- Keep a business calendar. You should have a calendar dedicated solely to business where you record all appointments, meetings, and any other business related tasks. It may be in addition to a personal calendar.
- Set time constraints for yourself. If you really watch the clock, you might be surprised with how much time is actually wasted throughout the day. To be more efficient you need to know where your time is being spent.
- File diligently, but be extremely selective. Clutter leaves no room for efficiency. Save only the documents you know you will need to consult later and ones that you are required to keep by law. You'd be surprised at how much paperwork you don't actually need. *Green Tip* Recycle, don't throw out, old papers!
- Keep phone conversations and conversations held via chat or text short and to the point. You can easily waste away time by talking on the phone longer than necessary, beating around the point, or with frivolous messaging. If it is a short conversation, communicating via text or email may be more efficient, but if you need to have a somewhat involved discussion pick up the phone and keep it concise.
- Take advantage of Google. Use the Google Calendar or Google Docs to cut down on physical waste and increase a documents potential. With Google Calendar you can set up a reminder for any event to be sent to you via email or SMS message. Google Docs allows you to collaborate on documents simultaneously with others while keeping track of revisions.
There are always going to be days where we are more efficient than others. The important thing is that you set a standard of efficiency that your business can be run by and always strive to be as productive as possible during your working time.
