How To Improve Your Time Management Skills

Delegate Tasks

The truth of the matter is that no matter how good we are at our jobs, we can’t do everything. Delegation is an important tool, all too often not utilized by entrepreneurs. Delegation is neither a sign of laziness or irresponsibility, it’s an essential function of smooth and successful management.

Think about it this way—spending your valuable time on tasks that can be done by team members feeds unproductivity. Try to become more comfortable with delegating time-consuming tasks to capable, competent members of your team.

Make a Schedule

Organizing your days and weeks in advance will help to give you a rough idea of your workdays will look like. There will always be surprises and rescheduling, but that’s okay. Making a schedule (and sticking to it!) will help you identify recurring tasks, which you can then incorporate into your schedule.

Read This: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Schedule Their Day 

Stop Procrastinating

I know. Easier said than done right? There are tons of guides out there, but by far the most useful method for avoiding procrastination is the 2 Minute Rule. If you’ve mastered avoiding procrastination, start taking advantage of your downtime.

If you find yourself with extra time before the end of the day, start on the next day’s tasks without hesitating.

Avoid Multi-Tasking

Our minds tend to work better when we are focused and concentrated on one task. Forcing your brain to juggle multiple tasks causes a significant decrease in productivity. In fact, multitasking leads to as much as a 40% drop in productivity, increased stress, and a 10% drop in IQ. Get in the habit of doing one task at a time.

Read This: Stop Multitasking Now

Learn to Say “No”

Clients and team members can’t read your mind, so it’s your responsibility to set boundaries when necessary. Politely refuse additional tasks if you think that you’re already overloaded with work. In fact, make it a habit to check your schedule/master planning list before agreeing to take on additional work.

Prioritize

With time and resource constraints, attempting to finish daily tasks can feel overwhelming. It can be hard to decide which task comes first when they all feel like priority #1. The best method for prioritizing your to-do list items is by using the Eisenhower Matrix. It’s simply a four-quadrant box that helps you in separating “urgent” tasks from “important” ones.

Urgent tasks are things that need to be handled as soon as possible, like emails, phone calls, texts, or contact from potential clients. Important tasks are ones that affect your long-term/short-term goals.

When categorizing tasks, ask which of the quadrants they best fit in.

  • Urgent and Important: Do these tasks as soon as you can
  • Important, but not urgent: Decide when you’ll do these tasks and schedule them
  • Urgent, but not important: Delegate these tasks to another member of your team
  • Neither urgent nor important: Drop these from your schedule as soon as possible or delegate them (if you really want to get them done)


Successfully managing your time is crucial to running your business smoothly. Good time management requires changing your daily habits and learning to prioritize and organize tasks. Use these time management techniques a try and see what works best for you. Your work life will become easier to navigate and you’ll be far more productive.

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