How to organize yourself as an entrepreneur
1. Always prepare in advance
Your first step towards having a productive and organized day is to prepare ahead of each new day. Take some time the night before to prepare, organize, and schedule your next day. Outline the tasks you need to accomplish. List the people you need to contact. List the places you need to visit. Then check the list again early in the morning for necessary additions or subtractions.
By preparing in advance, you will have more time to plan ahead. And the more time you have to plan ahead, the more organized your typical day will be.
2. Prioritize your tasks
There are times when you will have much more tasks to complete than your day will allow you. On such days, it’s better to handle the most important tasks first. Even if you don’t complete all your tasks for that day, you will have completed the most important tasks, and you won’t have much to worry about regarding the less important ones that you’re unable to complete.
So, after listing your activities for each new day, arrange them in order of importance and urgency. The most important ones should be on top while the less important ones that can be postponed should be at the bottom of the list.
3. Organize your workspace
You don’t want to spend a lot of time searching for papers and files when you could actually be making money. So, keeping your workspace organized can significantly boost your efficiency and productivity.
Take your time to set up a proper filing system, so you can find the information you want when you want it. For example, place all your marketing files and information one place, and your financial paperwork in another.
This will help you focus on each task and project when you need to.
4. Separate work life from personal life
Getting into the working mood could be very difficult when you are engrossed in some personal activity. This is particularly when you are running a home-based business.
It’s easier to hang out with friends in a nearby cafe than it is to work on client projects. And it’s easier to sit on your couch with your cute little kid or pet than it is to pitch your products and services to potential clients.
5. Avoid tempting time wasters
When you are busy working on your business, it’s tempting to take a peep at your Facebook or Twitter account, or to check out CNN’s website for the latest news.
These are nothing but distraction and productivity killers! Before you know it, you would have spent several minutes to few hours on those websites—when, in fact, you only intended to “quickly check” what’s going on.
Email is another common distraction you should be wary of. It’s always very tempting to respond to emails right away, especially if they are very important, such as emails from prospective clients or big dollar clients.
While there are times when you need to reply to emails urgently, don’t make it a habit to reply all emails instantly. Instead, have a fixed time of the day for replying to your emails.
6. Refresh yourself
You will get worn out easily by working for long hours at a stretch. And this will reduce your efficiency and productivity. Your brain needs to relax at intervals.
So, take some little breaks to refresh. How you will refresh yourself depends on your person. It could be with some light exercise, or with a glass of chilled water or other drink, or by chatting with for few minutes with a colleague.
7. Break huge tasks into smaller bits
When you need to complete huge tasks that seem overwhelming, the key to accomplishing them easily and successfully is to break then down into smaller bits, and then completing the bits one after the other. Not only will you complete the task easily, but you will also do that within little time.