Productivity Tips
Manage Time with a Time Budget
Written by Kathryn Lang for Gaebler Ventures
Building success as an entrepreneur requires managing time. Developing a time budget will help you know how to use the limited time that you have each day.
Entrepreneurs are encouraged to develop budgets and business plans before jumping into an endeavor.
The focus for these plans sits directly on the finances. Most entrepreneurs would benefit even more from developing a sound time budget. Time is one of the few things of which you can never make more.
Developing a Time Budget
1. Start by figuring out how you are currently spending your time. Write down how you are using every minute of every day for a week. Be sure to include the time spent eating, sleeping and relaxing.
2. Write out all of meetings, groups and activities where you are currently investing time. Take a few days to consider all of these and then give them a rating from 1 (being the least) to 10 (being the most) of importance in your life. Now consider distancing yourself form all of those events that are not ranking above a 7 in importance for your life.
3. Review your financial budget to determine how many hours you need to dedicate to your entrepreneurial business. Deduct that time from your schedule on the days that you will be working.
4. Deduct time from each day for sleeping and for meals. Be realistic. You will not be able to live off of four hours sleep for very long. Use the list you made at the beginning of this project to see how many hours you normally sleep and work from that number. The same goes for meals, although you may be able to cut back on that time a little if necessary.
5. Schedule time during non-work days to catch up on emails and other correspondence. Also use these days to put together schedules and tools to help you maintain your time budget.
6. Once you have scheduled in all of the things that you must do to make your business run and also the time necessary for ordinary living then you can begin to work with the things that you want to do.
7. Use the time budget to create a calendar that lists all of the things that you plan to do in the upcoming weeks and months. The time budget can also help you create a to-do list for each day or even to create a schedule that breaks down each day hour by hour. The key to using the time budget is finding a system that works for your business and for your personality.
Just like a financial budget, a time budget will probably need to be tweaked and changed as your business needs change. Reviewing how you are spending your time will help you remove those things that are hindering your success as an entrepreneur. A time budget will also help you maximize the time that you are spending.
Entrepreneurs need to have a financial budget to keep the business on track, but a time budget can be just as beneficial. A time budget will help you see how to manage your time so that you never find yourself in a place where you do not have enough time to get everything done that needs to be done.
Kathryn Lang is a professionial writer and motivational speaker. She enjoys writing about a wide variety of business topics including youth businesses and finance.
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs
Conversation Board
We greatly appreciate any advice you can provide on this topic. Please contribute your insights on this topic so others can benefit.