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When you start out in a from-home business, time management is an area of business management that can be frequently overlooked or ignored.

We all know a friend in small business who races around like a bull all day, rarely enough hours in their day, all they do is panic and get overtaken - maybe this person is you! Come the day’s end, when the panic settles, what have you done? Do you replay the day and wonder “what happened to the day, I didn’t get as much completed as I hoped I would. If this reads familiar, then you may simply have an organisational and time management problem.

Successful people seldom seem to rush, they are composed and unflustered. The difference with them and everybody else is they have great time management.

What is time management? It is simply planning time in your day in an organised and efficient way. Before we can fully understand how to time manage our day, we need to question ourselves what we are hoping to do today, this week, this year and perhaps even ten years from now. This is “Goal setting”.

The easiest method in my opinion to take on goals is to write them down. You may reflect on your goals at times to ensure that they are relevant and possible but not so simple to do that you don’t need to put in the work to accomplish them otherwise what is the purpose of those goals in the first place?

From the beginning of each new working year you should sit and reflect on what you want to accomplish this year. It could be that you desire to gross up your profits by 20%, you may plan to move into different premises, you could want to take away from your debt finally. At the beginning of every working week you should write down on a note pad or in your diary the large tasks that must to be completed this week, and reflect them on each day to make sure that you’re making progress and hopefully tick some of the jobs from your list.

You may have your list on your desk or at a spot where you could be continually reminded of what must be finalised throughout the week. The list may be in order of necessity so that the major chores at the top of this list get finalised first. Any of the projects not ticked off this week must be taken forward next week on a higher ranking, this will require it gets finalised.

The next thing you may not be doing is writing a daily list of projects to get done. This may assist keep you organised throughout the day. Again, this list may be placed where you can persistently check on it and tick off the projects done. Wiping off the projects helps allow you a feeling of accomplishment and remind you how you are going through the day. Always stay to your list unless not possible and keep working from higher priority to the lesser priority. I know issues could show up over the day that could throw the whole day up in the air, but you need to either take care of the situation and then return to the list or if the new work isn’t as time sensitive as some of the work on your list then list it after these on the list and continue on doing the job you were doing.

Every job you hope to finish should be written down for a number of reasons. Firstly, so you don’t neglect to do it and secondly, so you keep each day outlined and you get your daily goals. Beware initiating items and not finishing them. This can show up tomorrow in a cloud of half baked projects and will cause “list blowout”.

You will end up with your list a mile long and you will throw it out in despair and change back to bad habits of being in panic during your day and finishing nothing.

Remember each day you plan your goals and mark off every project on your list, you become a little bit closer to reaching your weekly and soon your yearly and long term goals.

A few hints on Time Management:

• Do it once and do it well, it’s frustrating returning to the chore and having to redo it.
• Learn to civilly say to people when you’re busy with work and that you would get back to them some time later.
• Learn to issue chores that actually don’t need your direct participation.
• Don’t go on wild goose chases.
• Don’t fizzle away time with phone calls that won’t take care of something.
• Don’t procrastinate.
• Look at your list of chores to do repeatedly throughout the day.
• “Map out your day” in the shower and list out your daily list when you get to work. Don’t stop what you begin.
• Prioritise everything, always do tasks in their order of importance to you and your clients.

Avoid time wasters, people that will merely choose to chat all day, and if they are employed by you, set them straight, or get rid of them.

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