Business Tips from SCORE: Time is a business manager's biggest competitor

Time is small- business management’s most important competitor. Celestine Chua, life coach and blogger asks: Are you usually punctual or late? Do you finish things within the time you plan? Are you able to accomplish what you want to do before deadlines? If your answer is “no” to any of the questions above, that means you’re not managing your time as well as you must. Try some of these tips:

Use a daily plan, a calendar, and an organizer. Plan your day in advance. Do it in the morning or, even better, the night before you leave the desk for the day. Doing it in advance gives you a head start the next morning so you can hit the ground running, not starting out planning the day. And, you don’t get caught off guard. Sticking to your plan is your objective. The best way to manage your daily activities is to use a calendar. There are many options. Google Calendar is great – It’s even better if you can sync it to your mobile phone and other hardware you use – that way, you can access, modify and change your schedule no matter where you are. It’s your central tool to organize information, to-do lists, projects, and other miscellaneous items.

Sort out what is Urgent and what is just Important. Make sure you know the difference and the deadlines for completing the tasks. Mark the deadlines out clearly in your calendar in different colors so you know when you need to finish them. Don’t fuss about unimportant details. You’ll never get everything done in precisely the way you want. Trying to be “perfect” will tend to be inefficient in the end.

Say “No” by saying YES! “Yes, I can help you, but not right now. How about in an hour?” Don’t get distracted by others determining your agenda.

Plan your time to be early. To be on time, plan to arrive early. When you target to be on time, you’ll either be on time or late. For appointments, strive to be 10 minutes early. For your deadlines, plan your time to submit them earlier than required. Relieves a lot of stress.

Know what time it is all the time. It is easy to lose track of time. We are so engrossed in our work that we lose track of time. Having a huge clock in front of you will keep you aware of the time at the moment. If you cannot have a large clock, all computers have a clock in the lower right hand corner to keep you on time, on track and not too engrossed that other agenda or calendar items will get ignored.

Set reminders 10-15 minutes before you are due to participate in the next action. Most calendars have a reminder function. If you’ve an important meeting to attend, set that alarm 15 minutes before so you can stop what you are doing to prepare physically and mentally for the engagement.

Focus on one activity at a time rather than multi-task. Are you multi-tasking so much that you’re just not getting anything done? If so, focus on just one key task at one time. Computers that allow for more than one application being open at a time are a real distraction. Close off all the applications you aren’t using. Close off the tabs in your browser that are taking away your attention. Focus solely on what you’re doing.

Avoid distractions. What’s distracting you in your work? Instant messages? Phone ringing? Text messages popping up randomly? The only time to log-on is when you are not intending to do any work. Otherwise it gets very distracting. When doing important work, switch off your phone, as well. Calls during this time are recorded and contact them afterward if it’s something important. This helps concentration on the task at hand.

Eliminate your time wasters. What takes your time away from your work? Too many meetings that aren’t productive? Social media? Emails? Stop checking emails so often. One thing you can do is make it hard to check them — remove them from your browser quick links/bookmarks and stuff them in a hard-to-access bookmarks folder. Replace your browser bookmarks with important work-related sites. Reduce the number of times per day you check social media. Stop attending or holding meetings without agendas.

Contributed by: Marc Goldberg, Certified Mentor — Contact SCORE Cape Cod and the Islands for FREE and confidential mentoring. New business? An existing business wanting to grow? A nonprofit thinking about strategic planning? www.capecod.score.org, capecodscore@verizon.net, 508-775-4884.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: SCORE: Block email, social media, use clock to stop wasting work time