Many entrepreneurs have a hard time turning off. If you’re like me, you might be a Type A personality that keeps a notepad next to their bed for any light bulb ideas that hit you at 4 am.
I’m competitive, never feel like there’s enough time and I can be impatient.
By comparison, my partner is a Type B personality. He’s relaxed, patient and so easy going that sometimes I can’t believe that someone can actually be that chilled out all the time.
Like anything, there’s pros and cons to each personality type. In my experience, I’ve tried the workaholic lifestyle and I got burned out.
Between the weekly migraines and feeling overwhelmed all the time, I just got tired of it, and I realized there’s a lot I can learn from the way my partner lives life.
It all starts with your mindset and how you choose to spend your time.
Reclaiming Time In Your Day For Your Business
As the owner of your business, it’s easy to get sucked into every facet of it. One of the lessons I’ve learned over the years is to identify and accept what I’m good at and what I’m not good at.
Rather than spending my time learning QuickBooks and filling out tax forms, I hired a CPA.
I also cut out or delegated the things I was doing to fill up time in the week that didn’t bring me joy or make a significant impact on the business.
I appreciate the strengths my partner has, and we assigned our roles based on our strengths, as well as what we enjoy doing.
What tasks do you find yourself doing that you could delegate, eliminate, or streamline?
If you’re struggling to think of what those could be, start making a note of how you spend your day for a week. This will help you later when you plan out your Perfect Week Schedule.
Here are 3 things you can do for your business now to get more time back in your week:
Use a Meeting Scheduler (like Calendly or Wix bookings) – The back and forth emailing for meetings could be better spent elsewhere.
Stop being “On Call” – Unless it’s a key part of your business model, either have your clients schedule a meeting with you or set specific hours for when you’re available. Answering the phone whenever a call comes in pulls you out of what your doing and makes you less prepared for the conversation.
Plan Your Perfect Week – Take a proactive approach to scheduling your week and set clear times for client meetings, meetings with your team, brainstorming content, admin tasks, etc. If you don’t, people will fill your time for you.
Reclaiming Time For You
You get to choose how you fill the time in your day.
Whether you choose to fill it with things that bring you joy, people you care about, or minor tasks that have a major outcome for your business, it’s up to you.
Personal time, whether it’s self care, a hobby, or something that brings you joy is just as important.
I’ve often found that difficult times in my business were connected to how balanced I was feeling.
If you’re not taking time for you, or you’re struggling with work/life balance, it has a way of showing up in other areas.
3 tips you can do to reclaiming more time in your day for yourself:
Grocery shopping with Instacart – Set your budget, plan your meals ahead of time and create your list for the week. Since we live with someone who has a compromised immune system, we chose to start having our groceries delivered to us back in March. It’s weird when I first realized I hadn’t been to a grocery store since then, but I’m thankful for the time I’ve saved by not having to go to the store.
Schedule in “You Time” – For me it’s a bath bomb and a face mask followed by a heating pad and some Animal Crossing. I also like to get outside and garden, or go for a walk with the dogs, which is a great way to break up the day and get some sunshine.
Set Designated Work Hours (and stick to it!) – As the owner of your business, it’s easy to let work consume you. Some weeks I find that I have more energy and I’ll plan to put some extra time into the business. Other weeks I realize I need to conserve my energy and I schedule my week accordingly. Be kind to yourself and make sure you have some gas left in the tank!
What to Do If You Get Off Track
It’s inevitable that you’ll get off track some weeks, but that’s okay!
The first step in reclaiming time in your day is understanding that you can take a proactive approach.
The second is that things won’t always go according to plan – that’s just life.
But, if you have your week planned and continue to streamline, you’ll find that you have more time for your business and you!
So here’s what you can do for those weeks when you notice you’re off track and aren’t following your Perfect Week:
Acknowledge It
Don’t Beat Yourself Up (we’re all human & going through a tough time during this pandemic)
Tweak Your Schedule and/or Adjust Course
Share Your Takeaways!
What tasks did you find that were taking up your day?
How have you planned to spend more “you time”?
Send us a message to hello@border7.com, or post a comment below. We’d love to hear about your takeaways!
