#3 Time management

I currently spent around 3-4 hours per day working on my side business, and while it’s not the same as dedicating the whole day, it is plenty, well, for most of the time. But there are 2 things that can completely take over that time and trample my schedule. Keep reading and let me know if you relate.

Number #1 is distractions, no surprises here. There are two types of distractions: external and internal.

The first one you probably heard a million times… say “no” to your friends, stop going out, ask for help so you can have some hours back, stop watching TV/Netflix, block websites/apps, etc. They are all valid advice, don’t get me wrong, if you don’t have time, you need to make it, and if you’re wasting on something else, you need to set them aside so you can work on your own stuff.

But it’s the second that is often overlooked. How distracted are YOU? or maybe better rephrased as the opposite: how focused are you?

Being able to sit and just work is an art in itself, and a topic of constant struggle for a lot of people, including me. I am usually able to focus on the work, but my mind keeps wandering through other related tasks and as I come up with thoughts I jump to them. In a sense, yes it’s all work, but not as productive.

Some say you should keep a notepad around and as thoughts come you write them down to explore later. That didn’t work as well for me, maybe I’m just not as disciplined? I don’t know, but it could work for you. This is likely going to be a constant battle for me.

BUT, there’s one more thing that completely KILLS my time big time.

LACK OF PLAN

Not big picture plan, execution plan. I have a pretty big list of things to do, but those haven’t been flushed out down to the implementation details, and that means that on that little time that I carve out everyday and I grab a new story/feature/task, I have to stop and think about it and how to execute it. And if you do this everyday it compounds to a time hog pretty quickly.

So here’s my tip for this week: take some time, it can be any day, and just plan. Plan for a week ahead and I am sure you will save a lot of time.

Let’s go get it!

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