Treat Yourself to 4 More Hours in a Day

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What would you do if you had 4 more free hours in your day?

You’d probably have a handful of things on your to do list things other than working in your business. Things like preparing dinner for your family, walking your dog, a movie date with your loved one or maybe just spend some quiet time by yourself.

Like most people you probably never have this spare time.

Whenever the feeling of not having enough time creeps in, it usually gets you thinking about how you could effectively squeeze in what you need to do in the time you have to do it.

Sometimes we find our work lives are jam-packed – then we decide that something has to give.

Need more time?

Do you still find yourself doing what other people could do?

If you find yourself overscheduled and trapped into doing tasks that are not contributing to your goals, then stop right now. Time management is a difficult problem to solve, but if we understand our weaknesses in this area it will give us a better chance of devoting useful hours to more productive tasks, and create 4 more hours a day!

Here are some points to consider:

  • Value your time. Saying no to some requests will give you the capacity to say yes to more important things in your business and in your personal life. Be honest and polite, but be determined and explain your decision if necessary.

 

  • Learn to delegate. During the Hive webinars, we have often recommended allocating more of the management tasks to your staff. After more than 30 years in business, one of the most common challenges I see among business owners is their tendency to struggle with letting go of control. Delegation is a vital leadership skill and if we can’t master it, it will be difficult for us to move forward. Delegate tasks to other people and you will be amazed how they will step up and contribute new ideas for running your practice.

 

  • Focus. As a practice owner, it can be difficult at times to stay focused on the big picture. Often we get so busy we lose sight of what we are trying to achieve and why we are practicing Podiatry in the first place. As someone once said, it is not which one you focus on, it is about focusing on one.

What is not worth my time?

After refocusing your goals, it becomes easier to eliminate unnecessary tasks so that you can work on the more important aspects of your business. Consider a target with the bulls-eye labelled?Must Do. The next ring, Should Doand the outer ringCould Do.

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Make a list of all the things you need to do and plot them on the target.

Concentrate on the things in your?Must Dolist.

Should DoandCould Dotasks are the tasks you could say no to or delegate to someone else.

Freeing yourself from these tasks could give you 4 or more hours for you to develop new strategies for your practice.

You could also evaluate the things that people request you to do using theMust-Should-Couldtool. Where does it fit in your target? Is it more important than what you are currently doing now? Can someone else in your practice do the task?

With the frenzied schedule we have, it would be wise to focus our energy and attention on the tasks that matter most. By letting go and delegating more, you’ll be surprised how much more productive you can be.

til next time,

Greg