Time! It can be your worst enemy or your best friend depending on how well you manage it. The successful business owner sees it as a precious asset.

Time in perspective
We all get the same allotment of 24 hours each day. For the disorganized, who squander their time, it is an enemy. But for those who know how to marshal their time and use it to their advantage, it is a good friend. It enables them to lope along at a comfortable pace all week, take weekends off to enjoy family time and still accomplish more than the rest of the world.

Time offers a special challenge for the business owner.
That's because the job appears never to be done. For some, each day is a flat-out race toward a finish line that never gets within reach, as they run themselves into the ground. Some suffer from burnout; others have heart attacks. It is no way to live, and it certainly is no way to run a business. For you as a business owner, time management is not just a nice idea. It is the cornerstone upon which your company's long-term success and your own well-being depend. Effective time management, self-management really, helps you build your business better, stronger, faster and more profitably.

To improve both the quality and the quantity of the time available to you each working day:

1. Do a "time audit." Record how you utilize a typical workday, using 15-minute intervals. This will help you identify time wasters.
2. Establish priorities and measurable goals. If you don't know what you want to achieve, then it doesn't matter what you do to achieve it. Without priorities and goals, almost every action is a time waster.
3. Eliminate busy work. These are tasks you simply don't need to do things that do not lead either directly or indirectly to your company's growth and profitability. Look for ways to cut unnecessary steps out of work routines. Working rule: If it isn't important, don't do it. Every action during work time should be goal-directed — whether it's a phone call to a supplier, business meeting, or a golf game. If it's not, stop doing it.
4. Invest in daily planning. Ten minutes of mapping out projects and tasks on a daily "To Do" list can save hours of wasted time. Planning empowers you to move systematically through the important tasks of the day without wondering what to do next. Suggestion: Leave some time to handle the unexpected. Otherwise, you'll end up playing a frantic game of catch-up day after day.
5. Delegate! Delegate everything you can, not simply what you must. Not only will you have more time for things that only you can handle, but your business will profit as well.

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