Value Yourself and Value Your Time
There are only so many hours in a day.
As women entrepreneurs, we know this better than anyone else. We wear many hats and hold the responsibility of keeping our businesses afloat. While this is frequently rewarding, it also means that most days will end with you completely exhausted - mentally and physically.
This, however, shouldn't be your normal state of affairs; that is if you want to stay competitive in your industry.
The way you treat your time reflects how much value you place on yourself (and what you're capable of). After all, every human being has 24 hours each day to make use of - there's no difference between any person whatsoever with respect to their ability to live life fully. It's simply about what they do with these 24 hours.
Making the most out of every day is something that we should all strive to do.
So, how can anyone in any situation best do this? How can you make every second count as much as possible?
Let's dive into some ways that'll help you value your time more:
1. Prioritize Your Workload
One of the main reasons why it takes us longer to get things done regularly is because we take on tasks from other people - whether they're one of our employees, colleagues, friends or family.
The problem is that it's very easy to get overwhelmed with other people's problems. We become so invested in these problems that we lose sight of our own tasks - and thus find ourselves working overtime (making up for the things we didn't do).
2. Pause Every Now and Then
It can be tough to step back from work because you feel like you're letting your co-workers/employees down by not taking on their load as well. However, this isn't helping anyone; yourself included! Everyone works better when they know they have the space to work through whatever they need to without feeling rushed or stressed out about deadlines looming over their shoulders 24/7.
3. Learn to Say NO
Most of us want to be the kind of person who is always there for people - no matter what. However, this can work against you because it means that you're often doing things out of a sense of obligation rather than an actual desire to do something. The more we play such roles, the less value we place on ourselves and our own time; consequently affecting how others see us as well (and even your business). People will come to expect low quality work from you if they know you're willing to put yourself last all the time, so make sure that you say no every now and then!
4. Carefully Organize Your Schedule
Most of us have a 'dream' schedule that we'd ideally like to follow. However, this is rarely something that we can do because responsibilities don't always line up with our preferences. In such cases, it's important to carefully plan out your time because you never know when the things you've been working on will lead to opportunities down the line! Also make sure that you make time for yourself every single day because by taking care of yourself first, you'll be better equipped to take care of others as well.
5. Get into a Routine
When it comes down to it, there's no substitute for hard work and discipline if you want to get ahead in life. This is especially true when it comes to your time management skills because if you don't discipline yourself early on, then chances are that you'll never be able to do it. A routine isn't easy to set up at first, but the more committed you are to sticking with your schedule for a certain period of time, the easier it will become for you.
6. Automate Your Life
An excellent way to save time is by automating certain tasks in life - whether they're personal or professional. Automation can take many forms including apps that learn about your behavior and help streamline things accordingly (or algorithms), hiring an assistant, outsourcing tasks online etc. By using these tools effectively, you can save a great deal of time and still get the same (or better) results - which will allow you to focus your attention elsewhere instead.
Another advantage of automation is that it allows us to build good habits over the long run because we'll reside in certain patterns until it becomes second nature for us. This means that when we save time by automating, we don't have to think about doing these things again; thus freeing up our mind power for other tasks.
7. Identify Your Priorities
One of the biggest mistakes people make is not identifying their priorities properly because this leads to them taking on too much work and losing sight of what's actually in life. If you know that something is a priority, then you'll naturally want to do it as frequently as possible. For example, going for a quick 5km run every day might seem like a chore at first because of how short it is; but if you make this a priority and put in the work for it early on, then chances are that by tomorrow morning you won't even have a second thought about doing it again!
8. Accept That You Are Going To Make Mistakes
In any given day, we're bound to make mistakes that will affect our time management. In fact, some days could even be perfect from start to finish - yet leave us thinking about what we could've better. The important thing is not to judge yourself too harshly and instead accept that you're going to make mistakes along the way. This will allow you to learn from your past experiences and continue moving forward without dwelling on past events for too long.
9. Prioritize Your Health
Your health is without a doubt, one of the most important aspects of your life - so it's only natural that we value it above anything else when done properly. By prioritizing our health, we can ensure that we have enough energy to meet all our responsibilities in life - both personal and professional! Make sure that you eat well, get plenty of exercise and sleep every day because this will keep your stress levels down as well!
10. Don't Try To Do It All
You'll never be able to do it all if you aim for perfection with everything! If you try to do it all, you'll end up feeling stressed out and burnt out because there is just way too much on your plate. As a result, you might become resentful of certain aspects of your lifestyle that will lead to unhappiness. The best way to avoid this is by focusing on what's most important to you and letting go of the rest - at least temporarily.
What are some time management strategies that have worked well for you? Let us know in the comments below! Also, don't forget to share this article so others can learn from it as well!