Kick-Ass Productivity: How To Control Your Time

I heard someone say something yesterday that really pissed me off. They said, “I would do a lot more in life but I can’t control time. There isn’t enough time in a day, that’s the problem.”

My heart took a tumble 10 feet under hearing that. How can someone say or think that? Beyonce has 24 hours. Kobe Bryant has 24 hours. Warren Buffett has 24 hours. You simply CANNOT use the excuse of not having enough time in a day.

I was irritated with that response and gave my friend some hell for it. Turns out, it’s not really his fault. He just doesn’t know that he can manage and control his time. Growing up, I sucked at managing my time.

90% of my time went to playing video games and having ‘fun’ while the other 10% went into things like homework or doing the chores. Throughout the years, I have realized that if we can master our use of time, we can accomplish anything.

In this article, I’m going to talk about kick ass productivity: how to control your time –

Focus

It’s easy to get distracted when you don’t have a clear direction or where you need to go. Before you start anything, create a clear outline of things that need to get done. Put them in order of importance and do not lose sight of this.

When other things come up, you clearly know what you need to focus on. Efficient people are able to turn off distractions, focus on a task and get it done no matter how difficult it is. That’s the first step to efficiency.

Say NO

Some people have a really hard time saying NO. I run a consulting business on the side where I work with business owners to help them with their marketing or growth needs. This is something done on the side so I have a clear understanding of how many clients and how much time I can invest on a monthly basis.

In the beginning, I wanted to help everyone. Don’t get me wrong, I still do but it’s not feasible. Instead of taking on every client, I reject more than 75% of the potential clients I get. If you want to be efficient and master your time, you need to feel more relaxed about saying “NO”.

Unplug

Social media, television, other people, and electronics can be a massive distraction. I still to this day have trouble unplugging myself from social media or completely staying focused on one task.

I find myself often finishing 1 page of work and somehow wandering off to Facebook. If you need to get something done, unplug yourself from the rest of the world. Only accept incoming calls, messages or notifications if it’s an emergency. Otherwise, your only focus should be what needs to get done.

Create A Schedule

I find that extremely efficient people are either very organized or they have someone on their staff that manages their lives for them. If you have a clear schedule each day of what needs to get done and when, there is no excuse for not getting things done.

The most successful people clearly plan out the things they want to accomplish each day. They write it down and they get down to work. What used to take me 2-3 days to get done now gets done in 1 day all because I schedule things out.

Quality > Quantity

Remember, the most productive people don’t necessarily get the most things done. In fact, they get the most important things done that bring value to them or to their businesses. Instead of making it a competition to get 100 things done, try getting 10 things done really well.

A big mistake many entrepreneurs often make is that they have a hard time trusting others to do work for their business. At some point, you have to let go. Understand the importance of the work within your business. Put the high priority things on your desk and the lower priority things on the desks of others. A little trust goes a long way.

Conclusion

In this article, I shared kick-ass productivity tips on how to control your time. Do you have some tips of your own that work very well? Share them below!

photo credit: Youssef Abdelaal via photopin cc