10 ways to save time

I always find my friends tell me that I am doing too much, yet I have lots of time to do more. I have built around me a system that allows me to effectively manage my time and be able to do so much more and have time for the important people in my life. So I thought I would share with you 10 things that I do that save me time in my day.

1. I don't use the phone
I noticed that the telephone is your nemesis when it comes to making sure you meet targets and realise your dreams. Overtime your phone rings it seems urgent yet 90% of the time being Zimbabwean it normally is not important for you. People spend too much time on the phone talking about things emails would have solved. Problem with phone calls is that when something goes wrong there is no proof to cover you because its always a he said she said issue. I only use phone calls to invite clients for drinks or to say happy happy birthday etc

2. I avoid meetings
In Zimbabwe meetings are the biggest hinderance to your growth. If you need to its better to move to a location far away so that you avoid having so many meetings. Meetings in Zimbabwe are like a disease and you need to avoid them when you can. I only meet my clients socially but communicate with them via email. Its better to loose all your clients that like meetings and focus on business that comes via email.

3. Delegate
Learn early to get other people to do work for you. There are so many ways to delegate. It is better to train people you can lead and not be as hands on in too many areas of your company. Allow your team to make mistakes because its the only way to help correct your systems.

4. Don't reinvent the wheel
Fine I am an awesome graphic designer and animator, but it doesn't mean I have to prove that all the time. Many designers exist out there with templates and you can edit and make them your own. Don't be ashamed to use templates. Work in a modular manner. Creating everything from scratch is both time consuming and expensive and those are 2 luxuries you cannot afford.

5. Work with others
I like working with young entrepreneurs to help them achieve their dreams within my vision. You will be shocked how many people are doing things that it into your vision. I try to give myself a birds eye view of everything happening around me by training others, speaking at events and attending workshops. Networking allows me to identify companies that can make me realise my vision.

6. APPS
There is an app for everything to make your life simpler. Use them effectively. I have apps that help me wake up, apps to help my to do list. Apps that transcribe my voice notes into typed documents, apps to manage my other apps. Research and apply the ones that work for you.

7. Appointments ONLY
Don't just agree to see someone because they just rocked up without an appointment. You need a wall, mine is Nelsy. Nelsy's job is to make sure people respect that my time is valuable. Zimbabweans are culprits for rescheduling meetings without a care for how much its costing you to even meet with them. Also one tip for meetings is making sure that you set a starting and end time for a meeting. Don't just say let's meet at 3pm. Say lets meet at 3-4pm so that its clear how much time you are setting for the meeting.

8. Get your money in full first
The biggest challenge with my business is that I used to have meetings with people who had not even made a financial commitment. I used to go for endless meetings giving ideas until I ended up in huge debt and gave clients valuable information for free. Instead now I don't even meet with you until I have been paid, fine I have lost many clients but I have gained a new client base that is paying me first then I start working, now I am paying off my debts slowly but surely and growing my businesses month on month.

9. Strategise First
Always have a strategy day. A day to think about everything. Use that to find ideas online, research, have fun thinking. Do some mind exercises, anything!!!! Having a day in the week will reset your mind, refocus your business and free up more time.

10. Positive thinking
Spend your time thinking positive thoughts. Think like a billionaire, not like the other 6 billion humans on earth. What I mean is only read and follow the advice of billionaires. They know how to use time, read their books, articles and watch their interviews. Don't be discouraged by people who haven't done it before. Zimbabwe has too many know it all. Don't be quick to change or follow what they have to say,  its normally not researched.

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Carl Joshua Ncube <emailme@carljoshuancube.com