It’s a common occurrence for every business owner. You get so busy in the ‘trenches’ that being able to step back and work ‘on’ the business can feel impossible… You just can’t find the time to tackle that to do list for you.

Whether you’re juggling family, kids, clients… Even downtime. How do you find the time to work on your business?

Here’s the thing… We all have the same 24hrs in a day, so in order to get stuff done, let me talk you through some ways you can save hours in a day and be less stressed out and more in control of your business, your life and your mindset!

Plan out your day the night before

Paper or digital, however you map out your day… Take 5-10 mins at the end of your work day to just map out how ‘tomorrow’ is looking. If you don’t reflect on it from the starting line, then you can end up over committing to your day. And you know how that feels, right… Half way through the day you realise you aren’t going to get everything done, but you did all the non urgent stuff first and now you have no choice but to work late.

Look at it the night before, you can spot these things and go into the day better prepared and approach your workload in the right order and minimise the stress and distribution.

By doing this, you will get more clarity and find time in your day you just didn’t have (trust me, it’s there!)

Do ‘you’ first

When you’re planning out your tasks make sure you do your ‘on the business’ tasks first, not last. We’re programmed to prioritise other peoples work first before our own, but just because you do yours first, doesn’t mean you’re being selfish, or that they’re less important… It’s a business. If you don’t work on the business, how do you think it will grow and enable you to expand, maybe hire help?

So, by doing ‘you’ first, you’re servicing both the business and the clients.

Look for ‘blockers’

When you’re mapping out your day the night before. Why not glance to other tasks in your week… Can you see any tasks that you can’t start until you get more information? These are blockers. When you sit down to do it, you’ll realise you can’t start it! That’s when deadlines get missed. Maybe you’re working on something, but you can start your part until you get images from a client, or the ‘go ahead’ from a team member.

Well, a quick email reminder to those people the night before, even better if you can identify those days before, will at least give them some time to pull these things together. Some people will need a few reminders… Just keep a keen eye out for those blockers.

This will reduce the time you spend delaying and ‘rejigging’ work. Allowing you to seamlessly flow from task to task.

Reduce distractions

Ok, so this one might be super obvious, but it always has to be reminded. The world is not going to end if you’re not glued to your phone or email.

Check emails at set intervals during the day and put your phone on silent.

It takes your brain 15 mins to get itself back in the zone, so the more you can reduce those interruptions when you’re working, the better!