make more time in your day. Look at the habits of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and there’s one thing they all have in common. No, not the fact that they want for nothing and live lives most can only dream of. They’re almost always early risers. Waking up earlier might feel on a par with dinner at the in-laws to begin with but get a coffee in you and you’ll soon realise that these are the golden hours. Start your day at 6am and you can have your emails done and dusted by the time anyone even turns on their computer. The phone is silent as the world sleeps too, leaving you free to concentrate on the task that distractions have been keeping you from for weeks. Plus, who doesn’t want to feel like the absolute boss who has their sh*t together, as opposed to the loser running out the door late with a slice of burnt toast hung from their mouth.
KICK YOUR TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION
We’ve got some bad news; your mum is an addict. Well, probably. We’re a nation of social media addicts – mum included – and it’s eating into our time like never before. A study in 2017 found that we spend almost 3 hours every day on our phones. That’s more than 5 years over a lifetime, over a third more time than we spend eating and drinking. Just swirl that fact around and mull it over for a bit. Breaking your mobile phone habit could free up at least 10 hours more work time each week, so download an app like Moment to track your time online and prepare to be shamed into putting down your phone and investing that time into something more worthwhile.
REMOVE YOURSELF FROM DISTRACTIONS
As anyone who has the opportunity to do so will tell you, working from home is both a blessing and a curse. There’s no lengthy commute, no Tesco meal deal at your desk and no soul-destroying cubicle across from snotty Linda the office gossip. But there is an endless washing pile that calls your name from afar and snotty-nosed little ones demanding attention when it should all be invested in a big project. Remove yourself from any possible distractions, by hiding away at the local coffee shop for an hour or giving co-working at Helm a go, and you’ll find that you naturally get more done in less time.
