46 Time Management Hacks That Made Me A Better Entrepreneur

A day in the life growing up felt like it would take an eternity, at times the clock felt like it was going backwards.

Move forward a few decades and now you could swear that you’re short changed of hours everyday.

With the help of technology and information sharing there are more ways than ever to tackle the issue of time management and productivity so that you can start thinking big!

Do you know what entrepreneurs and everyday people are utilising to get the most out of the hours in their day?

Here are

46 time management strategies

that can help you get back some of that time each day!

1. Start Now!

Doing is better than perfect. You can waste too much time trying to make something perfect. Start now, get it done and the next time you do it, you will be better, eventually may be even perfect.

“Someday is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with

you” – Tim Ferriss

2. Forget the Excuses Control your mind and don’t let it trick you into believing excuses. Next time an excuse pops into your head stop and create some awareness around it.

Think for a second:

● Hang on where is this excuse coming from?

● Am I just using an excuse to trick myself into not having to do something?

Be aware of the decisions you are making and how they will impact you in the long term.

A good friend of mine Nick Mannix was in a horrific accident that left him a tetraplegic. I think of him on a daily basis especially when I find myself fabricating excuses. In that context there isn’t many good excuses for me to not get it done!

You can't change the situation, the only thing

you can change is how you deal with it!

- Nick Mannix

3. Prepare Yourself

Don’t hope your going to have a good day, prepare yourself to have a good day by going through a morning ritual and preparing yourself in the best way that works for you so that you're in the right place to have a great day.

4. The Importance of Daily Rituals

Rituals help you find your rhythm and prepare you best for your next task. Although your day can be made up of many different rituals the main two to focus on are your morning and night rituals.

Morning Ritual is the process you go through

upon waking to prepare you for the day ahead.

What is crucial here is knowing yourself and what works best for you personally. I feel the best if I get up when I first wake usually at around 5.30am. If I sleep in I feel sluggish for the rest of the day.

My morning ritual

The first thing I do is make the bed and I cheat a little bit here. I only use a sheet on the mattress and then a duvet (no top sheet).

The reason for this is plain and simple:

● I don’t like top sheets; they are a pain in the arse and too much work.

● It’s so easy to get up, grab your duvet, and fling it in the air and bingo your bed is made. First easy win for the day!

Next;

I hydrate, put on my shoes, grab my headphones

and head out the door for a stroll.

I go for a walk because its low intensity and an easy way to get the body going without the pressure of having to push yourself first thing in the morning.

It also gives me the opportunity to listen to a podcast, stimulate the mind and get some inspiration.

I usually listen to Marketing School by Neil Patel & Eric Siu.

Then I do one or two of the following:

● Rehab session consisting of

stretching and self-massage

● Go for a quick flat-water paddle

● Or skate some bowls

This ritual really pumps me up for the day and gets me excited about what I am going to do next.

In fact this article was a result of a mornings walk inspiration. Starting the day with small wins helps you structure your day and find your rhythm.

Night Ritual :

Is the process you go through before going to sleep to wind down for the day and prepare yourself as best as possible to wake up refreshed the next morning.

Finish the day with something that is going to set you up for tomorrow!

For me this is yoga

A session of bikram, hatha flow or hot yin sweats out all of the stresses from the day. If I don’t do a yoga class I will spend 30 minutes foam rolling in the living room.

After yoga, I have a late dinner that I have usually pre prepared. Then I sit down and identify the 3 most important tasks I have to complete tomorrow and put them at the top of my Trello list “DOING”.

While doing this:

I have a hot cup of water with ● 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

● 1 tablespoon of manuka honey

This hot drink is well known and commonly used by the likes of Tim Ferriss and for some reason it helps you sleep like a log.

I certainly notice a difference and usually will have an uninterrupted sleep if I have this before bed.

Although I never have problems with going to sleep this night

ritual makes a massive difference when I wake up in the morning

and jump out of bed rather than crawl out of bed. I need 7 hours

of sleep every night.

A ritual or routine shouldn’t be forced, it’s about finding

what works best for you to maximise your time and

productivity, so that you can operate in the most

efficient way on a regular basis.

5. Priorities

There is always time. Time is priorities.

6. Organise Your Tasks

The To Do List is the nuts and bolts of your daily productivity and with a lot of different apps and methods to choose from your To Do List is still more than likely cluttered with no structure.

Find a simple method that

is organised and stick to it.

I use Trello purely because it is very simple to use, can be partially

automated and integrates with my Gmail accounts.

I run a few different Trello boards however my main board for organising my day is labelled TASKS.

I add any tasks as a card to the list WAITING as they come to mind and from there I can drag and drop the task into THIS WEEK, DOING or DONE.

On my board TASKS I also have a list TO PAY which is where any manually paid invoices are easily added as a card to the list from Gmail. (This is explained further in the next tip).

Manage it on your laptop or desktop but also be sure to download the mobile app so you can add tasks on the go and manage anything from your phone as well.

7. Use Trello With Google Calendar

Using pre made recommend zaps in Zapier you

can automate the copying of any events scheduled

in your Google Calendar to create new cards in your Trello boards and lists of choice.

I run this zap to add any events scheduled in my Google Calendar for the day ahead automatically to the list DOING in my Trello board TASKS.

8. Make Sure All Events in Your Calendar are Scheduled With a Reminder

Don’t rely on your brain to remember everything.

Always take notes.

9. Manage Your Email Inbox EffectivelyDo you have a system in place to manage your emails?

Or is it just deal with it, as you need to?

Having a process in place to deal with your emails can save you a world of hurt and embarrassment when you forget to follow up or reply to important emails.

Since I use Trello I can add any email as a card to any of my lists on my Trello boards by clicking the “Add this Gmail to Trello” icon above an opened email.

I use this for things such as manually paid invoices that are emailed to me and save it to the list “TO PAY” in my TASKS Trello board.

This is also great for emails that require attention later on. Simply add the email as a card to one of your other lists WAITING,THIS WEEK or DOING.

Then once it's ready to be taken care of you will have dragged and drop the card into the task list DOING.

10. Create a Trello Board for Your Assistant and Collaborate

I manage my assistant’s tasks in Trello by creating a board for her which we both have access to.

It outlines all the re-occurring weekly tasks as individual cards from Monday through to Friday and I add any tasks I want to assign to her on a one off basis by creating a card and adding it to the list for the relevant day.

11. Use Google Chrome

Chrome is fast and does not have the compatibility issues that

most other browsers have with some software’s.

12. Utilise Extensions on Google Chrome

By enhancing the functionality of your Chrome browser Chrome

Extensions are the little time management strategies that save you a whole lot of

time.

13. Download an Ad Blocker ExtensionAdvertising is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

People are trained to ignore ads in this day

and age and downloading an ad blocker extension

is just one of many ways to cut out unwanted

messages and delays in productivity online.

I use Adblock Plus and have been running it for almost 2 years. In that time it has blocked a staggering 25,109 ads on my Mac so far!

14. Google Drive As far as cloud based storage goes Google Drive is excellent for

collaborating, storing, syncing and sharing files with ease.

Again make the most of Chrome Extensions and download the Save to Google Drive extension to save web content of browser screenshots to your Google drive quickly and effortlessly.

15. Work is the Best Way to Get Working

● Break large tasks into little chunks

● Start with small tasks to get the ball rolling

● Work through one at a time

16. Stop Multi Tasking at Work

Multi tasking at work kills your focus.

Larger tasks should be broken down

into smaller tasks and concentrated

on one at a time.

17. Start Multi Tasking Outside of Work

Outside of the office you perform a lot more mundane tasks that don’t require a whole lot of concentration. I usually try to get a surf in three mornings a week and make the drive from Melbourne to the coast (which is anywhere between 1hr20 and 1hr40 depending on where I surf).

I use this time to listen to long form podcasts and take any notes using a voice

recorder so that I am not distracted from driving and can refer back to them later for further study or organisation.

18. Create a Routine that Works

If you’re an entrepreneur you really are working all the time however create a routine where you have identified hours to get the important tasks completed and stick to it.

I am in the office by 8.00-9.00am from then until 12.00pm is the timeframe I concentrate on getting the 3 most important tasks I organised the night before done and out of the way for the day.

After lunch I can be in the office from anywhere between 1.00pm to 7.00pm.

This is my time to work on tasks going forward whether its: ● strategies

● planning

● or content creation

I can cruise along and get things done at my own pace.

Sometimes I might wrap it up and be done by 5.00pm. Each day is different to the next but the main focus is getting those 3-4 most productive hours complete at the beginning of my workday.

A typical well time managed routine for me looks like this:

- 05.30am Wake

05.30 – 07.30am Morning Ritual

07.30 – 08.00am Breakfast & Shower

08.00 – 12.00pm Uninterrupted Work

12.00 – 01.00pm Lunch Ritual

01.00 – 5/7.00pm Work

5/7.00 –07.30pm Free Time

07.30 – 10.30pm Night Ritual

10.30pm - Bed

But remember more work hours doesn’t necessarily mean more productivity.

19. Don’t Slack Off Today Because You Had a Productive Day Yesterday

“Yesterday's home runs, don’t win

today's games.” - Babe Ruth

20. Embrace Change, Pivot & Adapt QuicklyInstagram began as Burbn combining elements of Foursquare (check-ins) with elements of the social network game Mafia Wars (hence the name Burbn).

Throughout the process the creators saw mobile photos as an awesome opportunity and decided to pivot, strip everything back and focus solely on photos.

This example of pivoting and adapting quickly proved

to be a wise decision considering the 2 founders sold

the app to Facebook 18 months after launching for

$1 billion ($300 million in cash and the rest in Facebook stock).

“You have to be able to adapt quickly. If you aren’t able to adapt to market changes,

someone else will.” - Neil Patel

21. Block out distractions I no longer have the Facebook app on myphone, it’s a trap!

It's just too easy to get stuck in the

Facebook vortex and waste 20 minutes going through your newsfeed while you forget what the real reason was that you had to get on your phone for.

Since I have a password manager I generate custom passwords so I actually don’t even know my password to be able to login from my phone using Google either! And I don’t use the password manager app on my phone for the same reason.

I still have the Facebook messenger app on my phone however I don’t allow notifications so I am not interrupted by a message and will check to see if I have any messages in my own time.

Same goes with anything else on my phone that isn’t business related; “Allow Notifications” is set to off”.

Blocking out distractions in this day and age is crucial in the realm of time management strategies.

22. Record anything that distracts you ● New ideas

● Thoughts

● Searches

● etc.

This way you can revisit it at a suitable time.

When you do, you won't have to waste time trying to remember what it was that popped

into your head.

23. Keep Mornings / Afternoons Contextual

Switching between projects or clients is unproductive.

24. Organise Meetings and Calls Early in The Day

Get them out of the way early so you have to be prepared the day

before. A lot of the time leading up to meetings is wasted if they

are set later in the day.

25. Group Similar Calls

Grouping calls of the same context saves a

huge amount of time compared to having them placed sporadically throughout the week and it also

helps you refine your skills.

26. Leave Time in BetweenYou know when you're late or rushing to be on time, whatever you were doing gets cut short and you say to yourself “I will finish that later”.

Well do you really finish it later and if you do it takes twice as long as it would have if you had a few spare minutes to complete it when you were working on it.

Make sure you give yourself realistic time between meetings and tasks. Having an

extra 10 minutes or so up your sleeve lets you complete tasks thoroughly.

That way you can pride yourself on being on time and cut down on the time used going back to complete tasks.

27. Move Your body! It doesn’t matter what you do, just do something. Do something everyday! You will feel ten times better for it, expelling toxins, increasing energy levels and clearing the mind

With fitness it doesn’t have

to be about pushing yourself

all of the time, it's about

getting it done.

Sure some days you aren’t going to be in the mood to exercise but don’t let that determine your decision to not do it. Even if you turn up and get it done at 50% intensity you are still winning the day.

On the days when your energy levels are at their best then you will automatically push yourself without having to find motivate from deep within.

Over time the more exercise you do the more you will feel like pushing yourself.

28. Know Your BodyKnowing your own body and where its weaknesses and strengths lie is vital to getting the most out of everyday.

Try different sports or training methods. Doing something new will teach you more about your body and you may just find something you like.

It also enables you focus on the weaker areas in your daily rituals.

For example, My left hip flexor can tighten if I don’t maintain it which then leads to lower back

pain. So as part of my daily rituals whether it's stretching or foam rolling this is an area I make

sure I focus more attention to everyday if not a few times a day.

Minimising or eliminating any problems that may reduce my productivity.

29. Get a Wardrobe Routine I wear a combination of different coloured AS colour tee-shirts daily.

They are cheap, fit well to my body shape, look tidy and presentable and they are easy to re-order as they wear out saving any time hassles when deciding what to wear or what clothes to buy.

30. Quit Sugar

What happens if you quit sugar?

You’ll feel better than ever.

31. Pre Prepare Meals

The Daily Burn provides a lot of helpful ideas around pre preparing meals to save you a lot of time.

Being a country lad at heart, most Sundays I will make a stew in a large slow cooker. It's easy to do, loaded with vegetables and goodness and provides meals for me for most of the week. Sometimes I will eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

32. Measure Your Level of Discipline

It’s easy to say yeah I have been out of bed before 6 everyday the last 2 weeks.

But do you have the data that brings it into a reality?

Using simple time saving apps to measure custom daily goals gives you an accurate idea of how disciplined your really are. Keeping a daily record of the things you want to track gives you the ability to identify patterns in your habits from real data.

I use the app Way of Life to track my habits and because it is so efficient to use I track a big range of things from did I surf today to did I get to bed before 10.30pm.

You can then go back and review how

successful you were over the week, months or years and identify areas in your day that might be letting you down or explain why you aren’t improving in certain areas important to you.

33. Have Something to Look Forward toIt could be anything from going for surf in the weekend to a weeklong working holiday. It doesn’t have to be something big or irregular. By finding gratitude in the smallest things you always have something to look forward to on a daily basis.

I look forward to my cup of cider and manuka honey while I jot down the 3 most important tasks I want to get done before lunchtime the next morning.

I am grateful that it works so well for me and with a forward thinking mind it sets me up to accomplish my goals on a daily basis.

34. Don’t Be Afraid to Fail

Sometimes it’s the quickest road to where you want to be.

“Sometimes the worst experiences are the ones where you learn the most

lessons.” Richie McCaw – All Blacks Captain

35. Be Open to Possibilities

Half of what we know to be true today may be proved wrong in 20 years time.

36. Give Your Mobile Apps Some Order

There are various ways to organise your mobile apps and it really comes down to personal preference in regards to the way you think for maximum efficiency.

I like to organise my apps in folders labelled with verbs mainly

and in alphabetical order.

37. Collaborate With Slack20% of your day can be easily spent chasing information or getting someone to help with specific tasks. Whether by email, instant messaging or face to face its a huge cause of poor time management.

Slack has taken care of this problem in the work environment by bringing

communication together in one place, being extremely customisable and the ability to work across just about every device you use. Best of all Slacks free plan provides plenty

of great features so chances are it won't cost you a cent!

38. Use Online Bookmarks, Create Folders and Organise Your Toolbar

I bookmark anything I use regularly or that’s important to refer to later. Google Chrome lets you sync your bookmarks so you can easily access them at anytime from another device by logging into your Google account. This is especially helpful when updating computers.

Create folders to easily organise

any web pages you bookmark.

39. Learn Keyboard Shortcuts

Just start with one basic command! You will appreciate the small

amount of time it saves you and will encourage you to add more

shortcuts to your keyboard skills repertory.

MAC keyboard

40. Upskill, Learn and GrowIf you’re not continuously learning then you’re not utilising your time and pushing

yourself to grow and improve.

Self-teaching is a lifelong journey, embrace it with online learning sites like Lynda which has unlimited access with a subscription starting at

$35aud/month and Udemy the world’s largest online learning centre with the ability to purchase individual courses to help anyone learn business, software, technology and creative skills to achieve personal growth at a reasonable price.

I use both and highly recommend them to catapult anything

self-taught to maximise your productivity and get ahead.

“Nothing comes easy. You have to learn how to do things.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

Get good at documenting the process you go through when completing tasks.

If you can document your processes in a simplified and easy manner so that someone who knows nothing about the task could follow it, then you are well on your way to scaling your business in the most efficient manner possible.

The process of creating processes might seem time consuming and don’t get me wrong it is, however this will save you a tremendous amount of time further down the road as you delegate tasks.

41. Create Processes for Everything

Giving you more time to concentrate on the important things like growing your business.

Not only should you be doing this but everyone within your business should be as well. Creating a centralised hub for your company’s

processes online. Every time a process is improved or streamlined the first thing you do is go back and update the appropriate processes in your process hub.

This safeguards you from disasters like having employees or freelancers up and leave without notice because each process for every task they are responsible for completing is documented in a simple step by step manner and can be assigned to someone else.

With more and more freelancers operating around the world and choosing to work remotely, outsourcing has never been easier, more reliable and cost effective than right now.

If you are doing something that someone else can do

for $10 per hour, it’s a poor use of your time.

Utilise the processes you create and in particular outsource re-occurring

tasks.

42. Outsource

Using platforms like Upwork

which has over 12 million registered freelancers

gives you a great opportunity to build teams of specialist freelancers

that if hired correctly are smarter than you,

can complete tasks more efficiently than you

and more cost effectively

giving you time to work on more

important tasks.

43. Build MomentumThe greats haven’t always been great. They started from nothing and grew by building momentum.

Ever get that feeling that you’re on a roll and

everything is working out right?

Well that’s momentum. Get on a roll by getting into a rhythm and focus on staying in rhythm to build momentum. Your daily rituals will help you take advantage of this especially.

For example you most likely get your morning coffee from the same café?

Well that is because you know what to expect, you know what the process is going to be, who you're going to be talking to (they probably even know what you will order) and how long you will have to wait for it to be made. This is all part of your rhythm.

These simple daily routines and rituals build momentum and help you in find that

momentum again day after day so that you can carry it on throughout the other tasks you complete.

Obviously there are a lot of factors out of your control but going back to these small routines and rituals will help you find your rhythm again and gain the momentum you need to keep going in the right direction.

“Create an environment that helps you be your best.”

- Tony Robbins

Practice your craft.

If you're not willing to put the time in then that dream really isn’t a dream and you're wasting time doing something that you're only putting 70 or 80 percent into. Working hard is the best time management strategy of all.

“It’s easy to dream about it … Much harder to execute it ….Work!” – Gary Vaynerchuk

44. Work Hard

45. But Don’t Work Yourself Into the Ground

Work smarter. Pushing yourself to the point where your brain or body can't even function will do you no favours.

Find the right balance so you can stay refreshed and energised everyday. Then you may just find that you start producing

some of you best work.

Sometimes working more hours can be counter-productive. If I’m tired and slow I can't function, even the simplest tasks take a mammoth effort.

I am also very active so I have to be careful that I rain it in sometimes so that I am recharging the body rather than exerting to the point where it takes a couple of days to recover.

“By working only when you are most effective, life is both more productive and

more enjoyable. It’s the perfect example of having your cake and eating it, too.”

– Tim Ferriss

46. Don’t get frustrated

Sometimes you have to go

backwards to go forwards.

These are the hacks that have helped me get the most out of my week, thinking bigger, managing time and getting me on my journey to being a time efficient entrepreneur.

Maybe you do something that works better?

If you have any recommendations on what works well for you that

might help me optimise my time further I would love to hear them

in the comments below!

Originally posted on www.crewdo.com.au/arlo-gibb-blog