3 Time Management Hacks For Business Growth and More Free Time

Time management is something that, as entrepreneurs and businesspeople, we place great emphasis on. We all want to find ways to use our time more efficiently to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Then why do so many of us find ourselves stuck, working all the time God sent and wasting so much time on pointless activities? This brings me to my first time management principles.

1. Align your subconscious

When we consciously set out to make sizable changes in our lives, we face significant resistance.

So when it comes to the conscious desire to improve our time management, work more efficiently and free up our time, we end up seeking more attention, not less. This is partly because of the resistance from our subconscious, but also our belief system that gets in the way.

The simple fact is that many of us do not believe that it is possible to have more free time and scale our business. So we’re back to what we know: More growth means more jobs. We think that we need to find more people and processes if we are to take back some of our time. But let me share with you a quote that we should all remember:

“Simple scale, complexity fails.” – Steve Jobs

If you add more elements to your business, even to save labor, you will add complexity. Suddenly, what takes you and a laptop to accomplish requires two staff members and expensive new software. And when that doesn’t work, who’s going to do it anyway and have to fix the new process?

“Innovation is about saying ‘no’ to a thousand things.” – Steve Jobs

He was a smart man like Steve Jobs, and he was right. You need to find a way to remove tasks from your day, not add them. To do that, you must first align your subconscious with the belief that it is achievable.

There are great ways to do this. I’ll start with the practice of concentration and bring your thoughts into the present. This will have the effect of neutralizing your subconscious and stopping it from thinking about whatever agenda you have in store for you today. You will be able to keep your decision making based on the present, and not be emotionally affected by an imaginary future or a misremembered past.

From there, you need to feed your mind with evidence that working less and earning more is really possible for you. Start small and work your way up step by step. That way you will avoid being overwhelmed by your subconscious and the resulting closure while building steady momentum towards your goal.

Related: 7 Proven Strategies to Cope With Distraction

2. Identify the tasks that give the highest yield

This may seem obvious. Fair enough, but here’s the thing: If it’s so obvious — why don’t we do it? Taking audits of your daily tasks and ranking their profit results may feel like more work on top of an already packed schedule.

This is where, perhaps, finding outside consultation will help. But either way, you need to find the time or resources to devote to this. I promise you, it will set you free more than you think without affecting your bottom line.

Think about how many tasks you do each day, whether it’s answering emails, making reports, or taking phone calls. I’m sure that stress tends to come from the tasks that earn the least but cost the most, whether it’s in time or money.

As the Pareto Principle states: 80% of your returns come from 20% of your work. All other white noise is just a waste of your time. This also applies to your client base. 80% of your revenue is likely to come from 20% of your clients, and you’ve probably seen this in action many times. There are clients who extort you for all of your value, while demanding that they pay you as little as possible.

So how do you deal with them? Raise your prices! Either they will leave you, in which case: great. Or you’ll pull them into that 20% (thus expanding it) by then, you won’t mind if they talk on the phone for hours on end — because they pay for it!

If you can make that 20% turn 40%, you get a 160% payoff for less than half the work. You’re welcome.

Related: Bethenny Frankel’s Success Begins With Time Management

3. Make an impact on yourself

You know as I do that change is never easy. That’s why you haven’t made it this far. Regardless of your protests and intentions: you have fallen back into the same pattern. Change is scary. This naturally creates a mental block that causes sluggishness. That’s why you need leverage to get over it.

The problem is, at this point, despite having to whip yourself to death every week: you’re still realizing 100% of the output (at least 100% of your max now). While you can work 60% less, you don’t have to. Or so you think.

No matter how much you may be able to intellectualize, and even recognize the fact that you’re headed for burnout, you don’t really think it’s going to happen. You haven’t been burned, have you?

Armed with blissful (and willful) ignorance, you think that working half a week for 160% of your current income isn’t for you. It’s for the rich born into privilege, or whatever. Yeah great — except one day, you have to pay the piper.

No one expects fatigue. They didn’t see it coming. Ask anyone who has! They ignore the warning signs, thinking that they will have more notice before it happens. And then one morning; they can’t get out of bed. Or worse, it comes in the form of a stroke or heart attack.

Don’t wait until you run out of steam. Find leverage now, to ensure that you take action in the present. This can be by talking to those who are exhausted or by consulting a therapist or doctor. Make the horror of burning as real as possible for yourself, so you must take action now to avoid it.

Time management is about giving yourself life.

You can actually free up most of your time while continuing to grow your business. You just have to do the work of aligning yourself with that intention, finding influence over yourself and then taking action. Don’t wait to be tired. Don’t keep blaming yourself for tasks, processes, people, or practices that don’t work for you.

Remember that you can choose a life that is more abundant, enjoyable, and purpose-driven. Someone else did. You just need to connect with the right people and inner energy to make it happen.

Related: 101 Time Management Tips to Increase Daily Productivity