Aside from a newborn baby, there’s nothing more delicate in this world than time. It’s so precious that wasting just a few seconds can ruin your entire schedule for the day (and stress you out in the process).
Everyone gets a full 24 hours a day to work with, but for some reason, it feels like it’s never enough. Especially if you’re an entrepreneur. With so many things on your plate on a day to day basis – ranging from meetings and sales calls, to personal time with your family, it’s definitely tough to juggle everything into place.
Here are 3 time management hacks that will allow you to make the most out of your 168 hours a week. We not affiliated with any of these recommendations. Let’s dig in!
1.) The Pomodoro Technique
If you’re the type of person who thrives under pressure, you’ll surely love the Pomodoro Technique.
Pioneered by 90s entrepreneur Francesco Cirillo, the pomodoro technique is based on the idea of working in 25 minute spurts followed by a 5-10 minute break.
The main reason why it’s effective is because it allows you to laser focus on a specific task at a given time while avoiding burnout.
To get started, you can download your personal “pomodoro” on Google Play Store or the App Store. For best results though, install a Pomodoro Chrome Extension. This allows you to see your status (minutes left) in real-time as you work. There are tons of Pomodoro Apps available online, so feel free to choose whichever works best for you.
Once you have the app, simply list down your task and start your “pomodoro”. You will have 25 minutes to finish that task and a 5-10 minute break right after.
You can create as many pomodoros as you want within the day. But do take note that every time you start a pomodoro, you should really focus on just one thing. This means no Twitter, no Slack chats, and no random cat videos!
You will appreciate the true impact of the Pomodoro Technique once you use it religiously. Use it today and see how much time you can really save.
For inspiration, you can check out how this guy was able to get 40 hours of work done in just 16.7 hours using the Pomodoro Technique.
2.) Get Momentum
One of the coolest apps that you might not be using right now is Momentum.
Momentum is a Google Chrome tab extension that gives you a fresh way to start up your day.
The app’s purpose is to help you stay focused while giving you inspiration and a nice boost in productivity too. Unlike other task management tools like Asana and Trello, Momentum is minimalist in nature.
It’s not a full-blown dashboard of your ToDos, schedule, and meetings – but that’s alright. Momentum’s purpose is to provide inspiration with a close up look to one of the beautiful destinations on Earth while helping you accomplish your main focus for the day.
It can give you a closer look at the Aurora Borealis today, and the pyramids in Egypt the next day.
And that’s not all… You also get to enjoy an inspirational quote at the bottom of the dashboard, like this:
Your personal dashboard changes daily. The scenery, the quote, and your main focus for the day.
If you’re expecting a to-do list management app, this is not it.
Momentum lets you focus on just one thing at a time, which further boosts your productivity for the day. It eliminates distractions and helps you work in peace.
The best practice is to put in that ONE THING you really need to get done. After you finish, you can then write in your new “focus” for the rest of the day.
3.) Hire a Virtual Assistant
Or if you already have one, maximize his efficiency.
See, all of us have only 24 hours a day to work with, but hiring a VA gives you an extra 8-12 hours (depending on your agreement).
Most entrepreneurs want to handle things on their own. And that’s normal. You probably wouldn’t be in the position you’re in right now if you weren’t hands on with pretty much everything.
But there comes a time where you should be able to let go of certain tasks and have someone else handle them for you. This is where your personal virtual assistant comes in.
A VA can get basic tasks done for you. It might not be much, but if you audit how you handle your time, you’ll be able to see that you’re actually wasting plenty of hours on things that a VA can actually do for you.
Booking flight tickets? Setting up meetings? Getting some research and speech talk points for that conference you’re attending? A good VA can do all that, and more.
Hiring the perfect one would be a challenge, but you have 2 options.
First, you can ask your colleagues where/how they hired their VA. They may be able to offer you a few recommendations which will make your hiring process easier.
Second – you can search for a reputable virtual assistant firm online or on job sites such as Upwork.
Finding the perfect VA for your needs will take time (no pun intended), but it’s definitely worth it.
If you already have a VA, you can either hire another one, or delegate more tasks to him/her. In order to make the most out of your VA’s service, you should do an audit of the things that you are doing on a daily basis.
Study the list you made and weed out the tasks that you think you can delegate to your VA instead. This can potentially give you hours of free time back to spend on bigger and better things.
Conclusion
Yes we all get 24 hours a day or 168 hours a week, but if you learn how you can maximize it and channel your hours into more productive means, then you already won more hours to spare.
The 24 hours per day can be a myth if you’re smart about how you handle your time. So how about trying out these time management hacks, and start optimizing your hours today!
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