1. Set a routine and follow it
Since you know yourself best, recognize the period of your day where your performance is at its peak and set a routine around it. Are you a morning person or an evening person? Whatever the answer to that, the idea is to recognize the time of day and schedule your day in such a way that the most important tasks are achieved within this time when your energy level is still high. With the sense of achievement that comes with finishing a task, completing less tasking jobs will be easier, even with reduced energy levels.
However, the hard part isn’t setting a routine; it is waking up every day and following it. When in doubt about your peak performance period, go in the morning.
2. Learn to delegate
Running a startup company can easily become overwhelming, especially if you try to do every single task by yourself. A single individual trying to do every task from seemingly trivial ones to the big ones while still overlooking management and logistics doesn’t make an effective system. This can make the whole business crash before it has even had a chance to thrive. What to do? Sort the tasks based on their priority level and concentrate on the most important ones.
For the other little but essential tasks that a company needs to keep running smoothly, entrust them to another competent person so you can focus on more critical tasks.
3. Time Tracking
Another way to better manage your time is by keeping track of said time. Thankfully, technology has provided us with several Time tracking software options that you can use to record the exact amount of time you have spent on a particular task. You don’t even have to pause mid-work to time yourself by traditional means. With time tracking for Asana, you cannot only optimize your task at the time, but you can also save valuable time on other tedious tasks like calculating client bills, creating timesheets required for budgeting, and many others like it.
4. Assign deadlines to everything
No matter how dedicated you’re to your job, there are times when you don’t feel motivated enough to get work done. At times like this, being your boss can be more of a con than a pro because there is no fear of not getting fired. A good way to stay at the top of your game, even at a time like this, is to assign a deadline to every set task and make a habit of meeting them. Having deadlines looming over your head has been proven to be the right motivation to get it done on time.
5. Avoid distractions
Between social media platforms, a chatty co-worker, a close friend, or family member, distractions can come in any form, and you need to be careful enough not to let that encroach into your productive time. Unless the nature of your work demands that you stay online on social media networks like Facebook or Twitter, try as much as you can to stay off them while working. If it seems so interesting to you, use it as an incentive to get your work done fast enough. Later on, you can catch up on every exciting conversation afterward without losing valuable work hours.
6. Take breaks
The importance of taking breaks cannot be overemphasized! Recognize the maximum limit of your productivity, and once it is reached, take a break to refuel. Forcing yourself to concentrate and keep working when your brain is saturated is both counterproductive and a waste of time. Learn to take breaks between tasks to give your brain time to settle. This way, it can assimilate better when you return, and you can work at an optimal level without causing any real damage.
We hope you found the above tips helpful. Chances are, you already know or have come across some or even all of them before, but knowing and doing are two different things. None of those tips will make any difference if one does not put them into use. Are there other tips on time management relevant to startups? Feel free to share them with us in the comment section below.
