Stretched too thin? Not enough hours in the day to get everything done? Lots of entrepreneurs and small business owners feel that way. But the truth is that you may have more time than you think.
I’ll raise my hand and say that my biggest time suck is YouTube. I can easily fall down that rabbit hole. I don’t watch television, and I try not to judge people who do, because I waste plenty of time on YouTube.
Speaking of television (or streaming services), if you don’t have enough time in your day, cut back on what you watch, or stop altogether for a period of time. You’ll be shocked by how many extra hours you have in a week.
If I asked you, could you tell me what you did today or yesterday? It’s completely possible to get through a day feeling like you were slammed the whole time and not be able to remember what you did.
How exactly are you spending your time? Do you even know?
Yes, you can look back at your calendar and see who you had a scheduled call with, but the urgent matters that came up, or the personal things you also did, might not be accounted for. This is why I recommend doing a “time leaks inventory.”
Imagine having a big bowl with holes in it. That is how I imagine your time leaking through. It can be a small hole that creates a small leak, or a big hole that siphons off a lot of your time.
I recommend tracking your time. You can go high tech (apps) or no tech (pen and paper). I am not sure one is better than the other – it’s more about which one is easier for you. For at least a week, and preferably a few weeks, keep track of everything you do personally and professionally.
At the end of that time, you will have a good idea about how you spend your time. This will allow you to identify places you could cut back or adjust. You might think you spend a lot of time doing something that you hate and then you find out it doesn’t take that long.
Or, you could find that something you enjoy is actually taking a lot of time and question whether that is how you want to spend your valuable time.
Another easy way to have more time is to get rid of the idea that busy necessarily equals being important or irreplaceable. And I recommend banishing the term “crazy busy” from your vocabulary altogether. Everybody is busy, so when you tell someone you have been crazy busy, you just sound full of yourself.
Crazy busy is a copout. Our ego likes to feel important.
Crazy busy also can stress us out, which can tank our productivity.
Will you try doing a time leaks inventory? I would love to know what you are going to stop doing to find more time for the things you want to do in your day.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
