Ask The Experts: 7 Ways Founders Do More in Less Time
We all want to be productive. As small business owners and (healthy) hustlers, we have to be. And studies show that women have to work harder than men to get the same — or even less — recognition.
In fact, 60% of women say they always work hard, compared to 45% of men who say the same. Dang, ladies! We’re crushing it! And while I know you’re busy doing incredible things, have you ever wondered “am I being as productive as I should be?”
Maybe you are, and maybe you just haven’t learned some of the tools that you need to do more in less time. Whether it’s small tweaks like learning to prioritize, or bigger shifts, like implementing Jandra Lee’s “5-minute rule,” these experts (and fellow girlbosses) lay out the tools you need to be the most efficient.
Advice from successful founders who do more in less time:
My tip / piece of advice for small business owners who want to be more efficient
Katie Dean is the founder and designer of her eponymous jewelry line, Katie Dean Jewelry. She started her line as a side passion project in a closet under her stairs and has grown it to be her full time career. Her number one piece of advice is…
1. Have a to-do list! Whether you’re hand writing it on a physical piece of paper or keeping it digitally on your phone, having a to-do list keeps your mind and actions focused. Not only does it help you achieve each task but it will also help you prioritize your actions so you are doing the most important ones first.
These days with alerts on your phone and computer coming from email, social media and texts, it’s so easy to get distracted and loose your train of thought. I experience this daily, especially with Instagram. Even though it’s an important part of my marketing strategy it can also be very time consuming,… if you let it. Which leads me to my next tip.
2. Set up general time limits for each task. For example: if I need to start each day with an Instagram post, I put a note next to it that says, "15 minutes" or "30 minutes.” This helps me stay focused, get my post up, interact and engage with our followers without going down the rabbit hole of IG and realizing all I’ve done for the past hour was look at other peoples posts. It’s a slippery slope!
This goes for email, too. It’s just as easy to get controlled by your inbox rather than letting it be a useful tool for you. I set a time limit so that I can be speedy but still give the appropriate amount of attention to each email that I receive.
Everyone’s ability to zone in on their work tasks is different so whichever way you go about implementing a to-do list, there’s no wrong way. The most important thing is that you actually have one. At the end of each day I make sure to check off or erase each thing I’ve done and update it so I have a head start for the next day. This also allows me to shut the door on the day with a sense of achievement and head into family time with my husband without having work on my mind.
Caitlin Hart is a a Nashville award-winning aesthetician and lash artist and the founder of Prism Face Lab. As someone who recently expanded and moved her business during the middle of a pandemic, she has a few tips to share about maintaining productivity during times that feel a bit chaotic.
3. Have a plan. Know what needs to be done, and go a step further by writing it all down.
Side note from Tiffany: Have you heard of the Ivy Lee Method? Under this 100-year old strategy for productivity, at the end of each night you write down your five to six most important tasks to accomplish the following day in order of importance. The next day, you begin working on the tasks one at a time in order of importance. Whatever you don’t finish bumps to the next day’s list. The strategy works because it reduces "decision fatigue," saves you time, and forces you to prioritize your goals. Which leads right into Hart’s next word of advice:
4. Prioritize. What has to happen now, and what can wait? If in doubt, tackle the big, overwhelming things first. The rest will fall into place much easier.
5. Everything goes on the calendar. Once you’ve prioritized and planned get it scheduled! If you know you only have 45 minutes today, make sure you know exactly how they will be spent.
With over ten years of experience in marketing, Lee has built a career around helping individuals and organizations build and grow amazing brands online. She’s a celebrated author, a staunch advocate of women’s rights and female empowerment, and her work has appeared in countless publications including Fast Company, Business Insider, Refinery29, Marie Claire UK, and more. Here are her top tips for doing more in less time:
6. Ditch multitasking. Studies show that only 2% of the population can multitask effectively, which means — unfortunately — that's probably not you. That's not a bad thing! Multitasking tricks us into thinking we're doing more things faster, but it actually slows you down thanks to all that context switching. (Have you tried reading 3 books at one time? It's hard to absorb all of that info. Except now imagine you're getting a notification to switch to a different book every five minutes — yikes!)
Need more convincing? A recent study suggests that multitasking at work (even something as simple as leaving your inbox open) can increase negative feelings — like sadness and fear — which, you know, doesn't make work super fun or easy. Supercharge your focus and protect your mental health by sticking to one thing at a time!
Dean chimes in with similar advice. “Another simple but really effective thing you can do is flip your phone over so you aren’t constantly seeing your notifications pop up or put your phone in another room altogether!”
7. Practice the 5-minute rule. Next time you need to make a decision, don't let yourself hesitate. A good rule of thumb is that you should never spend more than 5 minutes on decisions (obviously exceptions apply) because science shows us that the more we hesitate, the more our brains start to freak out! Think of it like standing at the top of a high dive — the longer you wait, the harder it gets to take a leap of faith.
The goal is to learn to move quickly and trust your instincts. It's scary at first, but it will help speed up your workflow a lot more than you might think. If you're not quite sure how to trust your gut, here's a handy trick my husband taught me: flip a coin. If it lands on one option and you immediately feel that, "Ugh, no, not this," then do the other thing. No more wasting time on indecision. No take-backs.
Being decisive is super intimidating — we all want to make sure we're doing the right thing — but it's a critical trait that will help you do more with less time *and* dominate in your industry. If you didn't have killer instincts, you wouldn't have made it this far. Isn't it time to trust yourself?
Remember, you don't have to go from zero to snappy decisions in 3.5 seconds, but don't be afraid to push yourself ever-so-slightly outside of your comfort zone. Much like a muscle, it will get easier as you get stronger! You just need to practice.
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