Time Management Strategies for Increased Productivity
This article will introduce you to some key time management strategies for being a more productive and profitable business owner or sales professional. My other time management articles will provide you with a roadmap that you can use to build on these key concepts.
There are really only a few skills you need to achieve massive success in any venture. For example: If you’re in face-to-face sales, then you need to master prospecting, presenting your services, and closing.
If you’re an online marketer, then you need to build websites, write good articles and sales copy and generate traffic to your websites. ONE more thing that is absolutely required for you to succeed in anything that you do is…
PRODUCTIVITY. And the best way to be productive is to manage your time most effectively. Here are three time management strategies to help you make the most productive use of your time.
1. Use Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s law state that work expands to fill the time allotted to it. If you do nothing else but use Parkinson’s law for EVERY important task, you will automatically double or even triple your productivity. Here’s how:
Schedule ANYTHING you do that’s important to your business and stick to the schedule. Using sales as an example, contacting prospects is critical to generating sales, no prospects, no presentations, no sales. So allocate a specific block of time to contacting prospects and then during that time do nothing but call prospects. Don’t juggle your prospect cards, look up phone numbers, rearrange your list – do nothing but call prospects. That leads me to my second rule.
2. Use the Power of Profit Time
Profit time is the time that you allocate to the few critical projects that must get done. For a salesperson that would be prospecting, presenting, and closing sales.
For an online marketer that would be Finding or creating products, writing articles and sales letters, and getting traffic to their website.
To use the power of profit time, schedule a certain amount of time each day to devote to income-producing activities, choose one and only one key activity, and focus on nothing else during that time. Once completed move on to the next critical activity.
Follow this time management strategy and watch your productivity soar.
3. Do All Other Activities During Non-Profit Hours
Let’s face it, if all we had to do was focus on a few key activities and nothing else, work would be much easier. There are lots of things that must be done, that do not relate directly to generating income. While they must be done, they must not be done during profit time.
During your profit time, turn off your phone, shut down your email program, and eliminate anything that could prevent you from focusing on the task at hand.
Anything that does not relate directly to the key tasks that you’ve identified as critical to success, should be done during non-profit hours. That includes things, like planning, checking emails, researching new products, etc.
If it is not one of the core activities, do it during non-profit time. One point, I often find that for some reason, I get my best ideas, while I’m working on an important project. If this happens to you as well, keep a sheet of paper next with you, when you get that great idea, write it down and then get back to working on your project.
Action Steps Begin today to apply the time management strategies contained in this introduction to Time Management Strategies for Increased Productivity. The best ideas are totally useless unless you use them. These time management strategies can have a powerful impact on your productivity.
My time management article, Creating Your Compelling Goal, covers the how and why of creating a compelling goal, be sure to check it out.
I hope you found this article to be informative and helpful, if so please share it on your social networks and add your comments and suggestions below.