Time management strategies, such as Getting Things Done, provide a methodology that is structured around creativity, focus and efficient planning. David Allen, the founder of GTD, believes that people must first learn to control and process the daily tasks needed to focus on overall objectives. This is because entrepreneurs have to take ownership of every aspect of their business. An entrepreneur must understand which tasks should be prioritized, how much time to dedicate to each task and how and what to delegate to other members of the team in order to move forward efficiently. Some entrepreneurs prefer to tackle challenging tasks first thing in the morning.
Others prefer to start with something easy, build momentum, and then finish the day. Both approaches are valid, but depending on your overall strategy, both can be detrimental to time management. The entrepreneurial spirit of taking on more responsibility and doing everything yourself can lead to early exhaustion or extremely poor time management. One of the main reasons for hiring someone is that you can share your responsibilities and delegate some of the tasks to them. Stephen Covey's four-quadrant system is beneficial for managing your time by filtering your tasks in terms of priority and level of urgency.
Taking time off from work helps you recharge your mind and allows you to identify how much time you'll need for tasks and allocate the best amount of time to them. According to Zahi Daniel, founder of Adapt Solution, using business process management as a tool for effective time management has an advantage. This strategy is a way of describing how the entrepreneur needs to absorb only the information needed for the next immediate task. Being lazy makes me more efficient because I try to find ways to do the best job in the shortest possible time. As an entrepreneur, you have to learn a lot of new things to understand all the operations and dynamics of your business. Although it is said that multitasking saves time on tasks, the truth is that multitasking can obstruct the workflow and prevent progress.
To do it right, you need to make sure that you don't waste time on unnecessary research. But unless they have really good time management skills, you can imagine them with their hair beating people like Einstein. Maintaining proper control and balance in schedules is extremely important for using your time effectively. Doing so allows entrepreneurs to focus only on the tasks that are most needed for, such as strategic planning, team motivation and direction, and communication with stakeholders. To optimize their time so that their skills are fully exploited, entrepreneurs must set aside tasks that consume a lot of time and delegate them to others. Additionally, they should set aside some time for themselves to reflect on their progress made and treat themselves.
If a genius grants three wishes to a novice entrepreneur, the first would be “please, let there be more than twenty-four hours in a day”.
