Simple time management tips for retail entrepreneurs

Regardless of what profession you are in, time management is considered an important skill.

When you are an entrepreneur, time management is perhaps one of the most valuable skills you can develop.

When you have to juggle multiple responsibilities, take ownership of every aspect of your business, and ensure your employees and clients are happy, the ability to manage time can turn out to be the one thing that can help you stay ahead of the curve.

With that said, effective time management requires enormous amounts of will power, self control, and discipline. This doesn't mean that if you are not disciplined you will never be able to manage your time properly.

It simply means that taking control of your time is a long and challenging process and we all have to start somewhere.

Here are some tips to help you get started with more effective management of your time:

Learn How You Use Your Time

The first step of improving anything is learning what's not working and time management is no exception.

If you want to manage your time better and be more productive, you will need to first identify your biggest time wasters.

A time tracking software can prove incredibly useful in this matter. Logging all your activities and recording the hours and minutes when you are truly productive will allow you to identify and eliminate or delegate unproductive and time consuming activities from your day.

It is also a good idea to instill a sense of ownership in your employees with the time tracking software. Just like your daily routine, tracking employee's time will help you identify unproductive tasks and resources and eliminate them to run your business with more efficiency.

Set Clear, Measurable Goals

We all set goals. Life goals, business goals, all of us have somewhere we want to reach or something we want to achieve.

However, the mistake that most of us make is that our goals are arbitrary.

For instance, your business goal may be to generate more sales. This is an arbitrary goal. It doesn't have a timeline or sales numbers attached to it.

On the other hand, knowing you want to achieve 25% more sales in the next 18 months is a much clearer goal.

When you have a goal or a target, you will find yourself motivated to spend your time in activities that get you closer to your target. Moreover, you will also be able to identify the activities that you already do but that are not contributing towards your goal, and delegate them.

Make sure you always have a healthy combination of a few long term and several short term goals.

Create A To-Do-List. Everyday.

Almost every article about productivity and time management has a mention of a to-do-list, and for good reason.

A to-do-list gives you a plan for your day, tells you exactly what you will achieve during the day and possibly also tells you what you will be doing with every hour of your day.

This information will allow you to prioritise important tasks and execute them with absolute focus.

A to-do-list is nothing but a collection of several daily goals that you will achieve. Every time you cross one item off your list, your brain's reward centre will light up and before you know it, you'll be craving the sensation you get when you achieve something.

Conclusion

Effective time management doesn't just improve productivity, it also improves the motivation to excel at every task you undertake. By holding yourself accountable for your time, working towards clear goals, and executing your tasks in a structured and planned manner, you will be able to get more out of each moment of your day.