Time management is essential for the business person.  The busier my business becomes, the more important time management strategies are to avoid wasting time and potential profits.  When I first started out as a health coach, I had a lot of time to to read emails, play around on websites, and to organize my office and files.  Now that I am a lot busier as a health coach and marketing consultant, I don’t have the luxury of fooling around.  However, the temptation to get distracted is still ever present.

There are two strategies that I have found to be effective in keeping me on task and moving forward on a daily basis.  The first strategy is to always have a list of tasks that need to be completed.  I try to always start each day with three goals which will positively affect my business.  For example, on a daily basis I usually am writing a newsletter topic, an article, a blog post, a new system, etc.  Without these self-assignments, it’s easy to see a week get past where I am only meeting with clients and not making progress toward bringing in future clients or profits.

The second strategy that I have found to be imperative to staying focused, is to identify the things that waste my time.  The “time monsters” for me are things like checking email too often, looking at my article sites, and spending too much time on social media platforms such as Twitter.  It has become obvious that I often use these sites to procrastinate on tasks which intimidate me.  Sometimes when I have an article deadline and I am feeling writer’s block, I will find myself succumbing to these distractions.  Or if I’m writing a class or a powerpoint and I feel stuck, I’ll avoid the pressure by doing things that make me feel productive, but really aren’t.  Once I identified these avoidance tactics by making a list, it has become easier to recognize my procrastination tendencies and redirect myself back to work.

What are your time wasters and best time management strategies?  Here is a free time management website to check out.

This Thursday night I am hosting a free teleseminar with Laura Rolands, an ADHD coach and expert who is going to discuss time management strategies to help get us through the holidays.  To register for this call: Free Webinar