It’s so important to realize, in many cases, small changes can have a huge impact. This is true in many areas of life, and most certainly in business. A few tweaks to the daily routine, maintained over time, can help you to work less and see bigger reward.
In this week’s episode of A Drink with “The Hurricane,” I’m going to share my final tips to help you with time management. These may not be the typical tips you hear when it comes to this particular topic, but believe me, these three items can make a big shift in how much you enjoy your work…and therefore make your time there more effective and productive.
1) Delegate Responsibilities: I know many owners struggle with this “nobody can/will do it the way I do it” mentality. Well, unless you want to be working 80+ hours every week, never spend time with your family/friends, and never take another vacation ever again in your life…you have to let this one go! There are hundreds of tasks in your day to day operations that can be taught to others. DO IT! Teach people what you want the final outcome of a task to be, and (depending on what it is) allow them to find the best way for them to make it happen. Ultimately, delegating will accomplish several things for your business. It will free up some of your time as the owner, it will teach others how to handle things in your absence, it will empower your staff to learn and grow, and it will enable your business to increase its census, revenue, and profits. This is a team effort, so show appreciation to your staff when they deserve it.
2) Take Advantage of your Down Time: Business owners get burnt out pretty easily. We have the tendency to work at all hours of the day and night, bring our work home with us on weekends, and even check up on emails and calls when we are on vacation. Stop it! You must learn when to work and when not to work. Certainly emergencies come up, and you should make yourself available if necessary, but every email is not an emergency. A GREAT way to maximize your productivity is to work hard and play hard. When you are at work, focus on your work. When you are with your family, focus on your family. When you are sitting on a beach somewhere with a cool drink in your hand and a beautiful ocean view in front of you, leave your laptop in the hotel room. Last week, I listed “Stop Multi-tasking” as one of the tips…and that applies here too. Focus on the down time, if that is the task at hand.
3) Celebrate your Successes: This helps keep you and your staff motivated to keep going. Many big tasks, such as hosting an event, can be broken down into many smaller tasks, such as book the caterer, or make invitations. Completing the smaller tasks is necessary to get to the final result, and should be recognized and rewarded accordingly. The more small tasks that get completed, the more productive you and your staff will feel. It doesn’t need to be a big reward either…save that for the final result. But a high five, or a kind email sent to a hard worker, can go a long way. When people are happy about checking things off the never-ending To Do List, more will get done. When is the last time you thanked one of your staff members for doing the job they were hired to do? Think about it, folks.
Next week, we move into goal setting. One of my favorites! See you then!
**We are taking viewer questions for some upcoming episodes of A Drink with “The Hurricane.” Please feel free to submit your questions/suggestions to us at info@homecaremarketing.net.**