A few years ago, I ditched a corporate job I loved to pursue my true calling: starting a small business. Yes, this move allowed me to spend more time with my family while growing my business, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t experience overwhelm in the beginning.

Fast forward a few years . . . I’ve had the opportunity to take on more responsibilities for my clients, and expand into additional ventures, including hosting my own podcast. Along the way, I’ve learned how to not give into the overwhelm, but to embrace it.

Here, I’d like to share my top time management tips, that have helped me manage my schedule and ensure I can give my all to my business and my clients, all while keeping my sanity.

Time management hacks for busy small business owners

1. Start by building your time blocks

As a busy work-from-home small business owner and mom, I need clear time blocks in my day to successfully transition from one area of my life to the next. These time blocks allow me to separate work time from family time—and even me time. Although they may vary day-to-day, they’re generally the same.

First, I identify the key time blocks or sections of my day:

Morning

Mid-morning

Afternoon

Evening

Next, I add times to each block, along with responsibilities or activities:

Morning block (6:30 a.m.–8:30 a.m.): Get myself and kids ready for work and school; eat breakfast

Mid-morning block (8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m.): Work time

Afternoon block (3:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.): Work out; pick up the kids; get dinner on the table; family time before kids go to bed

Evening block (7:30 p.m.–10:30 p.m.): Time to relax, or get a little more work done; get ready for bed

Although there’s a lot of variety allowed in these blocks, setting up my schedule in this way gives me freedom to flow more easily from one activity to the next and build strong boundaries between my business and other important aspects of my life.

2. Set yourself up for a power week by naming your “top 3s”

If you’re anything like me, you have hundreds of to-dos in your head and it’s sometimes difficult to know where to start. So the first thing I do is drop everything that’s in that swirling brain onto a sheet of paper. And then taking that sheet of paper, I look for commonalities across tasks and group them.

If you perform this activity, you may find there are some natural categories on the business side (e.g., admin needs, meetings, marketing) as well as on the personal side (e.g., calls that need to be made, errands, etc.). Grouping together similar tasks will help your brain execute them more efficiently and here’s why.

Multitasking (taking on multiple tasks at once) or constantly switching between tasks that use different parts of your brain can be detrimental to your productivity. When you are focused on working quickly, not efficiently, it can lead to mistakes (we don’t want those) and disrupt your ability to focus. In fact,
research shows that it takes 23 minutes to return to your original point of focus after an interruption. With limited time in the day to accomplish everything we need to do, another 20 minutes can go a long way toward checking off priority tasks.

After grouping tasks, I think about my “top 3s” for each day. What are three tasks I’d like to complete on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, and so on? Tasks that do not need to be completed this week are moved through this same exercise the following week. (The reason I go with three tasks is to keep the bar low and attainable. Also, I often underestimate the time it takes to complete a task.)

Now, once I categorize my to-dos, I refer back to my time blocks and note which tasks will be my top 3 for each day and in which time block I will put them. I also schedule these three tasks into my calendar to remind me what I plan to accomplish that day. Like magic, I watch myself achieve my top 3 each day, and this what we call a power week.

You can enjoy this practice too by starting each week with a brain dump. It’s that simple.

3. FIFO (first in, first out) your to-do list

This next hack also has to do with rethinking the to-do list. When I first started my own small business, I was on the hunt for practical time management tips I could pick up instantly. I read many books on the topic, and some of the world’s most successful people recommended tackling your most daunting task first.

And while I’m also a big believer in this, it doesn’t always work out that way—especially for those of us juggling a business and a family. Some mornings, I’m sliding into my desk at 8:30 a.m. with a cup of coffee, ready to tackle my big rocks. Other days, my first work hour begins at 12:30 p.m., when my son goes down for his nap (he’s home sick again).

Instead of holding myself to the expectation that I’ll tackle my most daunting task in the morning, I’ve adopted a different mindset: FIFO (first in, first out). The concept of FIFO is pulled from an inventory management practice, in which an asset that is produced first should also be the first one sold. Practically, you might also apply this concept to your food shopping: use up the rest of last week’s veggies before you start cooking with the groceries you just brought home.

How does this apply to time management? My to-do list keeps me honest. It’s a core part of how I stay organized as a small business owner, managing client deliverables, business growth objectives, and more. Whether you use an electronic task manager like Asana or stick to strictly pen and paper, this concept remains the same.

Remember: if you put something on your to-do list, it’s important enough to do it. We’ve all had those items that end up sitting on our list for weeks and weeks,
deferred or deprioritized until there’s a deadline.

To apply FIFO to your to-do list, write down the date when you add a new task to your list—and not just the date it’s due. When you start your workday, take a look at the tasks that have been sitting on your list for a couple of days and start there. This system takes the guesswork out of a complex prioritization system—and trust me, you’ll feel so much better when you check off a task and can move on to something else.

I think you’ll find this method to be a reasonable way to stay organized without driving yourself crazy, feeling like you have to stick with the same schedule and routine every day.

4. Get real about your strengths and weaknesses, and outsource as you need

© Gorodenkoff – Adobe Stock

Time for a reality check: we can’t be good at everything. When you recognize this, you can let go of the fear of letting yourself down. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, letting go of tasks or projects can be difficult, but it’s allowed me to scale my business in ways I never thought possible.

Start with a personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) assessment. Yes, that same SWOT analysis you’ve probably conducted for your business can act as a great self-reflection resource, too. Take a moment to consider your strengths and your weaknesses, along with the opportunities you see for yourself in your business, and the threats that are holding you back from achieving these goals. I’ll share a personal example to get you started.

Social media lands squarely in my strength category. I love the content creation process, editing, testing new features, and engaging with my social communities—it’s all my thing. Meanwhile, a threat to my success is feeling like I need to oversee every aspect of my business—and social media takes a lot of work and time, something I’m short on. The solution? Bringing on my first part-time contractor to help me with my social media channels. It has forced me to delegate (surprise, surprise) and given me more time back in my day to focus on my other strengths and address my weaknesses.

When you complete your personal SWOT, show it to a trusted advisor who will be open and give you honest feedback—a friend, family member, colleague, mentor. Then, take some time for self-reflection.

What themes are emerging? What strengths can you lean into? What weaknesses can you work on? Does it make sense to invest in education or outsource work that falls under your weaknesses’ list? Would doing so free up time in your schedule and reduce feelings of overwhelm?

5. Consider resetting your priorities

As small business owners, it’s just a reality that there is never enough time in the day to get everything done. Instead of looking at this as a failure and admitting defeat, take time to check in on the expectations you’ve set for yourself.

Dig out your business plan (especially important if it’s been a few years) and remind yourself of your core objectives. What did you originally set out to achieve? And realizing that the world has changed—especially in the last few years—and consumers’ habits, intentions, and priorities are changing, do your core objectives still feel right?

Resetting your priorities can be as easy as asking yourself if you had to remake your business plan today, how would you shift your objectives? And what would you focus on, and what is no longer important?

Taking the time to adjust your priorities can save you more time in the long run so you’re not focusing on things that don’t matter.

Time management hacks can free you from overwhelm

Take these time management hacks and start thinking differently about your time.

From one small business owner to another, regularly checking in on your priorities and giving yourself grace can go a long way toward helping you run an efficient business that’s free from overwhelm.

About the Author

Post by: Austin Kapur

Austin Kapur is the owner and founder of Plum & Parcel, an integrated marketing and communications agency which helps businesses of all sizes elevate their purpose and shine through storytelling. With 10+ years of purpose-driven marketing and PR experience serving e-commerce and technology clients, Austin teaches small business owners on her podcast,
Marketing Your Purpose, how to drive more light into this world by marketing their purpose. She recently launched the Purposeful Marketing & PR Playbook, an online course, to help small business owners organize and execute their marketing and PR dreams without compromising their time and budget.

Company: Plum & Parcel

Website:
www.plumandparcel.com
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