Top 10 Time Management Strategies for Successful Entrepreneurs

To be successful, a mompreneur has to become pretty darned good at time management strategies. Any entrepreneur who fails at time management will struggle with stress and find success elusive. At worst mompreneurs who consistently struggle with managing their time are often those who lose their business altogether. So for an entrepreneur to succeed, there are 10 time management strategies to focus on for success. Employing even one of these strategies daily will make a difference for any mompreneur who wants to be successful and less stressed while juggling it all.

1. Analyze today’s reality

   When you begin to analyze time management strategies, it’s important to assess the skills you have in place. To begin, take a look at today’s reality.

   One of the most consistent time management strategies for my clients is to track your time daily. Accurate tracking (even for a few days) helps you focus on the data. When you look at the facts and realities, you’ll soon figure out what you are doing well and uncover your gaps. A simple practice is to track your time spent on tasks daily. Splitting those tasks up into the categories that most moms must manage will help you see where you are running into trouble.

   It’s a great practice to plan out your weeks and see where you’re spending your time. This weekly planner can help.

2. Plug your time drains and gaps

   Once you figure out where you’re spending the time you can assess whether or not that time is well spent. In the places where you are wasting your time, you must put in planning, routine, schedules, and support that help you get things done in an easier way.

3. Create SMART Goals

   One of the most popularized time management strategies is to set reasonable goals. Your business and personal life is enhanced by accomplishments. So, when you set a goal keep the SMART acronym in mind:

   1. S stands for Specific: make sure both your business and personal goals are very specific.
   2. M is for Measurable: Your goals must also have a measuring point by which you will know whether or not you have met your goal successfully. One of the surest ways to failure against your goals is to never set a measurable outcome.
   3. A is for Achievable:   There is a big difference between a dream and a goal.  Dreams can be lofty and future-focused but successful goals must be achievable.  You can have the biggest goals in the world but if they are not realistic and achievable you will likely not meet them.
   4. R is for Results-Oriented: Be sure to create the result you wish within your goal. A result is different than a measure. You can create measures for performance, efficiency, and effectiveness but results are about what you get when you complete the goal.
   5. T is for Time-Based: successful goals must be related to the period of time in which you will apply your plan. This is one of the missing pieces for most people and why their goals fail. Without a time limit, you tend to lose focus, become scattered, and risk dropping your goal from your priority set. (Some people add another T at the end of this for ‘trackable’.)

4. Prioritize what is most important
   

   In order for entrepreneurs to be successful, they have to remedy time management gaps on the inside by prioritizing what’s most important.  To begin doing the internal work, you need to know what you value. Knowing what you consider as most important is a time management strategy that helps you prioritize tasks.  A great way to determine your key motivations is, to begin with, your core values. Each person’s core values are different. You may value achievement where another may value love. By identifying your core values and then defining them according to you and what you need, you will have a clearer picture when you prioritize the many tasks and activities you need to juggle as a busy mompreneur.

5. Plan it out

   When you’re focused on improving your time management strategies, you need to be realistic. First, assess how much you’re working. How long is your day? Do you have limits on your time? When improving your time management strategies, never underestimate the value of a great plan! And, don’t be afraid to plan. You always have the opportunity to change direction if your plan is not working out to your advantage. Planning can be done in many ways but it’s been proven that planning is a separate brain function than scheduling and indeed separate from implementation. It is important to take time apart to plan first.

6. Manage how to do it

   Managing how you do things defines a system. So time management strategies that ignore systems and workflows don’t work for very long. In order to more effectively manage time, you must consider how you do the things you implement in life. Often we think about workflows when it comes to work systems but there are many workflows when it comes to managing your home and children effectively as well. Thinking about the best way to do things can sometimes save you a great deal of time. Asking for input from friends and other small business owners and entrepreneurs can save you loads of time and mistakes.

7. Schedule time effectively

   Just like planning, scheduling is a separate time management strategy. Scheduling deserves some focus for busy mom entrepreneurs.  Scheduling has to do with chunking tasks in categorical functions and then blocking time to complete them. Just as you would schedule a time to go to the grocery store you must schedule a time for business development, social media, blog posting, newsletter writing, and networking events.

8. Create maintenance routines

   Probably one of the most overlooked time management strategies for entrepreneurs is creating maintenance routines.  Maintenance routines have to do with everything that goes behind managing your household, running your family, and keeping things at a sense of home-hemostasis.   Some best practices include assigning certain maintenance routines to days of the week.  This ensures things get done effectively and helps manage your stress level by knowing when and where things will be accomplished at home.

9. React, respond and reprioritize

   One of the most crucial time management strategies for mompreneur’s success is the ability to be flexible and go with the flow. You must be able to react, respond and reprioritize as things change in your life. One of the critical skills that make mompreneurs successful is their ability to make decisions quickly with the information that they have available to them at that time. Your ability to be flexible stands in opposition to one of the qualities that sometimes gets in the way: perfectionism.  Allowing yourself to let go of perfectionism frees up an entire reality and supports your ability to be successful.

10. Systematize time management strategies

    One person’s time management strategies may not be the same as another’s. Looking deeper into the sanity dimensions of your space,  your systems, your self-care, and the level of support you receive daily, will help you uncover areas that would be better systematized.  For instance, routine and ritual can be the critical success factors when implementing your health and wellness self-care practices.  Signing up for a fitness class, paying for a gym membership, or setting up an accountability partner can be the strategies that help systematize your self-care opportunities.  Something happens when we commit to another person, or put money on the table to pay for a class.   Suddenly we have some skin in the game and there is a cost to not completing.

So that’s it.  Following these 1o time management strategies can really help save your time and get your going in the right direction. It’s not too much to think about, right?  What are your most successful time management tips? Please add them in the comment box below.

I help people design time management strategies that work for them. If you’re looking to work with a productivity coach, I can help. Click here to book a complimentary call and let’s create time management strategies just for you.