Well, being a boss demands your attention to a lot of things, you need to manage your employee, make decisions and make sure the company is going in the direction you want.
The role of a boss is challenging, but when you don’t have proper time management, this can turn into a disaster.
To understand how you can manage your time, here are the best ways for you to consider.
Why And When You Need To Change Your Current Time Management?
Being a boss, you might already have the schedules to follow, tasks to attend to and work to do.
However, there are some basic signs that show your current time management is poor and it’s not up to the responsibility you are holding.
Being a boss means you are a role model on whom your employees depend and trust, so it becomes crucial to manage your role well.
Time management is basically divided into levels, it’s important to see if you are getting these levels done successfully or not
The levels include :
- Level 1: Time management includes the managing of your minutes. Here you need to make a list which includes all tasks you need to do as a boss.
- Level 2: Here you need to manage the hours, and prioritize the list.
- Level 3: Here it’s your day to manage, so prioritize and rank what to do first.
- Level 4: it focuses on managing the week, including mission, vision, role, and principle.
- Level 5: It includes managing the month, and habit as well as the process.
- Level 6: Managing your quarter, understanding trends, beginning to change in life as well as business.
- Level 7: It’s the managing year, the 4 season cycle of change.
- Level 8: It manages the decade, on average gets seven and a week of the decade.
- Level 9: It’s managed the generation for 20 years.
- Level 10 It’s managing 50 years or over half of its lifetime.
Well, depending on which level you are at, doing proper time management can benefit you both personally and professionally.
As a boss, if you are noticing any of these major signs, it means you need to change your way of managing as it’s not benefiting you well :
Poor Punctuality
When you are a boss, you are someone others look up to. If you are late can be a bad example.
Sometimes the reasons are genuine, but you are arriving late frequently because you are waking up late or taking a long time to get ready, this is your sign.
Constant In Rush
When you are a boss, you might feel like you are jumping from one thing to another without having room to breathe.
However, this can be the major sign of having poor time management.
Decline In Work Quality
If you feel your work has been sloppy and late, you need to be aware of where you are spending hours and how not to cross the deadlines, so you don’t have to rush to complete tasks.
Procrastinating Your Responsibility
Procrastination is the glaring sign that your time management has some major issues.
Also, you don’t want to let work pile up when you are the boss, as it will affect the business and employees too.
Feeling Of Burnout
If you are not managing time well, this will lead to burnout. With this, you are putting your career as well as your health in jeopardy.
So don’t work yourself to the bone, instead of that re-evaluate your time management plans and see what is taking your hours.
Ways To Improve Your Time Management As Boss
When you are aware that your time management is suffering, you need to find ways to improve it, and for that, here are some of the ideal ways that you can master the skill.
Plan Your Journey
Well, when you are planning a trip, you have to go through the whole planning stage to know where you are going and what you will get at your destination.
It also includes what to pack and choosing dates. The same goes for time management.
You need to plan the productivity journey and for that, you need to follow :
- Establishing the realistic goals
- identifying the steps you have to follow
- Setting up the clear expectations
- Anticipating the roadblocks
- Knowing the priorities and when you need to do it
- Surrounding yourself with resources and the right tools
Establish A Morning Routine
The one thing that is common in Richard Brandson, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk is they all follow a consistent morning routine.
However, you don’t have to follow exact routine rituals. But you need to create one for yourself so it can encourage and help you in keeping your day productive.
For example, you can wake up 30 minutes earlier as you don’t rush when you are getting ready and arriving late to the office.
Also, you can add workouts and breakfast, so it’s an effective way to start the day on the right foot.
With this, you can start your day with energy to keep yourself productive throughout the day.
Stop Saying There Is Not Enough Time
To improve your productivity as a boss, this phrase should not be in your vocabulary.
As Seth Godin wrote in his blog, if you are running out of time, it’s a euphemism. And the smart analyst realizes that this is a message which says something.
Time is finite, but it’s not like money as it can be replenished every second.
The people who are trying to connect which recalibration is always to meet, show that they watch books they are not reading.
Well, the solution doest relate to giving people more time, but here it depends heavily on how you are creating the urgency, itch, and desire.
Recognize The Traps Of Multitasking
Being a boss means you have more responsibility than others, and it leads to the chance of getting multiple tasks.
But multitasking is not helpful, it’s not even possible but it can end up damaging time.
This is because you have your attention divided between different sets of tasks.
The better option is to focus on one task at one time.
Do The Heavy Lifting In Morning
Well when you are a boss, you have a lot of things to focus on. You can pick any tasks that you need to get done on that day or pick what’s dreading you most.
Focus on getting that one completed as the first thing in your morning. Your body has the most energetic level in AM, plus it helps you in building the momentum for the rest of the day.
Managing Attention Instead Of Schedule
Author of Hyperfocus: How To Be More Productive in a World Of Direction, Chris Bailey says that you need to manage your attention instead of your time.
As he says, this happens due to distractions that are not actually your fault. But the key is to take control back when things get interrupted.
Instead of letting those minor disturbances ruin your day, focus on how to be productive and meaningful.
Pursue Activity Which Benefit Personally And Professionally
Align the professional and professional both goals in order to maximize efficiency.
Let’s say that you need to learn something new, it can be a language but instead of investing in any language, you can choose one which benefits you professionally.
For example, if you are planning to expand your business in Portugal, you should invest your time in learning Portuguese in order to be more comfortable with the conversation.
Get Organized Your Day And Surrounding
The time you waste on looking for things can also cause issues with time management.
You can spend that time getting your work done instead of looking for misplaced items.
So make sure the office of yours is tidy, focus on your workspace, and keep everything in order to get easy access.
That means when you are done with using something, make sure you put it back in its place.
Work The Hours You Feel Productive
Even though it doesn’t make you much more manageable as you have more responsibilities and a job as boss. But you need to pick the hours that are best for you.
For this, you need to create a schedule so it can avoid distractions and achieve balance in your work and life.
Chunk Up The Week
Barbara Corcoran from Shark Tank says she likes to chunk up her workweek into tasks that are similar on the same day because it helps in making her more productive.
Also, you can track the previous month or year to see which work patterns are repetitive and how they can help you in chunk up tasks.
Play To The Strength
Don’t waste the time on which you don’t hold any experience and knowledge.
It’s important to find what is your strength, you need to be sure which can help you in improving your productivity.
If you are not sure about how you can handle the tasks, it’s best to choose people who are best at it.
Solicit Your Feedbacks
Even though it feels like it’s your responsibility to give feedback to your employee, it should be both ways in order to be trustworthy and be more productive as a boss.
So you can ask people around you to give feedback which can help in saving time. Not just that, ask people to mention things where you waste time.
Maybe you are doing meetings which are not needed, or reducing the time might save both employees and people time.
Follow The Rule Of 52: 17
According to research from Desktime, it’s found that most people spend around 52 minutes at work and take 17-minute breaks.
You can follow the rule as well, with that you get the time for breaks. But it means you get more work done and have time to freshen your mind.
Keep Your Journal And Diary
It’s important that you as a boss should carry a diary or journal with you. This can help you a lot in having a sense of what to do and updating you on your work.
It’s also good for mental health, as when you are in such a position it’s easy to get distracted and also all of the responsibilities create stress.
Keeping a journal can help you in tracking the time, dot down the reminders, and write what you feel grateful for.
But make sure you are investing in a good journal or diary so you can get easier access.
Know When You Have Enough
It’s expected of you to focus and do more since you are a boss, but even then you should have an understanding of when you have enough.
Be real with how much you can handle, and when it’s getting overloaded, you should stop and pressure yourself, delegate it.
Trust The Process
There is no doubt that time management is not easy or challenging, especially when you have a boss.
But you should focus on the process and trust it, the more you are working on it, the better it will be for you.
Focus On The Outcomes
To-do lists, as well as rigid schedules, are handy, both ensure that you don’t end up forgetting time or important work. However, it stifles your creativity.
However it affects productivity, and creativity increases the neural pathways.
In turn, this allows you to learn about new situations leading to new ideas, new thoughts, and also to find solutions.
Implementing The Two Minute Of Rule
Author David Allen’s Two Minute Rule, it’s getting things done and you can use this for menial tasks like responding to emails.
If it takes you less than two minutes, you do it or you can get out of the way. If not, you can accumulate such small tasks.
Break Up With Bad Habits
Not all breakups are bad, so you need to focus on finding out which habit is bad. This is why focus on getting rid of those habits in order to avoid time waste.
So don’t forget your health and mental health, avoid distraction and procrastination.
eliminate them from your schedule which can enhance your energy and productivity.
Keep Your No Thanks List Ready
It’s developed by a Linkedin influencer, Beth Kanter, who says she has a No Thanks journal. this is what you note which situations you need to pay attention to and avoid for declining the time request.
Write it down and reflect on situations where you need to say no, you can do it nicely.
More To Explore:
- 50 Signs Of A Bad Boss: Red Flags To Watch Out For In The Workplace
- Most Effective and Proven Time Management Tips, Techniques & Strategies
- Guide On How To Be Professional In Doing Time Management
- A Guide To Time Management For Dummies
- Beginner’s Guide For Time Management In 2023
“Vision, strategy, and inspiration – these three words describe me the best. I am the founder of “TheLeaderboy” dedicated to leadership and personal development. As a self-taught practitioner, I have been studying the principles of effective leadership for the past decade and my passion lies in sharing my insights with others. My mission is to empower individuals to become better leader