If you’re trying to manage your time, you’ll have much more success if you understand how you’re currently spending it. It’s much like trying to improve your diet before understanding your current eating habits. All the diet experts say that logging your food is one of the keys to weight loss success, and logging your activities is the key to getting the most out of your day.
A good approach is to log how you spend your time for 7-10 days. Some of you may be surprised at the pockets of unproductive time you see. And by unproductive, I don’t mean recreation or rest, I mean wasted time: time spent playing Farmville, watching “nothing in particular” on TV, or staring with dread at your to-do list.
Once you see how you’re spending your time, productive or otherwise, you will be better able to plan your weeks. Get rid of the "junk food", and make your time count. And that means including plenty of time for yourself, your family, and your friends.
When you’re ready to start planning, I recommend downloading the spreadsheet from www.my168hours.com. It is a basic Excel spreadsheet that lists the 168 hours of the week, by day. (It’s so simple, you could create it yourself, but why?) You can then use this sheet to plan your week.
It may take a few tries before creating a schedule that is right for you, mainly because in the beginning, you’ll probably over-schedule. You have to keep in mind, just because there’s an empty timeslot on the chart doesn’t mean you can squeeze in one more task. Our energy and focus is limited by more than a filled chart.
For new business owners, time management is one of the most important things to master, especially if you’re going it alone. And especially, especially if you have kids and/or are keeping your day job while you get started. Don’t give up before you even start - before saying “I have no time to start my business”, find out if that’s actually true.
