Time is the most valuable resource. When you’re juggling various responsibilities, you must use time well. When you run a small business, wasting time means wasting money.

In this video, I explore five practical tips successful entrepreneurs use to drive productivity through better time management.

To help small business owners and management make the most out of their time, here are five practical tips you can start applying today:

1. Prioritize tasks using the Eisenhower Matrix.

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix, also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix, is a powerful productivity tool that helps us decide which tasks to prioritise based on urgency and importance. The decision matrix will ask you to identify your tasks into four categories:

· Important and urgent: Do immediately.

· Important but not urgent: Schedule for later.

· Urgent but not important: Delegate to others.

· Neither urgent nor important: Eliminate or postpone.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, famously abides by this method to help manage his schedule. He focuses on tasks that align with his long-term goals, ensuring that he maximises his use of time, allowing him to be productive and to achieve his long-term goals.

Learn more from my previous video here.

2. Implement the Pomodoro Technique.

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method wihch involves breaking work into 25-minute intervals followed by a 5-minute break. After completing four intervals, take a longer break of 15-30 minutes.

Tony Robbins, renowned author and speaker, famously uses the Pomodoro Technique to maintain focus and productivity during his intense work sessions. By setting a timer and committing to short bursts of concentrated effort, he accomplishes more in less time while avoiding burnout.

3. Use time blocking to schedule tasks.

Time blocking involves allocating specific time slots for different tasks throughout the day, including time blocks for deep work, creative thinking, exercise, or even time to decompress.

You can minimise distractions and improve productivity by dedicating uninterrupted periods to focus on particular activities.

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and philanthropist, is known for his meticulous time-blocking strategy. Gates divides his days into carefully structured blocks, allocating time for meetings, work, and personal pursuits. This approach helps him stay organized and make progress on multiple fronts without stressing him out.

4. Limit multitasking and embrace single-tasking.

Contrary to conventional thinking, multitasking is bad for you, as I discussed in a previous video. It doesn’t make you productive. It makes you less productive and prone to making mistakes. That’s because multitasking divides your attention instead of allowing you to focus on a critical task at a time. Focus makes it easier to complete tasks; multitasking does not.

Oprah Winfrey, media mogul and philanthropist, attributes her success to her ability to focus on one task at a time. Single-tasking allows her to turn her full attention to one project without spreading herself too thinly.

5. Delegate and outsource non-essential tasks.

As a small business owner, you must recognise that you can’t do everything yourself. You cannot grow your business with just one person. Doing everything yourself will distract you from your goals. You must delegate tasks to free up your time, thinking, and energy for high-priority activities.

Sir Richard Brandon, founder of the Virgin Group, famously said, “If you want to grow as an entrepreneur, you’ve got to learn to delegate.” He delegates his tasks to his capable team to allow him to focus on strategic initiatives and new ventures. By entrusting others with operational responsibilities, Branson not only maintains a productive workflow but also drives innovation within his organisation by leveraging the skills and resources of his team.

If you want to learn more, please watch my previous video on delegation and outsourcing.

Incorporating these time management tips into your daily routine can help enhance productivity, reduce stress, make you feel more in control, and achieve your business goals more efficiently. Remember, effective time management is never about filling in your calendar with as many tasks as possible. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s learning to work smart—to do the right things at the right time. Prioritise. Schedule. Focus. You need to take control of your most important resource, your time, and maximise its use to propel your small business to success.