If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
If you said the ability to control time, you’re like many Americans. A survey from the Marist Poll revealed that 28% of respondents would choose time travel. It tied for first place with the ability to read minds. The results point to a clear trend in American society – we’re getting busier and more stretched for time.
For at-home workers, the issue is even more pronounced. When you live where you work it’s hard to draw a line for where work ends and life begins. Usually, they end up blending together into one chaotic day. Time poverty, as some call it, is affecting more and more people, but there are ways to fight back.
You may not be able to control time, but you can make more of it available for important home business activities. Here’s how:
Learn to Leverage
In the office, good managers know how to leverage people, tools and resources to get as much done as possible within the workweek. At home we’re the managers, and that means learning to leverage is a valued skill.
Handing off several time-consuming peripheral responsibilities to trusted outsiders will help you free up the time you need to improve your business. If the resulting free time provides a chance to grow the business, it’s certainly worth the cost. Plus, you can use the business expense as a tax deduction.
A great example of using leverage effectively is outsourcing social media management. The experts at Social Vantage point out that social media is very nuanced and always changing. Unless your business or hobby is keeping up with social media trends, few entrepreneurs and small companies have the time to make social media a meaningful outlet.
Utilize Automation
Automatic systems that basically manage themselves are like having a personal assistant that does the menial tasks in the background for you. In the Internet of Things era, everything from our front porch light to bills to forms can be automated. The more things you put on autopilot the less you have to worry about.
If you only automate one thing for your business focus on your email account. Emails can steal away a lot of time throughout the day, but there are tricks and tools that make the communication more efficient. Auto-replies can be used to get back to clients and contacts right away without having to actually write an email. You can also create templates (Canned Responses in Gmail) that make it easier to send common types of correspondence like monthly invoices.
Get a Virtual Assistant
You’ve probably seen the commercials for the new Echo device from Amazon. It’s one of the most user-friendly high-tech products that are making artificial intelligence available to the general public. Echo has an on-board computer (Alexa) that is able to access the Internet sync with other smart devices, connect with apps and pair with your mobile devices. Call Alexa by name and the computer wakes up. Give the Echo a command and Alexa will carry it out. Basically, any question you would ask Google can be answered by Alexa.
Needless to say, the Echo is a real time-saver. And the convenience factor is through the roof. No more need to hunt down your phone if you want to play Pandora while you work or check the weather. Just beckon Alexa and she’ll respond 24/7.
Of course, you could also go a quasi-traditional route with another type of virtual assistant. Online service providers like Task Rabbit give home-based workers a way to connect with virtual assistants that work remotely from their own location.
Calendar Your Day in Detail
You probably have a to-do list on your smart phone. Most people do. The problem is that a to-do list isn’t designed to make you more efficient. It’s designed to keep you busy.
Too often people fall into the to-do list trap and end up wasting time on busy work that doesn’t move the needle. Calendaring your day in detail forces you to consider what has to be done in a day and how long it will actually take. It’s a much more realistic way to approach each work day and make the best use of your time.
Many professionals find that using time blocks for scheduling is an efficient method. With this method you block every task out into a chunk of time. By doing so you give yourself a timeline and limit scope creep that ends up being a time suck. Color coordination can also help you both identify time sucks and focus on the day’s top priorities.
