Most of us are tightening our belts and being careful about how and where we spend our money,
in the current economic climate. How many of us are as careful about how and where we spend our time?
Time Management might not seem like a particularly exciting subject but when you think about where you spend your
time and what it's actually costing you, it puts the importance of good time habits into perspective.
One of the most relevant quotes I found and use often, is:
The greatest saving of all is better utilisation of our time. This
directly affects practically every phase of the business in terms of expense
and profits. [Leo Burnett]
From a business perspective this makes a lot of sense - especially when you consider how much your and your
staff's time is worth.
If you can maximise the amount of time you spend productively then it's going to affect
your ability to earn more money and grow your business - especially if you are
paid or charge by the hour.
A few numbers that might help put this into perspective:
- 90% of managers spend their time ineffectively
- Office distractions add up to nearly 2 hours a day
- A distraction is likely to occur every 11 minutes
- 80% of interruptions and distractions are trivial
Now
using an average salary of around £25,000 a year, this works out at £15
an hour. So, wasting just an hour a day adds up to around £300 each
month. More if you or your staff are paid or charge more than the average hourly rate.
Wasting time on emails, phone calls, being stuck in traffic, paperwork and meetings could be costing you
around £1000 per year on top of this.
According to a recent Microsoft Survey, only 60% of an average week is productive - that's only three days a week. The other two are wasted on unproductive tasks, distractions and time wasters.
Add that into the mix and you can soon see the impact poor time habits could have on your profits, as well as your
social life, stress levels and health. A few more related statistics I came across:
- 63% of IFAs with poor time skills have health issues.
- 48% of people feel their lives are more stressed.
- Nearly 50% say work/life balance is now even more important.Planning your day, week and month effectively, enables you to focus on the right things. Reducing your distractions and interruptions and working more effectively gives you more time to spend with clients.
You'll avoid being busy but not feeling your achieving anything at the end of the day. You'll have more time to do what you want - whether that's time to work on your business, spending time with family and friends or just more time for yourself.
And for those of you back from your summer break:
- 60% of people check their work email over the weekend
- 50% of people check email on holiday
So if you'd like to be in the 40/50% that are able to leave their work in the office and enjoy a relaxing and stress free holiday or if you'd just like to learn more about how you can Prioritise For Profit - start developing good time habits and find ways to use your time more productively.
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