Making schedules and sticking to them may seem tedious, but the truth is, a realistic schedule is the one thing that is going to ensure that you reach your business goals. But so many new small business owners who come from an employee mindset find it difficult to create and manage their schedules.
New business owners are so used to someone else telling them what to do that having complete control over the schedule tends to make new startups anti-scheduling, which is a big mistake.
To create workable schedules:
- Be Honest About Who You Are – Are you a morning person or a night person? Do you tend to be early or late? Knowing who you are and how good you are at creating habits to live by will help you understand how best to make your schedules. You may prefer a block schedule, or you may prefer to create entire days for certain types of tasks. For example, Monday’s are about Money (books, benchmarks, bills), and Tuesdays may be about marketing (ads, social media, webinars), and so forth.
- Set Your SMART Goals – As a business owner, almost nothing is as important as your ability to develop goals that you can meet. The best system for doing this is to use the SMART goals method of setting goals because it ensures that you also create a process to meet that goal as well as a metric in which to judge if you’ve succeeded or not.
- Know Your Priorities – As a small business owner, you likely have priorities about your business and your personal life. It’s good to include these into your schedule because you won’t stick to it if you don't. A schedule is only useful if you follow it. I mean, why would you schedule something during Suzie’s dance recital? You’re not missing it, so there is no point.
- Schedule Your Life First – When you start filling in a calendar full of things to do for your business, it can seem like you have plenty of time if you don’t include the life you live around your work first. Add in all the things you need to do and want to do in your life before you add one minute of work. Lunch with the girls, bath and book time with little Jonny and movie time with the spouse is crucial and should not be skipped.
- Give Yourself Enough Time – Don’t forget the prep time and the travel time if you need to. For example, if you have a dental appointment at three, it’s really going to take you more time than just that. Schedule and block out the actual time it’s going to take, giving yourself a little buffer. There is no reason to create a cramped and rushed schedule.
- Set Clear Benchmarks and Deadlines – Once you get to the work portion of your schedule, you’ll want to ensure that you have created clear benchmarks and deadlines to ensure your success.
- Work Backward from Deliverable Deadlines – Start with the end and work your way back in your schedule, inserting the tasks you need to do around the life you’re living. Remember to give yourself enough time and to add in a buffer. If you finish early, you can always use the time to move on to something else.
- Test, Tweak, and Keep Going – No schedule will be perfect all the time, so always allow yourself to test and tweak the schedule to ensure maximum productivity. Remember that being productive has nothing to do with being busy; that it’s about results.
Resilient business owners know that a good schedule is essential to ensuring their success and continuity.
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