As business owners our most valuable asset after our own health is TIME. Time is finite and we can’t just magic more hours out of the day because no matter what we do they are still 24 of them! We can however structure our day to make sure we will working productively whether we are working from home, a co-working space or a shed out in the garden. As someone who is naturally organised and loves organising others I have never lacked the discipline to plan my day but I realise this isn’t the case for everyone. I’ve always worked from a home office with a door I can close and in a reasonably quiet house (apart from my small furry security men-2 wired haired dachshunds who occasionally go into full security mode!!) but I know we all not in the same boat.

• You may be a business owner reading this who has a dedicated bright open office space in a quiet house where only you work

  Or

• You may be a business owner juggling a partner/and kids/and a menagerie of animals all working from home at different times and trying to run your business form your cluttered kitchen table

Top 5 tips to get the most from your day!

1. Priortise, Priortise, Priortise
Being self-employed our time is so valuable, so my first piece of advice is work out your priorities:

• What is your end goal and what do you need to get there?

• How many hours a week of client work do you need to be doing to pay the bills and have a viable business?

• What are the other growth tasks that you need to do to grow your business? (research/networking/marketing)

• What tasks do you need to do regularly to maintain your business (admin/good bookkeeping/updating website and social media profiles)

• Are you deliberating blocking ‘red-time’ in your diary every week to give yourself the time to create/dream/think about future collaborations?

If you realise reading this that you are spending 85% of your week networking (face to face or virtual) or scrolling through Facebook, you may need to reassess your priorities!

Once you have your priorities straight going about your daily week will be so much easier!

2. Form Habits
Research shows that it takes on average 21 days to form a new habit. Less than a month when you think about it! Throughout my self- employed journey, I have tried to maintain the same discipline as I did when I was a paid employee working from a corporate office. Get up, get showered get dressed (no lounging in PJ’s unless it’s the weekend), and then turn on the computer. I am a creature of habit so normally I am at my desk by 8 am raring (mostly) to go. I’m an early bird so have much more mental energy in the morning but if you are a night owl don’t force yourself out of bed at dawn if you are going to be slumped over your desk like a proverbial Sloth the whole day and wasting it.

3. Work to your best rhythm

Being productive has a lot to do also with knowing yourself! Knowing what the best time of day/week/month is to do certain tasks. Knowing when to schedule some time off if you have been delivering a big workshop or working on a price of work that requires a lot of concentration. Saying no and taking time out is not a sign of weakness. In fact it’s the reverse its the sign of a business owner who is switched on and who realises that our biggest asset is our mental and physical health and protecting that!

4. Different spaces for different activities

I worked as a project administrator on the construction of a 100,000m2 building in Luxembourg for 5 years and there was a lot of research done about the value of different spaces to do different types of work (thinking/creating/deep analysing/meeting with other) and I’m a firm believe that even changing the room you are working in at home can have a significant impact on your productivity. So next time your brain process is feeling a bit stale, make yourself a cuppa and head over to the sofa or out to the garden. Since starting my business in 2015 I have worked 75% of my time from home in a dedicated office and the other percentage from co-working spaces. You can find a list of places in Northern Ireland here.My partner is an avid gardener so this is my new favourite thinking spot!

5. Time Out
Its not a surprise that ‘Zoomed out’and ‘Zoom fatigue’ became part of our vocabulary in 2020/2021. According to research by Stanford University Four causes for ‘Zoom fatigue’ and their solutions | Stanford News being on video conference calls all the time is exhausting . So now we can get outside again mix and match and plan a walk around with the park with your client /business partners, so you are both getting a) lots of fresh air b) exercise c) movement which also stimulates brain activity. I often find that you have a conversation at much deeper level if you are doing an activity side to side with someone. Hence the success of community gardens and Men’s sheds!

In March 2020, I did a Facebook live about how to adapt to working from home in the period of lock down. Little did I imagine that working from home and hybrid working would become the norm for a lot of paid employees. You can listen in this link.

If you have any further tips you want to share, please do below!

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