The wonderful weather has arrived, finally! We are blooming with energy like the flowers and the leaves. We want to do everything at once, work, relax, go swimming, grill with family and friends and if you have children, go on adventures with them every day as if we are having our long summer break.
So how do you manage your time summertime?
By being realistic, learning from nature and effective time management.
If you look at nature, all the beings, the flowers, animals, the weather have its riddim. Some animals go idle wintertime to rest after all energy requiring summer activities. Animals listen to their body and adjust their activities accordingly. You and most of us entrepreneurs on the other hand work hard when the nature rests and keep ourselves busy when nature blooms. So many people chase success with the believes of that the more they work, the more they earn. That can be partially right especially in the busy periods of our companies and when starting a company. At the same time what really counts the most is how you manage your time. There ara many ways of improving your efficiency. Here come some few tips that may help you
Make your work summertime enjoyable
Take your computer with you outside, either on the balcony, to the garden and work under a shade. Bring plenty of water or natural lemonade with you to stay hydrated. If it’s not possible open your window as much as you can. Creating a beautiful environment can higher your productivity, reduce your stress hormones and motivate you. Working environments with lots of flowers, enjoyable wall decoration that gives you good vibes are to be preferred.
Keep a notebook
Get a notebook separate from your positive affirmation’s notebook. Having a notebook that focuses mostly on work issues can be a great tool for learning time management, self-awareness, as a motivator and keeping in one place great ideas that you may otherwise forget about. If you look back at what you wrote from time to time you will guaranteed learn more about yourself and your needs. Are you a morning person or an owl? Experiment with various work tasks during the different times and find out what is best for you. Also give some thoughts to how your morning and evening routine effects your day. How do you feel if you take a short walk before starting your day? How do you feel in the morning if you instead of watching Netflix in the evening read an inspiring book?
The great ideas written down may come in handy at the right time that you need them.
In the notebook write down at specific times of the day for instance:
How the various time period go, what you did.
How was your mood, how focused were you?
Did everything go smooth, or did you get interrupted?
Any thoughts that you may have on things that you could have done differently.
Things that you are grateful for that went well.
Any ideas that may pop up.
Keep it short or even code it for it to take as little time away from your ordinary work and to keep you motivated to continue with it. The after-work notes can of course be longer. It’s the time for you to reflect on how the day went. A great idea may also be to write down in the evening how the entire day went. How have the events of the day affected you evening and the mood that you have before going to sleep? Its great to have boundaries between work and leisure even if you feel that your work is your passion. As you will notice by journalizing, they are highly interlinked and affect each other.
Check out the blog "Create Good Morning Habits" for some inspiration.
Set a fixed time for work.
Set time for work in your calendar on the phone. In addition, schedule in your calendar the various work tasks.
Summertime is short so enjoy it and to spend time with your family, friends and take some crucial you time.
How to choose the right time to work with the various work work activities?
Normally in the mornings before lunch the brain works the best, and that’s when it is the best time to be creative. Right after lunch when the brain has slowed down because of the body processing food, it’s the best time to do logistic work such as reading emails, responding to them and other administrative work. You may also have discovered that for instance Monday-Thursday are best days for you to have meetings. Choose then those days and the best time for you. If you are not sure, write down in a note book several times a day, every day for a week your mood, focus, and effectiveness as a guide to look back to for self-discovery and time management planning.
Vary your place of work depending on what type of tasks you are conducting. Take short stretch breaks especially if you work a lot in front of the computer. Ideally its best for our health and performance to work in front of a computer no longer than 5 hrs. a day.
Are there certain tasks that you can do throughout the day to minimize your computer time per day?
Install a booking calendar on your website
It’s often crucial for entrepreneurs to stay closely connected to one’s partners or customers. Meeting in person or on Zoom or a phone meeting if conducted well can make a huge difference for a company. At the same time, for you too function at your best having good logistics is crucial.
Its so easily done to book a meeting on the go talking to a customer and later finding out that because of that meeting its necessary for you to stay need the office for most of the day. It can also twist the whole day if you are constantly being interrupted in focus work.
You can also while talking to the customer go into your calendar online, and according to the available times shown, schedule a meeting for the customer as it would be the customer doing it. That way the customer will get an email or SMS notification and you don’t have to manually send a reminder that takes longer to make.
It can also be helpful for the client or business partner to have a choice between the duration of the meeting, and the character of the meeting. You can also charge various prices for the meeting as the client books the meeting. That will save you time not having to later to bill the customer.
Since I have implemented my booking system, many customers who on a regular only had evening time and weekends free, me having to adjust, now find without any problem time for meetings during the day or the days in which I have set time that fits me the best for evening meetings. So, I recommend you set fixed times during which you can receive meetings. That way you can choose times that do not interfere with other crucial tasks in your company or your leisure time.
Have too separate phones
Many entrepreneurs at the starting point have only one phone number. Having two numbers will help you to untwine when it’s your time and to set crucial boundaries or when you are off your phone time.
Also tell your friends and acquaintances that may be your customers or business associates, that it’s important for you to talk about work issues at your work hours. If it’s something very important make it quick and ask the person to book a time for the upcoming days that fits them the best. If you are worried about them taking it personal, I understand. Just explain to them that your goal is to work as efficiently as possible at the times dedicated for work so you can enjoy the summer as well. Of course, there may be occasions which are leisure work combined which many prefer. Just make sure that you also find enough time for the non-work leisure for your body and brain to rest. That way once you work you will have greater focus and determination for what you do. It’s often when the brain has to juggle between casual and work that our body and brain consumer more energy. All humans tend to categorise thing because of our survival instincts. We also often unknowingly take on roles depending on which situations we are in. The situations in which we juggle between our roles are more energy requiring then more fixed settings and situations.
Set boundaries for work issues when it’s your leisure time
Finding out what you are good at and delegate the rest
Focus on what you are good at and hire out what takes you too long and where you lack skills.
Looking in your notebook how long the different tasks take you. Make a detailed list and great each task 1-10. How much time do you dedicate for each task? Is that enough time for every task or too long? Are there tasks that could benefit your company?
Many of my customers are great at what they do, but visual identity, programming, graphical design, maintaining a website and their FB page and other areas are not their cup of tea.
By delegating those and other services to me and my company they save crucial time and frustration. What takes me and my team a few hours can take some people a day or two. At the same time, they get a better result than they would by doing many of the things themselves. Time is money and dedicating your time more efficiently can get you better long time, and short time results and earn you more money.
Thank your for reading some of my tips. Subscribe to stay updated on new posts to come soon.
Wish you a wonderful prosperous summer work