Part of the struggle of working full time as well as running a business is being able to manage my time. From Yoga classes to business meetings to family functions, things can get pretty cray.
I think there is still a lot more I can do to manage my time well, however I’ve shared some of what has helped me stay on track so far.
Minimise: My time is precious so what I do with it is very important. This means prioritising the importance of tasks, requests I get from people and even social events. The number one thing I’m not able to shift is my full time work, so I make sure that when I’m working my full time job I’m 100% focused on it as I appreciate having that income as my business develops. When I get invited to social events I don’t make them my priority if I have business commitments such as teaching or projects I need to work on.
Use resources available to you: I don’t want to spend a lot of my time trying to remember what needs to be done. I use things such as my diary to stay on top of what I need to do. If something pops into my mind, I jot it down in my diary, under ‘notes’ on my iphone or send an email to myself. I set myself alarms throughout the day to remind me when I need to stop doing one task and move onto another or leave to go to an appointment. I also use Evernote (an app) to record any receipts, websites that are of interest to me or photos I need to come back to.
Inbox: Stay on top of your emails by setting time aside throughout your day. Since I work full time I’m not able to constantly check emails to respond to customers. So I make sure I check my emails on the bus ride to work and then on the bus ride home. This also allows me to be able to disconnect from the business whilst at work and not be distracted as most of the emails I receive are not life or death kind of ones.
