As an entrepreneur, there are a million and one things you have to do in a day. And with a million and one things to do, it’s easy to get bogged down and feel like you’re not making any progress. Your time is also limited, so you must use the little hours that you have for work that matters. That’s why efficiency is key when it comes to being successful in business.
I’ve worked as an efficiency consultant for the better part of a decade, and I have come to learn that the reason many are drowning in work is not the lack of time. The real problem is the many inefficiencies in the way we perform our tasks that ends up draining our productivity and slowing us down. I’ve seen many companies waste thousands of hours annually through inefficient email management and unproductive meetings alone. With a few behavioral changes and improving processes, companies can save millions of dollars and hours every year. I’ve seen this happen firsthand, and it’s truly amazing how much difference it can make.
But I’m not here to talk to you about operational efficiency on a macro level. My goal here is to show you that with a few behavioral shifts in your daily routine, you can instantly save time and create quick wins. Here are three simple productivity hacks that I have applied in my early years as an entrepreneur that have saved me (and continue to save me) a ton of time and brain power.
Apply automations
Automation—letting a computer do it— is the easiest and the most effective way to boost your efficiency and save valuable time. With a few clicks, a computer can remove small mundane tasks from your to-do list, and allow you to focus on revenue-generating activities.
The best part is, countless tools help you create simple automation without prior knowledge of programming. I’m personally a big fan of Zapier, which is an online automation tool that makes it easy to connect your various software applications together. With it, you can create “zaps” that automatically pass data between two apps whenever something happens in one of them. For example, you could create a zap that creates a new contact in your CRM software whenever someone subscribes to your newsletter.
Lean into asynchronous communication
No one likes wasting time in meetings. I see them as a necessary evil – a way to get my team on the same page and ensure everyone is aligned. But too often, meetings are long, drawn-out affairs that could have easily been an email.
I’ve found that asynchronous communication can be an effective way to reduce meeting time and improve productivity. By using tools like email, text, and video messages, you get the benefit to read (or listen or view) and respond to communication on your own time, thus empowering you to choose how to structure your day.
The easiest way to reduce the number of meetings is to use video messaging tools like Loom to record and share videos with your team. This way, you can have a face-to-face interaction that can be paused, rewound, re-watched later, and even watched at a faster speed.
Just say “no”
It’s easy to get caught up in saying “yes” to new opportunities. However, as an entrepreneur, you need to be protective of your time and learn to say “no” when necessary in order to prioritize the work that is going to move your business forward.
There’s a very helpful exercise that I’ve found incredibly effective in getting my priorities straight and managing my work effectively. Anytime a new task is added to my plate, I ask myself these three questions:
- Does this need to be done?(Is this task relevant or necessary? Does it align with my goals? Will it use up valuable time?)
- Does this need to be done by me? (Could this task be delegated or automated?)
- Does this need to be done by me now? (Is this a priority task that needs to be done now, or can it wait?
This tool can help you optimize your time by giving you the ability to make confident decisions about whether or not to take on new tasks.
With these simple little changes in your work routine, you’ll find that you have saved a substantial amount of time to focus on work that you enjoy and excel at. More importantly, you’ll prove to yourself that a little improvement in your work processes can amount to exponential gains for you and your company in the long run.
