If you’re looking to improve work efficiency, you need to prioritise and effectively manage your time. Except that isn’t always easy, when you feel your biggest problem is having no time! However, there is no perfect time for getting organised, and it isn’t something you can plan for a later date. There’s also the fact that it isn’t just better time management that will improve your efficiency – using the right tools will help a lot too.
You are only one person, and you can’t continue to do it all alone. That’s one of the biggest reasons why so many business owners struggle; they’re trying to do it all. Getting organised and getting stuff done as a business owner is an important lesson to master, but you also need to check you’re using the right tools for the job. In some instances, that will mean apps and platforms, but it also means making the most of other available resources, such as outsourcing and automating.
You already have the tools you need to improve work efficiency
You can improve work efficiency with better use of the platforms you’re already using. This includes getting a handle on your inbox, calendar and to-do list. Creating a massive, never-ending to-do list will stress anyone out, whilst having an inbox crammed full of hundreds of unanswered emails will do the same.
This is why you need to tame them. If you want to work more efficiently, you need to get these tools working for you, not against you.
Do you know enough to use these tools well?
That then leads to the question – do you know enough about those tools to use them well? It’s easy to rush through setting these things up and then going with the flow. But are you making the most out of them? For example, are you making use of filters and tags in your inbox? Is your to-do list written on scraps of paper, or have you got a digital copy set up?
You need to be focused and feel in control to improve your work efficiency
Having your inbox, calendar, and to-do list digitally set up will enable you to feel more in control. This will help you to get focused and be more efficient with your working habits, especially if these tools automatically interact with each other and update as needed. You also know where to find these critical business management tools if they’re digital – there’s no risk of you losing that paper to-do list or spilling coffee over your calendar.
Are you working on the tasks you want to do?
The most productive people work only on the high-value tasks and those tasks only they can do. Are you doing the same? Or are you focusing on tasks you see as a necessary evil or doing them because no one else is available?
When it comes to calendar and inbox management, for example, they’re tasks that you can choose to outsource. You don’t have to do them yourself. You’re the CEO of your own business – isn’t it time you started to work only on those tasks you want to do?
Now may be the time to outsource these essentials
There are many tasks in your business that can be outsourced, and your inbox, calendar and even to-do list are only the beginning. But when you outsource these tasks, it isn’t just about getting them off your plate. When you outsource them, they’re usually dealt with more efficiently and effectively.
Because when it comes to improving work efficiency, it has to start with you. Are you holding your business back by not using the right tools to improve work efficiency and growth? Are you limiting how efficient you can be by adding tasks to your to-do list that would be better outsourced?
If you’re looking to improve work efficiency, you need to prioritise and effectively manage your time. But you also need to use the right tools for the job and know how to use them well.
That’s why I created the Getting Organised Programme. It puts you in control of those critical areas of your business, so you are running your business and not the other way round. It helps you create solid foundations to continue using the tools to make the business you love. And if you decide to outsource these tasks ultimately, you know, they’re already optimised well and are ready to be managed by someone else.
If this sounds like something you’d like to explore further, you can check out the Getting Organised Programme here.
