Business Time Management

The target has the smallest circle in the center, (the bull's eye), with concentric circles gradually getting larger around it. Hitting the bull's eye is the objective as it produces the most points. As the circles move further from the center, they get larger and produce fewer points.

The activities that comprise the running of a business can be prioritized using an archery target model. Let us assume that the main goal of a business is maximum profitability. Each business will have core activities that most DIRECTLY affect profitability.

It is up to each business owner to identify these activities, as well as ALL the activities required to run the business. Make a list of all the activities.

Next, on a large erasable white board, draw an archery target. It should be plainly visible from your primary work space.

Take your list of all your business activities, and assign point values to them based on how closely they affect the profitability of the business. The points will be anywhere from 5 points for the most important activities, to 1 point for the least important.

You will assign ZERO points to non productive activities.

During your business day, each 30 minutes (approx) you will review the activity you are performing. You will walk up to the erasable board, and draw an arrow to the circle that provides the points you have just earned by performing the activity.

If you have performed a mix of activities, select the activity that you spent the most time on during that time block. The bull's eye, for example, would earn you 5 points for that block of time.

Your daily objective is to earn more points than the previous day. If you manage to beat your daily scores for a week, be SURE to reward yourself!

This business time management system is SUPER powerful because it develops an acute, conscious awareness of what tasks you are performing throughout the day.

In a relatively short time, you will find yourself "naturally" performing more productive activities!

Keep a weekly total of your scores, and strive to beat the previous week.

A good system is to make a list of tasks for the day and to score them on your list from 1 to 4 in order of priority so that you can see at a glance which tasks take priority over others, try to do this as honestly as possible; however tempting it is to rank the things that you like doing higher than those you dread, the list needs to reflect accurately how important each job is.

Once you have prioritised, you will need to allocated chunks of your time to each task, this will help you dedicate yourself to each job for a period of time without jumping to something else and leaving things unfinished. Remember to allow some flexibility in your plan for unexpected events; although no one can plan completely for the unknown, it is wise to try to factor it in.

Next ensure to keep the plan logged in an accessible, visible place, if you work best with paper, have a wall chart planner or desk diary in plain view, if you prefer technology an online diary or spreadsheet may suit you better, as long as where ever your plan exists it remains with you throughout your day.

Wasting time is very easy to do, a couple of over-long phone conversations and an hour spent chewing over a few ideas you had the previous evening and you could find yourself well off schedule for the day; if you are prone to letting time melt through your fingers employ deadlines to keep you on track. Fix the deadlines in place and remind yourself of what will happen if you miss them; financial loss is often a strong incentive.

Above all, however many 'urgent' matters compete for your attention throughout the day it is vital to hold fast to your plan. Insisting on an attempt to keep all of the balls in the air at once will not make you a hero; focus is the business owner's best friend, so, pick a task, concentrate on its conclusion and do not allow anything bar a forced evacuation of your work place to divert you.