In this blog post, I’m going to talk about tripling time, tomatoes and a simple yet powerful word.
[spp-player]
Join my free FB community to connect with me and other fabulous solopreneurs to help you Rock Your Fabulous Biz.
[spp-transcript]
It’s all well and good planning out whole days in your diary to work on your business, but what if you’re so busy with clients, you just don’t have that much time to hand?
That’s when you need to be super smart with your time.
Sometimes, just taking baby steps is all you can do. The good thing is that baby steps forward are still better than doing nothing, so don’t let limited time stop you from being visible altogether.
Here’s 3 simple strategies to help you get smarter with your time:
- Plan In Some Pomodoro Time
I love to use Pomodoros to keep me focused. If you’ve not heard of them it’s a fab little technique by Francesco Cirillo. You basically set a timer for 25 minutes and work until the timer goes off. It’s amazing what you can get done when you put some time pressure on yourself. No more messing about! You can get some great Pomodoro apps. I personally use Be Focused Pro on my iPhone, just search for tomato timers or Pomodoro timers. Failing that, just set a kitchen timer.
In my Rock Your Visibility programme, we use Pomodoros to get stuff done. It’s a great way to clear things off your list.
If you’re shouting at me saying, 25 minutes, if only I had 25 minutes, then just do 5-10 minutes. Even doing a focused task for 5-10 minutes is going to be progress.
In 5-10 minutes you could go into a group and comment on 3 posts, you could share a quote, ask a question on your social media etc. You could send that follow-up email to a potential client you keep saying you’ll send.
Keep a list of possible 5-10 minute jobs, then pull it out when you find yourself with a bit of space in your diary and get some stuff done.
- Know where your time goes
Sounds obvious, huh? But how often do we actually stop to think about this?
I have THE worst concept of time. Seriously.I think everything takes waaaaay less than it actually does. Once I learned that I need to at least triple the time things take, I’ve found I’m much better at getting things done in the time available. I would really stress myself out by thinking things should be done, but the reality was they were taking so much longer than I had planned. I now use this simple tripling strategy which really keeps me on track.
There will be places where you know your time goes, keep a track of them. Ideally you want to be focusing on money-making strategies in your business first. I love making images on Canva, but does that bring the money in? Well I could argue with you that it helps me be visible, but if I get honest I know that shouldn’t be the first job on my to-do list.
I used to have a sticker on my laptop saying ‘Action Producing Money’. Listening to the latest webinars, reading blog posts, downloading freebies etc. all have their place, but know how much of your time you’re allocating to them and keep checking in as to how these extras help you to meet your business goals.
Maybe you’re aiming to be visible in groups and find yourself constantly on social media, only to find yourself going down the rabbit hole of chatting all day. Allocate yourself a set amount of time to spend in the group, and then stick to your boundaries so that you get other tasks done.
We also have an odd strategy in our house that really works where we set all of our clocks ten minutes fast. That way we always have a buffer of ten minutes. Yes, my poor concept of time rubbed off on my hubby/daughter, but with simple strategies you can make things a lot easier, and so much less stressful!
I love this quote – “The bad news is TIME FLIES, the good news is YOU’RE THE PILOT” – Michael Altshuler.
- Manage distractions from other people
Do you find yourself dropping everything when a quick query comes up, or an email captures your attention? Stop it!!
I remember a poster I used to have on my HR office door which had little characters rolling on the floor laughing, saying, ‘You want it when?’! Help other people know that their urgency doesn’t have to be yours! I have to remind myself of this in the reverse sometimes. I can be a bit lastminute.com so think that everyone has time (It goes back to that tripling time thing again).
Think about some of the demands that come up for you in the day. Maybe you’re checking into your Facebook Messenger every 10 minutes, or checking your email and feel compelled to respond. Could you allocate a bit of time in your diary to deal with requests that come up, so that you’re not just dropping everything instantly? By ‘parking’ the request you can get on with the task in hand and if you drop them a quick note to say you’ll get back to them, they won’t think you’re rude 🙂
Are you immediately responding with a ‘yes’, without thinking things through? Start practicing no. Think about some different responses you could use:
- “I’d love to but I’m already committed to ….”
- “That sounds lovely but I’ve committed myself to some biz time while the house is quiet. Another time?”
- “It’s really kind of you to think of me. I like to give things my 100% and right now my priority is ‘x’ so I wouldn’t have the time to dedicate to it and give it the full attention it deserves”
Remember, each time you’re saying yes, you’re saying no to time you could use to be visible.
So, there you have it – 3 simple strategies to get visible when you’re super busy.- Plan In Some Pomodoro Time
- Know where your time goes
- Manage distractions from other people
Which one would be a good one to try? Got some other strategies that you use in your business when you’re super busy? Share them with me. I’d love to learn about them.
Your call to action is to choose one of these, or one of your own, and test it out.
[/spp-transcript]
]]>