Being a business owner is not easy. And I am not talking about when you do not have clients. Even when you have lots of clients, it becomes very hard to manage your business very well, and you may even start to think that 24 hours is too small! This is where planning your day comes to play.
Today, I will be showing you how you can plan your day as an entrepreneur or business owner, in a way that will help you achieve the best you can achieve within 24 hours each day.
Last year, I talked about how burnout is bad, right. The truth is that at a point, I needed my own advice, lol.
When I started my own business, one of the most challenging obstacles I had to overcome was managing my time properly. I seemed to be doing so much, but achieving very little. It was not like I was lazying around social media the whole day, arguing on Twitter, or watching trending videos on Tiktok. My laptop was always on and I was always busy.
But that kind of life was not sustainable. If I did not have many sources of income, I would have worn out. In fact, my health took a bad hit early last year, and it was after my recovery I had to come to terms with the fact that if I did not start to plan my day and create a budget for my time, I would die in no time, or run into debt (God forbid in Jesus name, abeg).
Today’s blog post will be something that will help you at the end of the day. I am adopting a different style of writing, and I really hope it works in speaking to you and helping you out.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU! While writing, just realized that I had not wished you a Happy New year. I am so happy that you are reading my blog. As a person that values his time so much, I understand that it’s not easy. Thank you and I love you. In case you have not subscribed to my blog, please fill the box after the post. It is free and will allow you to be notified ONLY when I create a new article.
Back to what I was talking about, it is important to plan as a Business Owner.
And I am not referring to your new year resolution. Because the greatest way to succeed is to take consistent small steps. Many of us want to make a high jump to success, but that is not how it works!
The rollercoaster of being a business owner is funny, there are days when you feel you’ve accomplished more than planned. But, there are also days when you’re aimlessly running around.
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Why Do You Need To Plan Your Day as a Business Owner?
The whole point of being an entrepreneur is to make it successful. You can’t spend unnecessary time doing what you would like to do. You need to spend time on “what is best for your business”. It’s always a bonus if these two things point in the same direction. But make sure you don’t get it wrong.
And the funniest part is that only a few people understand what I just said.
“You can’t spend unnecessary time doing what you would like to do. You need to spend time on “what is best for your business”
What comes first is not just your passion, but what will make your business grow. When you become a bit more comfortable, you can then decide to go for what you love.
The Methods That Worked For Me – That Will Help You Plan Your Day!
- Plan Your Tomorrow Today
- Do Higher Priority Task in the Morning
- Keep your schedules packed but not too packed.
- Give yourself time to rest
- Have a ‘reflection moment’ for the day
I will go through these methods now, one after the other.
#1: Plan Your Tomorrow Today
I found out that spending the last moments of my day organizing my workspace for tomorrow, glancing over my to-do lists, and looking at my unread messages improved my mental health as a business owner.
That may sound a bit much. However, as the day goes on, our ability to make smart decisions decreases. If you’re able to automate and eliminate as many decisions as possible for the morning on the night before, it becomes very easy for you to have a productive tomorrow, because you have it all planned out already.
The truth is that you have to plan each day a night before so that you can give yourself an opportunity to always start the next day on a clean slate. You don’t want to forget that you carried a task over.
Preparing for the next day before hitting the day can help you keep things organized and increase overall productivity, but whether you would like to do it a night before, or in the morning totally depends on you. And because the world we live in is not absolutely predictable, you have to make room for uncertainties.
#2: Do Higher Priority Tasks In the Morning
It can be tempting to take care of all the little trivial things on your to-do list before moving on to the big stuff. But successful business owners often tend to tackle the hardest or the most pressing things first.
When you work that way, you can be sure that you are facing the hard stuff when your mind is fresh and you haven’t worn yourself out with other tasks. Make a list prioritizing everything you need to do that day, and start with the most important things on your list.
“If it has to happen, then it has to happen first,” Laura Vanderkam, a renowned, author, and speaker wrote in her bestseller book “What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast”.
When it comes to being an entrepreneur, one must follow this philosophy.
#3: Keep your schedules packed but not too packed.
You are not a superhero, and blood runs through your veins, not molten magma or larva or even anointing oil.
So, you must keep realistic schedules. Remember what I said at the start of this article:
“….Because the greatest way to succeed is to take consistent small steps. Many of us want to make a high jump to success, but that is not how it works!”
#4: Give yourself time to rest
As any truthful business owner will tell you, resting properly may be the most challenging part of running a business. I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights I usually have, especially because I am still in University as of now. How could I possibly sleep early when I had a million things to do?
My friends already know this, and trust me, I am trying to be more intentional about my resting periods.
Don’t be like me lol. Please find time to rest. If you don’t, your health will take the hit.
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Over time, I learned that I needed to get away from my business. It just wasn’t healthy to worry about my businesses 24/7.
#5: Have a ‘reflection moment’ for the day
So I learned this principle from my cousin Steven. I observed that he had a calmer mind at a point because he took time to self-reflect and reaccess how his day went. When I started doing this, being a business owner became a lot easier, as I was able to think through and self-reflect.
Successful business owners understand how helpful it is to look back on the day and reflect on all they have accomplished. This offers a sense of satisfaction gratitude and serves as a reward for a job well done, even if one did not achieve 100% success. It helps to create positive associations with hard work and motivates you to stay on the same path and schedule in the months to come.
Conclusion
This year, make more solid steps towards achieving your goals as a business owner. If you have questions or thoughts, please share them below:
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