A few years ago I was given an opportunity to speak at an international business conference and I was tasked to deliver a talk called ‘the Business owner as the starting point’, I found the topic not only appropriate and true. It all starts with the business owner. There are 3 things that can shift a business owner from “activity” to “productivity” in their daily routine.
Start your day with a list
Lists are essential for effective management of your time You must put your list on paper (or computer). Keeping your list in your head is a sure way to increase your stress level and limit your productivity. You’ve got to get that list out of your head and onto something that you can look at. Peak productivity is a choice. If it were easy, everyone would be highly accomplished. Highly productive people always use lists. I personally always draft my list a night before for flawless execution the next day.
Don’t worry if your list is too long. At least when you look at it you can deal with a lengthy list appropriately. Until it is committed to paper or computer, it is stuck in your head and your subconscious is stressing about the possibility of forgetting to do something important and how to get everything done.
Prioritize your list
Chances are your list is very long. This is where setting priorities comes in. You want to organize your list around the highest priority items and do those first. By focusing on the high-priority items on your list, anything that is undone will always be less essential than what was done.
It is important to distinguish between the things on your list that are truly important and the things which may be urgent but aren’t really important at all. One technique for sorting things out is to ask yourself if you were to look at today’s list from a point in time 6 months into the future, which items would you be glad that you accomplished and which ones wouldn’t matter as much. Tackle the highest priority items first and work your way down in the order of relative importance. If there is more on your list than you can accomplish in one day, the stuff that is undone at the end of the day is of lesser importance than what was done.
Schedule
Some hours in your day are more valuable than others. Your most valuable hours are the hours where your mind is agile and where you have the highest energy. Becoming consciously aware of when you are at your peak energy and alertness is essential for achieving your personal peak performance. Once you identify your most valuable hours, reserve that time for knocking out the highest priority items on your list. I am a nocturnal person. I generally work best in the night. My next best times are mid-mornings 9am-12pm.
Protect this time from all unnecessary intrusions and interruptions. Save all the routine tasks like responding to email, returning phone calls, meetings, etc. for the other hours in your work day.
The way you manage your time will determine your accomplishment. Taking the few minutes (a day before preferably) is essential in order to create your to-do list, prioritize it, and use your most valuable hours for your highest priority items.
Tonderai Mandaza
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