9 Tips to Manage Your Time - Part 1

As an aspiring entrepreneur if you haven't got effective time management skills then this is an area you will need to develop in if you want to improve your chances of being successful. Effective time management skills carry a number of benefits. For example you will utilise your time and resources more efficiently which will ensure you complete all the tasks you need to within the day. Many aspiring entrepreneurs find themselves wanting to become an entrepreneur so they can "be their own boss". Although this can carry a number of
benefits such as you are not going to sack yourself. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is managing your own time. If you do not meet deadlines then you will not have a boss pressuring you to hurry up. You have to ensure you have the motivation to manage your time effectively. Otherwise you may find yourself losing opportunities and business deals if you are not able to complete tasks in a set time. Below are some tips which will help you develop your time management skills:

Set a list of tasks and prioritise:
If you are to manage your time effectively you need to know what tasks will need completing. There will possibly be unforeseen tasks that occur and need completing. However there will be a number of tasks you will already be aware of that will need completing. There will also be some tasks that are more important than others. Prioritise the most important tasks and complete these first to ensure they get completed. It can be useful if some tasks are particularly big to break them down into more manageable chunks.

Be organised:
Once you know what tasks you need to complete you need to know how you are going to complete them. Time can quite often be wasted by sitting down to start a task only to realise you haven't got everything you need available to do what you had planned to do. By being organised and knowing what you need to complete a task and having it readily available will help you to manage your time more effectively.

Learn to delegate:
If you do have others working for you within your business then being effective at delegating will help you to manage your time. It is important to ensure you only delegate tasks that the individual is competent at completing. If you delegate tasks to individuals that aren't capable of completing the task then this is probably going to take up more of your time as you have to correct any mistakes.  In order to avoid some mistakes that can be made when an entrepreneur delegates you may find it helpful to read the following article "The Three Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Delegating" written by Michael Kelley and published on businessinsider.com.

Make quick effective decisions:
If you are not effective at making good quick decisions you may find yourself wasting a lot of time. Having said this it is important you do not make quick decisions in haste. Initially you may find it takes longer to make effective decisions until you have practiced this skill. One effective tool for making decisions is a SWOT analysis. It is a relatively quick and easy tool to use once you have practised with it. For more information about SWOT analysis click here.

This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Make sure you check back soon to find out what tips are in part 2.