Where did my time go?
If you have been working on too many projects at the same time, you’ve probably asked yourself this question, time and time again.
Virtual assistants struggle with time management, all the time, especially when accepting new gigs, just to keep the income stream flowing in.
It can be tiring and achieving work life balance…elusive.
Are you wondering if there is hope? Yes, there is.
Here are 4 effective time management strategies for virtual assistants or for any remote team:
1. Plan your days.
Time is valuable. Every minute counts, it does. How often do we ask: Give me a minute?
Schedule your day, down to the minute. Plan ahead (at least for the next couple of days). You will be surprised about how much you can get done.
You own your time. Try to manage it well, so you can be productive and not wasteful.
By scheduling every task (urgent, important and everything else) you have to complete in a day, you will discover how much time you have for work and living your life.
2. Make time to do essential tasks that are not billable.
Essential tasks that aren’t income earning still need to be done.
Neglecting or delaying necessary tasks such as bookkeeping, invoicing, blogging or sending out proposal letters because it takes a lot of time to complete, may cause adverse effects.
You still need to do them eventually, to keep you afloat.
Allow some time in your daily schedule to do these necessary tasks, until it becomes a habit.
You will be glad you did it.
3. Know how long each task takes to complete.
Knowing how much time to complete a task helps you plan your day more efficiently.
You can be strategic on how to schedule your day.
By choosing to do tasks that do not take too much time first, you get to tick off a lot more tasks from your To Do list.
How’s that for a feel-good vibe at the start of the day?
You can also use a time-tracking app like Toggl that tracks how long a task takes to complete, which you can integrate with your project management online tool like Asana.
Soon, you will be able to estimate how much time you have left in a day, more precisely.
With the extra time you find in a day, you can do another task ahead of schedule, which can impress your client!
Or, you can run an errand, which you can tick off from your list for tomorrow!
4. Remove distractions (Enough said!).
There is nothing like self-discipline to control your time.
You can put your mobile phone on silent mode or close unnecessary tabs and messenger notifications for a couple of hours while you are completing a task, so you aren’t distracted
Let’s face it, getting notifications while at work from Facebook can be distracting. It is so tempting to click that prompt and see what that post is all about.
Try installing an app like RescueTime that tracks how long you spend on a website, gives you a productivity score and even blocks distracting websites.
If you are part of a remote team or a virtual assistant, try to remember this, time is your best ally in getting more gigs.
Time is what you want most, and time can easily be wasted.
Use your time, instead of spending it.
Need a new gig?
Find out through Great Work Online, where outsourcing is made simple.
A team you can trust. https://greatworkonline.com/
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