Plan your coaching business success by using your time wisely and setting priorities. Coaches do not plan to fail but they do because they fail to plan. You can be two or three times more productive and reduce your stress by planning.
Solo business owners and time management
Time management is a challenge for solo business people who work from home because there are so many distractions surrounding us including family, chores, television, email and social websites. We do not have a boss lurking over us or watching what we do so it is easy to stay busy all day yet accomplish less than we would like. Planning your work and making lists can support you in accomplishing all your goals.
Match your task to your internal clock
I suggest you determine what time of day you are most alert and productive then schedule your most difficult or least favorite tasks for that time. I am a morning person so that is when I like to do my product development and writing. I need a lot of focus and I need to be alert and full of ideas so I write when I am fresh first thing in the morning.
You can do the routine and less challenging tasks during the time of day that you are less alert and energetic. The middle of the day from three o’clock to six is the time that I am less alert so I do my social networking during that time. I find that it is less demanding than other tasks and it can often make me laugh or help me re-energize.
Eliminate time thieves
We all have time thieves. They are the people or other distractions that steal our time and leave us with no time to do our real work. Your time thief may be someone around you when your are working or someone who calls you on the phone when you are working. Your time thief could be a distracting activity like email or the internet. The key to arresting your time thieves is to remove their ability to take from you.
If you have pop up email notification and find yourself constantly stopping to check an email then eliminate the pop up and set a certain time each hour to check your email. If you have constant interruptions from your cell phone then turn it off or give a special ring to special people and ignore the others until you are able to return call at a predetermined time. Take measures to eliminate the temptations and plan for specific activities like phone calls and emails.
Use lists for long and short term planning
Yes, I said a simple list! Use three lists to organize your planning and to structure your day. Use a “master list” to capture everything that you may wish to accomplish. This is where you brainstorm and allow ideas to flow freely without much judgment or elimination. You can use this list to gather all of your ideas to sort through and choose the ideas on which you will take action.
The “monthly list” will contain all the things that you would like to achieve within the month. These items will come from the master list and will be items that you want to do in the month for which you are planning. You can use your master list to create a list for each month of the year and add to each month as new goals come into focus.
Your “weekly list” should be compiled before the week begins and will contain items from your monthly list. This list will also include some items that you do repeatedly each week. The weekly list will help you stay focused and make it easy for you to adapt to changes throughout the week because you have a map to see what is ahead of you for the week.
You guessed it the last list is your “daily list”. This list will include the items that you plan to achieve that day. Making the daily list will allow you to stay focused, free you from distraction, and give you a sense of achievement when you accomplish each task.
The planning and the lists need to be flexible and changing allowing you to meet ever-changing goal, challenges, and environment. You will also experience a huge sense of relief and stress reduction after you have outlined your goals and created your lists. Be sure to plan for your coaching business success.
Suzan Schmitt is a Coach that has over 20 years experience in advertising, marketing and sales. She helps coaches market their coaching businesses and get more coaching clients. Suzan Schmitt: The Coach Marketer
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