Business-owners are always on the lookout for hacks on how to reach bigger sales and exceed expectations. But the truth is, most of it will boil down to how well you manage your time. This is especially true for us builders. So today, let’s brush up on how to best manage our limited, and ever-so-valuable time.
Here are 7 simple tricks that will actually give tremendous impact on both your work and personal life.
1. Record your activities for a week
For one week, record all of your activities, thoughts, and discussions. Do this religiously so you can have sufficient data to analyze. This activity will help you to find patterns and see exactly where your precious time is going. When are you most productive? How much time are you spending on doing actual work? Which activities should you be spending less time on?
2. Allot a designated time for activities that are important to your success
For example, if some quiet alone time is when you tend to have your best ideas, then set an appointment with yourself and assign a schedule to it. Treat it like a high-priority meeting. The same goes for conversations, or some book-reading time. You have to identify these seemingly mundane, yet highly important activities.
3. Dedicate 50% of your time to “real” work
Make sure that at least 50% of your time is dedicated and spent on the activities that produce the most results. Again, it’s all about setting a plan and being dedicated to it. Assigning a specific number to it will help you to imagine your goal and make it concrete.
4. Schedule interruptions
To avoid burnout, schedule time for interruptions too. For example, after 1 hour of serious work, allot 10 minutes for a short social media or coffee break. You can also allot time for phone calls or text messages.
5. Start your day right
First impressions usually last. The same goes for your day. It pays to start it on solid footing. You can do this by dedicating the first 30 minutes of your waking day to planning. What is your agenda for the day? What are your priorities today? Where are you supposed to be? Who are you supposed to be meeting with? Use your first waking moments to get some clarity and direction.
6. Learn to say NO
Interruptions are all around us. So if you really want to get things done, you have to learn when to say NO. Block out social media if you’re on “work mode”. All of those notifications can drive anyone crazy. Just because your phone is lighting up, doesn’t mean that there’s an urgent response needed. Don’t be so quick to answer every single call and text. You don’t have to be online for instant messaging apps 24×7. Instead, allot some time at the end of your day for replying to all non-important messages. You can talk about weekend golf plans later.
7. You can’t do everything yourself
No matter how much we try, it’s impossible to get everything done by yourself. You have to delegate tasks because it’s necessary for scaling. Much like in basketball, in order to get a championship trophy, you must work as a team.
And as builders, we usually want to have as many projects as we can at any given time. This means managing several people, and organizing hundreds of tasks for each build. You won’t be able to do it alone. The success of your projects will depend on how well you can organize your timelines, tasks, and people.
This is where SAM comes in. SAM- the Superintendent’s Automated Manager is the go-to scheduler of professional builders in the US. Using SAM, you can say goodbye to messy paper and pen schedules, and go completely digital. Get schedule reports in one click. Update tasks and have everyone up to speed instantly. You can also synchronize it with your existing software. Don’t make your job harder than it has to be. Check out SAM today and test it out for FREE.