All the business owners I work with face the challenge of having “more work than time”. No matter what they do – they just seem to run out of time by the end of the day.

For some, this is a new experience brought on by an employee leaving causing five people to now do the work of six.  Or a large contract vastly increasing the amount of work they need to accomplish. 

For others, they started busy, wearing all the hats, and even as they brought on a team, they never quite dug themselves out of the “too busy” space.

Many of my clients thought they could find the perfect calendar, or a productivity hack, or just wait until “things slowed down” and everything would get better.

But . . . that didn’t happen. In fact, they are stretched even thinner because now they spend even more time putting band-aids on processes, rushing through meetings, and making decisions on the fly.

Strategy has taken a back seat – which in the long run slows everything down. 

If you find yourself in this position where you just need to get off the merry-go-round and take some time to think, here are three things you can do to free up time. So, right now, before going into the office, take an hour and work on step #1. (And if you’re reading this post while you’re at work, quietly leave and head to a coffee shop where you can work uninterrupted right now!) 

This will immediately free up time that you can use to think. 

Then, in a week, when you have more space in your day, you can work on step #2. 

The following week, add step #3.

 

#1: DELETE 

20% of our time will produce 80% of our results. 

This means we can delete the majority of our list without affecting the bottom line and focus on the best activities that directly support our efforts. 

  • Look at your to-do list, calendar, project list, activities, meetings, etc. 
  • Ask yourself: What goal does this activity DIRECTLY support? 
  • Find  the direct correlation to your strategic plan, mission, vision, goal, etc. with the activity

ACTION: If you can’t name the goal – delete the activity. Why are you doing something that doesn’t directly support your goals? 

REAL WORLD:  Initially, 75% of the clients I’ve worked with are confident they have nothing to delete. However, after going through this exercise, every single client has found at least five activities to permanently remove from their day. You can do it too!

 

#2: AUTOMATE/SIMPLIFY

Review the remaining items on your list. These are all directly related to your goals and need to be accomplished. Can you accomplish the outcome more easily?

  • Can the process be simplified? 
  • How can you cut 2 steps out of a 10-step process?
  • Where can you bring in tech or AI to save some time or brain power? 
  • How can this be automated? 

ACTION: Spend 15 minutes brainstorming ways to make at least one process easier and assign action steps 

REAL WORLD: It can be tough to know which tasks are the easiest to automate. The criteria we use with clients is to look for areas where you are currently doing things manually that are repetitive, have clear rules, and/or have a high volume. These are typically the tasks that can be partially or completely automated.

 

#3: DELEGATE

To maximize your productivity and your business’s profits, you should work in your Zone of Genius (ZOG) at least 70% of the time. 

  • Identify items that are not in your ZOG
  • Create the documentation, SOPs, processes, etc.  needed to delegate these items

The documentation doesn’t have to be perfect. You just need to share the information and start early so that your team member has enough time to work on the task before the deadline.

ACTION: Spend at least 15 minutes laying the groundwork to delete non-ZOG items from your list.

REAL WORLD: Many of our clients initially think that, because they are the business owners, they “have” to do things they don’t love. In reality, the more time you can spend in your Zone of Genius, doing the things you love, are uniquely gifted at, and that move the business forward, the more profitable your business will be.

If you’d like additional strategies, examples, and more, visit https://impactivestrategies.com/SaveToolkit. We dive even deeper into all three. Wouldn’t you like to start saving time now?