‘Time’ is one of the most common issues I deal with as a coach helping SME business owners. Working long hours, stuck in the daily grind and endlessly fire fighting, they never seem to have enough time to for family, friends or to implement a solid growth strategy.

I’m going to be examining the topic with a series of blog posts and today I’m starting with 7 easy to digest tips that anybody can adopt.

Try them and let me know how you get along.

1. Heighten your time awareness.

Most of us are sure that we know how we spend our time and energy during a typical day – but do we? Make a log. Record and analyse exactly how you spend your time. It will help you identify opportunities to enhance your productivity through diary disciplines and to delegate lower value, lower skill work. Most people who do this are surprised by the results

2. Say “No” and set boundaries

We like to think of ourselves as nice people, but sometimes we have to say ‘no.’ It’s a key success strategy and an integral part of time and energy management. Ironically, you will have more to offer the world if you set healthy boundaries.

3. Work out time and energy ratios

The tasks you think are most productive are often time-wasters and vice versa. For example, office meetings are believed to be important, but often don’t achieve anything unless carefully managed; while meditation can be viewed as a waste of time, when it can actually make you a better thinker who makes higher quality decisions.

4 Identify productive time windows

Some time windows are more productive than others. For example if you left your house at 6 am, it might only take you 20 minutes to get to work, rather than an hour in rush hour. Why not wake up early, drive to the gym for a workout and then whizz to your office stress-free?

5. Prioritise

Establish your life’s biggest priorities. As an experiment, break it down into small categories and create to-do lists – this year’s priorities, the quarter’s priorities, the month’s priorities, the week’s priorities, and your day’s priorities. Review your progress and continually re-prioritise.

6. Use the Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle (also known as The 80-20 Rule) and is named after an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. The Pareto Principle seems to apply to nearly all situations. For example, prioritise the 20% of tasks on your to-do list that will give you the largest return on your time and energy investment.

7. Seek Out Productivity Tools

Everyone needs productivity tools – these might be super high-tech, or as simple as a timer or a clipboard. Find tools that work for you. I use Zoom for high quality video conferencing. Once a relationship is established, I can have effective meetings without wasting precious time travelling. What’s your best productivity tool?