Tag: systems

How To Find More Time

Photo by Samson Katt on Pexels.com

How many times have you said to yourself that there are just not enough hours in the day?

I mean, you have all these dreams and goals but no time to work on them, right?

Start a business.

Try a new hobby.

Spend more time with family and friends.

Travel more.

Not to mention all of life’s everyday responsibilities.

Take care of the kids.

Clean the house.

Do the laundry.

Get groceries.

There are only 24 hours in a day, you can’t change that and if you are being smart, you are not sacrificing sleep for doing.

So how to do find more time to be able to do all, or at least some, of these things?

Well, there are 2 things you can do.

Identify what is wasting time and deal with it.

Most of us waste quite a bit of time and we don’t even realize it. A large part of what we do during the day is habitual, which doesn’t mean its necessarily productive. We can habitually waste a lot of time!

Spend a few days keeping a time journal. Set an alarm every hour if need be so you take notes as you go, otherwise you are likely going to forget what you actually spent your time doing.

Chances you are going to surprised by how much time you spend doing things you don’t need to be doing. #scrolling.

Once you have identified the things or periods of the day that are wasting your time, stop the activity, deal with the distraction or find a way to be intentional with that time.

Create organization and systems

Think about the things you do that take a lot of time, or even just more time then they should.

Chances are, there is a way you could structure these tasks so that they take less time. The goal is to work smarter, not harder, so simply trying to work faster is not the solution here.

That is a recipe for burnout. Instead, look at how you go about these tasks and see what you can:

  • Condense (shorten or remove steps)
  • Remove
  • Automate
  • Delegate

The systems I use are the secret to how much I can get done, without working harder and I can’t stress this enough. Great systems will give you more time, flexibility and freedom!

One of the most important ones is the planner system I use. The combination of my paper planner, a couple of apps and a small purse calendar, are the foundation of my organized and productive life. (note I didn’t say perfect!)

This is the planner I use; The Life Book planner is a complete goal planner and day planner in one and allows me to organize all the moving parts of my life in one spot. SOOO much easier to manage!

You can test it out for free here!

I hope you find these tips helpful, just keep in mind that whatever you do, small changes are much more likely to stick so don’t try to overhaul your life overnight!

If you implement these things, you WILL find more time!

Jennifer

p.s. If you enjoyed this post and would like access to daily free content on all things organization and productivity, you can find me on IG @organized_owl.

How To Create Business Systems To Save Time And Energy

Systems make life easier.

Its that simple. It may not be glamorous or it may seem boring to you, but if you take the time to implement various systems into your business, you are going to save a ton and time and energy.

And more time and energy for enjoying life IS fun and glamorous!

So here’s what you do.

Figure out where you need them

What areas of your business seem to take more time then they should? Or where do mistakes or confusion happen often? Basically, you are looking for the problems areas. The things that take too much time, don’t get done efficiently or don’t get done well.

Create the system

Now its time to actually create the system. If this is something you do often, then this won’t take a lot of time. Just make sure you are thorough and don’t forget any steps. It helps if you do this while actually doing the task.

  1. List out all the things and/or steps included in this task.
  2. Put these things in order in which they should be done.
  3. Look at each step and see if there is a short cut or quicker way of doing it. If you need to, ask experts, business friends or do some research.
  4. Look at each step and see if there is anything that could be done in advance (planning) to make things more efficient. 
  5. Rewrite the order of the steps with any new changes from step 3 and 4, being really specific about how to do each step. Create, set up any new things you need to in order to be able to follow your new system. (ie: file folders, documents, memory aid, planning space, etc)
  6. Keep this list to refer to whenever you do this step until it’s memorized as well as to use as SOP should you hire someone to do this in the future.

And there you go! You might have to modify or add things in after a couple of times through because its normal to forget the little things sometimes.

You can create a system for almost anything you do in your business, should you feel the need but some of the first or most common ones are:

  • Content creation
  • Social media posting and engagement
  • How and where files are saved and used.
  • Quick access to commonly used links, lists and other information.
  • Graphic creation

And lastly, a planner system. This is probably the most important one to create as it is the secret sauce to staying organized, managing your time and well and being able to prioritize and stay focused on what matters. The solid foundation to a great planner systems is a well designed planner.

And I don’t mean pretty design, I’m talking useful features and an effective layout. A planner that has what you need as well as the space to be personalized is the golden standard and the Life Book planner has both. Check it out here.

Systems are meant to make life easier but sometimes they can seem overwhelming to put in place. Head on over to the work with me section if you would like some help!

Jennifer