Have you ever wondered how people you know like fellow business owners, high performing friends and clients achieve so much success in so little time?  It’s not because they have any more days or hours than you (or less problems) but because they have perfected managing their time extremely well. Ruthlessly even!

Here are five simple hacks to help you plan your day better and see immediate results.

1.Don’t start your day by answering your emails. Start with the hardest task instead.

First tip in 5 professional life hacks for a more efficient way to run your business.

Starting your day by reading and replying to your emails will set you back by hours a day! You’ll become reactive. As you start the day with people’s agendas, requests, problems instead of dealing with your own tasks.

So hit two birds with one stone…Do what’s most important for your business first thing.  Especially if it’s the least favorite but important task. Be it sales or tackling the most urgent matter (or hardest) first, when your brain is fresh and your body energized first thing in the morning. If you don’t feel like it when you’re full charged, imagine later on after reading your emails and dealing with your other daily struggles?

Deal with the harder tasks first and the rest for lunch or later on during the day.

Just don’t use your precious mornings replying to people’s demands or requests first, most of which are rarely urgent.   And if they are important, ensure a team member can help your clients at all times till you’re available, which brings me to the next point.

2.Delegate as much as you can.

To add value and grow your business you need time, to get time you need to delegate. It’s the only way to scale time. Even if you’re the most efficient person in the world you still have 24 hours per day! Can you imagine MacDonald’s today had founder Ray Kroc not delegated to his team? Many people are afraid to delegate because they’re afraid the task at hand won’t be done how they want or correct, but a little training, mentoring and systems in place can go a long way.  

3.Schedule time for you.

Yes, you have a lots do and to accomplish but setting commitments from 8am till 10pm on a daily basis is not a good way to approach them. You need to re-charge your batteries same as your mobile needs to recharge. I used to do really long hours all year round thinking I would get more done, only to get shocked in noticing I was working hard but to burnt hard to work smart! Sometimes less is really more.

Set time for yourself, spend time with your family, watch a movie, meet friends etc. This ensures you don’t burn out and gives your mind time to relax. Ever noticed how many ideas and solutions come out of nowhere after a training session, day in the countryside or a long bath?  If you have a long evening ahead, try to have a quiet lunch to mentally prepare yourself for tough evening ahead.

4.Don’t bounce between one task to another.

If you have a lot of phone calls to make, batch them together. Same goes for emails. If you have sales presentation to do, schedule an hour or two in the evening before to focus solely on that in advance. Plan your meetings ahead.

By batching similar tasks together you’ll able to move and execute faster. Whereas, if you’re jumping from an email to a phone call, whilst editing a presentation and rushing back to your emails few minutes later,  apart from ending up exhausted, you’ll be left wondering how come your to do list is still as long as it was when you started your day.

5.Stay humble.

And last tip in 5 professional life hacks for a more efficient way to run your business.

When you become more successful keep the ego in check. Some people start to see themselves better than everyone else. They take fewer meetings, answer back fewer calls and become distanced from the world and people to whom the business depends on.

The bigger you get, the more you have to work to keep your market share and expand further. Always remember how you got there and those helped you reach your goals.  Genuinely give something in return and good comes back. Stay humble and genuine always.

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