What is time management in business? Are you proficient in managing your time throughout the day? Are you good at it when it comes to working in the business?
Of course, anyone can manage their time by taking action and following up on it. In business, even entrepreneurs can get caught up with their time. Some might think it doesn’t matter that much; however, it does matter in the long run.
UPDATED: JANUARY 8, 2022
Time Management at Work: Seven Meanings in the Business World
Time management in business can mean multiple things. But in this post, I will lay out seven different meanings of what to focus on.
- What Works & What Does NOT Work
- Understand That Your Time Is Limited
- Knowing What To Prioritize
- Keeping Distractions Minimal
- Setting Expectations For You And Your Team
- Getting More Done In A Short Period
- Doing Less While Getting More Help
What works & what does NOT work
While working in business, you want to figure out which tasks work well or are not working. It’s necessary to identify tasks that don’t add value to your time or grow your business.
If you focus on those tasks too much, they can be significant time wasters. These tasks can be significant or small things that add up to your time.
For example, are you applying some marketing strategies to find new clients that haven’t worked out? You’ll know that it’s time to try different approaches if your original plans didn’t work out.
Other examples you can think about include administrative work and communication methods.
First, ask yourself some basic questions:
- Are spreadsheets useful to keep track of data and notes?
- Is email the best way to communicate with your team? Or is it better to hold meetings to give brief updates?
The point is to figure out what’s working and what doesn’t work and then reevaluate.
Understand that your time is limited
Time is not something you can take for granted. It’s limited, so you’re allowed to do tasks in given periods. For example, you only have 24 hours in one day. That’s a lot of time, but you realize those hours are spent doing other things after breaking it down.
On a typical day for a successful entrepreneur, they may spend 7-9 hours working on their business. Then, between 3-5 hours might go toward leisure or recreational activities (i.e., exercising, socializing, etc.), 1-2 hours might go to eating, and then 6-8 hours are left to getting rest/sleeping.
The chart below is estimated to be a typical day to vary depending on the individual.
Understanding where your time goes can help reduce frustrations and extra headaches. Also, it can help adjust your schedule and make necessary changes.
Of course, every entrepreneur’s schedule will be different, so do what’s best for yourself and your business needs.
Knowing what to prioritize
Prioritizing is necessary when running a successful business. Without making priorities, the path is a little unclear on where your want to take your business.
But, more importantly, figuring out which tasks you need to get done first should always be a priority every day.
For example, if you do your challenging work first thing in the morning, it helps to get that out of the way before moving on to more straightforward work. You can do yourself a favor and avoid the frustrations of not getting anything done at all on a given day.
This type of work includes creating great content that can add value to your business. Any additional work, such as administrative and customer support, can take time away from growing your business.
That type of work should be left for other people to work on, rather than you as the business owner. That’s where outsourcing or delegating work comes in, which I discussed in a previous article.
Keeping distractions minimal
It may sound easy to say, but making an effort to reduce distractions can be challenging. I say this because little distractions can end up wasting much time. But keeping them at a minimum is essential to managing your time.
In addition, the little things can add up over time. Small items such as people interrupting and needing your assistance can take away time. It can be reading a quick email or getting a notification on your cell phone.
Even entrepreneurs can get carried away from their most important work. But, unfortunately, it can happen to anyone, and business owners are no exception.
It may be something small, but it can end up taking you longer than usual. So whenever possible, be mindful of these things and keep distractions minimal, especially during times you need to focus.
Ask yourself: what can you do to cut your workload, and how can you make your time more productive? When you get help in your business, you save so much time and frustration from doing things that do not grow your business.
-Eric T. Seil (Founder of notimekillers.com)
Setting expectations for you and your team
It’s good to set expectations between you and the people working in your business. Whether you work in an office or work remotely, there have to be clear guidelines for each individual.
For example, setting boundaries or deadlines to finish up on projects is key to success. Also, setting expectations means not getting too distracted when people need to get things done.
Another example would be too much socializing at the office when people need to keep that minimal. It’s ok to do it now and then, but not to the point where it becomes a common problem.
Getting more done in a short period
As your business grows, do yourself a favor while getting more work done in a shorter period. Tasks that might have taken you 2-3 hours can easily be broken down into only an hour.
If it’s work you’re used to doing, you’ll find out sooner or later once you get better at it. In other words, you’re more efficient with your time. If you’re able to adjust, you’ll end up having more time to get to other important matters.
Doing less while getting more help
The last point goes back to what it means to build a successful business: focusing on what matters the most.
Ask yourself:
- What can you do to cut your workload?
- How can you make your time more productive?
If that means delegating tasks to other people, then, by all means, do that. When you get help in your business, you save so much time and frustration from doing things that do not grow your business.
Great companies are not meant to be run by one person. If companies want to grow, they need other people involved in assisting the entrepreneur.
Hiring people (or investing in automation) helps businesses save time and money in the long. This point is crucial to building good time management skills in the industry.
A relevant article from notimekillers.com
Read next on “What Do You Do To Effectively Manage Your Time? Top 7 Tips”, to get better at effective time management.
Final Words
Overall, these meanings of time management can help anyone looking to run a successful business. Some are practical and useful, but it takes time and effort to see successful results, as I mentioned earlier.
If you choose to work on the wrong tasks, you will not get anywhere in your business. Or, if you decide not to seek help, you’ll end up doing a lot more work than you should be doing.
So it’s all about getting more of your time back and working on things that get your business to the next level. That’s what matters the most, right?
Your Turn: Do you work on things that matter most to you?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Do you have a good work ethic when it comes to time management?
Are you able to delegate tedious tasks to other people in your business? If not, what do you think you can do better?
Feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below. I look forward to reading your responses, and I’ll gladly respond promptly.
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Eric is a content writer and the site owner of notimekillers.com. He takes great pride in helping people manage their time and grow their businesses. Eric is a firm believer in time freedom, as he believes in taking ownership of time. “Time is your most important asset. It can be your best friend or worst enemy. How you use your time can shape the future you desire to have.” In his leisure time, Eric loves to write and read whenever possible. He enjoys going for long walks outdoors while doing in-home workout videos every week. You can follow Eric on LinkedIn.
Time is always passing, so time management for all kinds of work including business, is very important if we want to get things done by a certain time limit.
I remembered the day I didn’t watch my favourite Youtube channel. I didn’t do the washing up and didn’t cook any food for one day. I felt as if I got lots done and had plenty of time to do that in.
Working from home has many distractions attached to it, and we need to give ourselves a time slot when we are most productive. For people with large families, it could be in the early hours of the morning before others wake up.
But it has to be done. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Stella,
Thank you for your comment. Yes, time management is important in any aspect of life, especially in business.
I agree that we can save so much time by not doing those “extra things”. Whether that’s watching endless Youribe videos or something else, you be surprised to see how much time can go down the drain.
With more people working from home, that’s a primary focus on avoiding those distractions. It’s not easy if individuals have a lot of people living with them. That can be rough.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts- much appreciated!
I actually studied entrepreneurship in high school, and time management seemed applicable everywhere.
Achieving success in this world literally determines how you handle your time well. If you can’t set a timetable with your priorities and minor tasks to achieve, then success will become difficult.
If you master time management, then it is easy for you to hit your goals and targets.
Hi Kenny,
Thank you for your comment. I couldn’t agree with you more. As you mentioned, mastering time management will make it simpler to reach our goals (in the short-term and the long run).
Managing our time well can be challenging. But when doing it the right way, you can definitely be successful wherever you go in life. If we don’t set a timetable for ourselves, it’ll be difficult to reach our goals. We have to make an effort at it, no matter what life throws at us in every step of the process.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. It’s very much appreciated.
Managing time wisely seems to be a lifelong lesson for most. As a small business owner it always seems like there’s never enough hours in the day. That’s primarily because we try to do everything ourselves. There comes a point where delegation becomes critical or else burn out and poor productivity steps in.
Even though I’m saying all of this it’s often still very difficult to put into practice. That’s why I loved your article. The seven factors you listed definitely would ensure that my time is spent wisely and in a manner that doesn’t distract from my business goals. In fact in assists in me achieving them without burning the candles at both ends.
Like most things it will take consistency for these habits to become second nature. Until then I do plan to commit to staying the course. After all, we are all given the same 24 hours in a day. This will definitely help to ensure that I make the most of them.
Hi Roberta,
When it comes to running a business, time management is a skill to hone. Not only is it a skill to practice personally, but it’s more important for we as entrepreneurs.
There will come a time when people need help in their business. That’s where delegating tasks comes in handy- it’s ok to hire people to do those tasks that take away valuable time. That open time you have can be used to scale your business. When you delegate properly, you know that you’re managing time wisely.
You’re spot on when it comes to building great habits. We all have the same 24 hours in a given day. The question is how do we utilize those 24 hours, 7 days a week? Ultimately, that’s up to you and where you want to go in the future.
Thank you for your input- it’s much appreciated!
Hi Eric,
I think this article is spot on and given at the right timing when many people start to work from home. Oh boy, how time can slip through our fingers when staying in our comfy corner!
It’s true that small distractions can slowly and quietly eat up our time without us knowing- till we look at the clock. I need to look again to organise my time more efficiently following your suggestions.
Thanks a lot!
Hi Grace,
When we stay in our comfort zone (i.e. relaxing or just wasting time), time can very well fly by! Especially if you work for yourself, you don’t have anyone telling you to do things or monitor your time.
Yes, the small distractions can make a huge difference if you’re not watching it too close. I know whether it’s checking your phone (or browsing through social media), I can’t tell you how much time can be wasted on those little things.
But it’s especially important for entrepreneurs. They’re not prone to this issue, as everyone can be subject to fall short of distractions. So these are some great points to consider.
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. I wish you the best- they’re very much appreciated.