Essential time management skills for every entrepreneur

Firstly, you can't manage time; you can only manage yourself. If you focus on managing time, by searching for systems, lists, and tools, you are ignoring the real issue: how to manage yourself.

Every time you repeat "Too much to do" and "Not enough time", you are letting yourself off the hook for managing yourself. There will always be too much to do and never enough time to do it.

Therefore, you need to prioritise. You can’t allow yourself to have too many priorities. By definition, priorities are a few top tasks that deserve attention next. If everything is top priority, then nothing is.

Know which tasks are most important and/or most urgent, and which aren’t. If you have only two to three priorities, you will complete two to three tasks. If you have four to ten, you will only complete one or two. If you have more than ten, you won't finish any. The more items on your list, the more time you spend focusing on the list and that can only leave you feeling overwhelmed.

Here are three ways to deal with too-much-to-do scenarios:

1. Accomplish more
   This is simply wishful thinking unless you find a new, faster method that makes a measurable difference. You won't save significant time by merely pushing yourself to do more by being faster and more disciplined.
2. Postpone
   Some things can wait. Push them out.
3. Delegate/outsource
   Too many people are doing things that should never be on their plates in the first place. If you don't know how to delegate effectively and confidently, you need to learn. If you are a control freak or simply unwilling to let go, stop it.

When you fail to manage yourself, establish top priorities, and make conscious decisions about what to do and what not to do, the stress is unbelievable, and the results aren't pretty:

• Your inbox and meeting schedule start to control your day.
• Important tasks are trumped by easy tasks that you can dispense with quickly in exchange for the feeling of progress.
• "Fun" tasks, those for which you always have time and energy, somehow get finished.
• Short term initiatives beat out long term efforts.

It's time to bite the bullet, narrow your top priorities list to two to three items at any one time, schedule time on your calendar to tackle those items, and devote the rest of your energy to focusing and getting them done.

About the author

Highly active in the local community as well as within business, Mimi Rupp is recognised as one of South Africa and Port Elizabeth’s most well-known female entrepreneurs. Recently named CEO Magazine’s Most Influential Woman in Business in South Africa, and she is using her experience to empower young entrepreneurs through her work and role at the Business Women’s Association and the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber.