How to Increase Your Time!
If you are on the road to becoming a Millionaire entrepreneur you will undoubtedly come up against TIME.
The elusive time. I know I say to myself or others too often, “I’m sorry I just don’t have the time.”
This is a mistake! There is no such thing as ‘we don’t have the time’. The time is always the same! It’s the same if you are a homeless person busking on a street corner, and the same amount of time is given to the CEO of a major corporation. A newborn baby has the exact same amount of time as a 21 year old university student or a 65 year old retiree!
So why do we so often feel like we need more time?
Do we say “Oh, I need more air?”, or “I need more gravity?” Well time just is what it is, there is never more or less.
When you feel short on time, TIME is not the culprit! We are the controllers who manage our time.
We cannot ever run out of time – we simply neglect to manage our schedule.
In my business consulting I like to do an exercise around ‘time blocking’ and two of the keys are…
- Becoming a great scheduler
- Capturing the most ROI on your activities
…which will feel like you have more time.
#1 Becoming a great scheduler
Now to become a great scheduler you need to commit to a calendar such as your physical Franklin Covey day timer, Google calendar or something you have convenient on your phone.
Then you will input your biggest priorities over the YEAR such as your Anniversary, family birthdays, children’s school activities, holidays etc.
Then your work will take place within certain time frames: scheduled appointments, morning activities at your desk, lunch opportunities, networking events, conferences etc.
If you make a conscious effort to gain organization over your calendar you will experience a huge improvement in the management of your schedule!
#2 Capturing the most ROI on your activities
I have two ideas that you might like.
First, if you think about it, would you say that you are like most of the population with the habit of going to work at 8 or 9am, coming home at 5 or 6 and then settling into dinner, dishes some chores and then relaxing until bedtime?
Here is a tip. After dinner and spending the quality time with family, what time is it? Let’s say it’s 7pm. What time do you go to bed? Maybe 10:30 or 11? Between 7-11 are four more hours! What if you organized yourself to produce for just one out of the four hours in the evening? One full hour on something meaningful for your business each night?
That could equal five additional hours of business each week and suddenly you have created 260 extra hours of “time” in a year. That is equal to 32.5 eight hour days. Hey you have just given yourself an extra MONTH of results oriented work time!!
(It works! I just thought up this idea for this video in my hour of work last night!)
And here is idea number two. If you are like most people you might spend the last minutes before bed watching the news (or Survivor) while you wind down to go to sleep. That is fine, we all need our own way to unwind and some mindless activity.
But right before bed, when you crawl under the crisp, clean and cool sheets, rather than leaving your mind filled with the drama, the news, or whatever mindless filler you pick, take your business journal (like a personal journal but one that you can use for more business focused thoughts) and just quickly review your day.
Write down your wins, what went well, who did you meet that you want to remember? Spend just five minutes recapping your day and reminding yourself what you are grateful for. Then turn your thoughts to tomorrow. What is your plan for action the next day? Get your To-Do list out on paper and then while you sleep let the Universe put your ideas together for you so that when your eyes open your brain is ready to start the day. If you are ready to run out of the gate you will be way ahead of the rest of the crowd who wakes up and spends their first 2 hours figuring what they need to do today?
So what do you think? Can you Maximize your business results by doing this? Try it and see! Let me know how it goes.
Watch the video here:
And if you need more help I am always available to help entrepreneurs: contact me at helpme@maximizedresults.com