You decided to strike out on your own so that you’d have more time and more freedom. But since you launched your business, you do nothing but work all day, every night and every (or almost every) weekend too.

This is just going to end up with you feeling worn out and frazzled. You’ll find yourself wondering (time and time again): WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF?

If this sounds like a familiar situation (welcome to the club!) then don’t worry. There’s a solution. The point is this: you need to work on the business, not only in the business. If you just keep on doing and doing and doing, with no organisational strategy or clear direction, you won’t get anywhere – other than to the point of frustration (believe me, I’ve been there!).

It’s been proven that we use up more time when switching between activities of different kinds than when doing the same kinds of activities. Every time you do something new, your brain needs some time to get into gear: that state in which your productivity is high and you’re able to keep doing that activity naturally and fluidly, without interruption. Continually jumping from one activity to another reduces your total output and causes you to lose concentration more easily. Thinking of multitasking? Please don’t do it. Try these simple tricks instead:

1. Group Your Activities Into Batches

Start by compiling a list of all the tasks you regularly do each month. For example, writing articles, creating graphics for your site, scheduling Facebook posts, and so on. After that, decide where you can group the activities together so that a group of activities can be done in a single day. Obviously, it won’t be possible to do this for everything, but you’ll see that some tasks are very well suited to it. It’s better to do just a few things at once, but to do them well.

2. Anticipate And Automate Your Tasks

Where possible, organise your tasks in advance and make them automatic. That way you don’t have to think about them anymore. Work ahead of time and create a buffer of things you’ve already prepared so you don’t get caught short when it comes to deadlines.

For example, I jot down my ideas in Evernote and have created drafts of articles that I can draw on in times of need. If I end up having no time to prepare a post, I can easily adapt one of the posts I created earlier and publish it. What’s more, I have a whole batch of articles ready and scheduled for the coming month. As a result, I’m able to free up some time for other activities and I don’t have to worry about what to publish next.
Which activities could you pre-empt and which you could automate, so that you don’t have to concern yourself with them on a daily basis?

3. Set Up Procedures

To save time (among other reasons), I suggest that you start putting procedures into place for each of your business tasks right away. Why? It’s very simple: to start creating a system. All large companies have systems and procedures to follow, as well as clear guidelines on what to do and what not to do. Any functioning business has processes in place. Things don’t just happen at random, but follow well-defined directions.

For example, what happens when you place an order at McDonald’s? Your request is sent to the kitchen staff who, without having to think too much about it, know exactly which ingredients to use, how long to cook them for, how to put them in the bun, and how to wrap it up. This way you can be sure that whichever McDonald’s you go to, a Big Mac will always be a Big Mac. The ingredients will always be the same. And they’ll always be arranged in the same way.

Imagine if, instead, every time a chef received an order they had to wonder: what kind of meat should I use? What temperature should I cook it at? How long for? Does the cheese or the meat go first? Does it need sauce? It would be a huge waste of time! And the quality would also suffer. This is why it’s useful to set up processes for your own business: the clearer you are on the procedures to follow, the less time you’ll have to spend thinking about how to do each activity.

It’s not as hard as it might seem; write down the exact steps you take to perform each task. I know that at first it can seem deadly boring, but it can turn out to be very useful, not only for you but for your colleagues, too!

4. Delegate Activities You Don’t Need To Do Yourself

Colleagues? In my own business? Yes! Even if you started small, consider that if your business grows (and I suspect that’s what you want!), it’s likely that you’ll want and need people to help you out. And you don’t even have to wait until you’re earning millions. Right now you could consider having some part-time help. Of course, this costs money, and I’m not suggesting you take on a staff of ten full-time employees. However, in my opinion, you’re making an investment that can help give you more time to further expand the business.

Imagine that you’re a consultant whose services cost $100 per hour. First, think about how many hours per week you lose on activities that don’t require your specific expertise: activities that other people could do in your place. For example, publishing a Facebook post, looking for an image to go on the blog, and so on. Now do some quick sums: every hour you spend doing things you could delegate to someone else is an hour in which you’re losing the chance to earn $100 doing the consulting that only you know how to do.

As for me, I rely on my virtual assistant. and communication manager. This has allowed me to free up some time that I can use to improve business strategy and expand the business. And, thanks to the procedures I mentioned above, it’s much easier to explain to her what to do, how to do it, in what order, and so on. On websites such as Upwork, Fiverr or Freelancer you can find people to help you, even if you have a limited budget available.

Over To You

Now the ball is in your court. Let’s sum up the steps to take (here’s the life coach in me coming out!):

1. Select activities that can be grouped together in batches.
2. Identify which of them you can anticipate and automate.
3. Create a written procedure for each activity.
4. Consider delegating some of these activities to a virtual assistant or external collaborator.

I’d love to hear from you about the strategies you use to make sure your business doesn’t drive you to the point of exhaustion, and which of these have turned out to be the most useful.

 Begin the journey to become the hero of your life! Visit Anh’s page to find out more

_{This post was first published on ThreeSixtySkills blog and has been reposted on Executive Lifestyle with the permission of the author.
Edited by Nedda Chaplin
Image credit: Shutterstock}

Let me know your answers in the comments box. Share what has worked for you.