There’s so much to do and so little time in which to do it. Anyone who has ever been in business knows this grudgingly; efficiency is one of the goals of every company. It saves money, optimizes employee production, and leaves you with plenty of leeway to correct missteps.

Time management is the key to becoming more efficient, and this short article will introduce you to a handful of definitive measures you can take to implement it.

What’s Your Plan?

If you do not formulate a plan towards your goal beforehand, then you’re pretty much going in blind. It is one of the chief ways to avoid time-wasting endeavors, and puts you in a position to maximize your return-on-investment in all facets of your business. Make a plan!

Organization via Checklist

There are plenty of online tools that greatly facilitate this: Evernote, Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft To-Do (formerly Wunderlist), and numerous small, private, and effective checklist tools. Prioritize this list by performing the most important task first. Checklists inspire focus.

Set Time Limits

Even if you spend all day working, you should set out about 4-5 hours of guaranteed, high-productivity work. Keeping this consistent will allow you to take time off for other endeavors – work-life balance benefits work more than many unproductive hours.

Keep in mind, however, that during seasons of high productivity, you will be able to work for half a day. This makes it okay to take a day off whenever you feel sluggish and unmotivated. Don’t force it on days of low energy.

Time Management Tip – Avoid Multi-Tasking

You may think that multitasking helps you get things done; but in reality, it really just kills your focus. Here is where keeping a checklist pays big dividends: set aside time for each major subproject and complete it before moving on to something else.

There are quite a few more time management tips; all of them are in a similar vein to the ones listed here. Most importantly is the need to formulate a plan, because the business life of an entrepreneur is hectic.