Make your time work for you
Hi again everyone! From reading the blogs this week I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of good time management, and that’s what I’m going to discuss today.
Making the most of your time and filling it with valuable experiences is crucial to running a successful business. This is never truer than at the beginning of a project. To Kathryn, who is getting ready to open her farm shop at the moment and Simon, who’s NLP courses are starting to get off the ground, I just want to say good luck and I really hope it all goes well. Starting out is always going to be a worrying time - that’s the beast of running your own business, I’m afraid! But as long as you don’t leave anything to chance, you’ve researched your market and you’ve managed the project well, it should all come together in the end.
Setting up a business is a learning journey and you’re bound to make some mistakes. But those mistakes are invaluable. Just think: when you were first learning to ride a bike, did you fall off? You don’t make progress without taking a few wrong turns along the way. So if anything goes wrong, look at it as a learning opportunity rather than a problem. Business Link offer some great courses on topics such as researching your market and understanding different approaches to pricing. By doing workshops that give you the right skills for running a business, you can minimize the risks that are connected with being an entrepreneur.
Another issue that a few bloggers have raised, and something that I’m a really strong believer in, is getting a good work-life balance. In a previous job I found out just how damaging not doing this can be. I was working late into the night, not feeling like I was getting any reward for it, constantly worried - and I became a real nightmare to live with because I was so depressed! I got completely burnt out and the lesson I learned was that if you don’t get the balance right and end up neglecting the things that you enjoy and that keep you going - like your family or your hobbies - not only are you going to be unhappy, you’re not going to be able to perform in your job.
I once heard a top entrepreneur speak, whose approach to time management and work-life balance really impressed me. At the beginning of the year when he was marking out what he hoped to achieve over the coming months, he would schedule in his holidays. He’d even book trips and pay for them straight away, so that he couldn’t get out of them later. Then when the holiday time neared he would make sure he didn’t take on any extra work and would instead plan it for when he got back. This way his holidays worked for him and he and his family got the most out of his time away from work.
I think it’s absolutely imperative that people manage their time at work - and their time away from it - realistically and beneficially. Make sure you make time for yourself, friends and families, holidays and sleep! It can be tempting to throw yourself into your business headfirst, especially when there’s anxiety about the economic climate like there is at the moment. But it’s all about learning to use your time and energy as effectively as possible. Understand how you and your business work and you’re halfway there.
I hope this was helpful. I’ll be back with more thoughts and advice soon.
