Table of Contents
Plan ahead
Ask any successful entrepreneur what’s their secret in being productive, and he’ll reply, “plan ahead.” But how do we plan for the next day or the next activity ahead of us? Even in the finest times, you still need to be productive for a more profitable result for your business. In bad times, performance has to be doubled to balance sales and productivity.
Celebrated Astro Strategist cum Business Astrologer Hirav Shah says, “Entrepreneurs are always racing against time and how to make the most of it. Every businessman wants to stay productive and cut down the amount of downtime he/she spends. They need to do this with their staff as well in order to truly optimize the quantity of time they spend on their business. We look up to successful business magnets in time management for some of our strategies. But we also refer back to many techniques that we use consistently, which have proven to be successful for us. Of course, like there is no right or wrong answer to this age-old question of time management; just a lot of good methods that might help you manage your time more wisely.”
According to Hirav Shah, here are 5 simple yet efficient business strategies to keep your productivity on overdrive:
Plan Ahead. Plan. Plan. Plan.
It’s better to plan ahead than be sorry. Planning is defining your direction, decision-making on resources allocation of people and capital. Strategic Planning usually revolves around three questions.
- What do we do?
- For whom do we do it?
- How do we excel? Or how do we beat the competition?
In strategic planning, you will be able to identify what is working and not working in your field of operation policies and regulations, standards, and projections; they are detailed in the following departments. Long term planning is a useful tool for projections in productivity, such as:
- Sales and Marketing
- Management Systems
- Operations
- Products
- Finances
- R & D
- Costs
- System Organization
Management of Your Time.
Prioritize your day by concentrating on the business you want to work on first by making a schedule and adhering to it. Avoiding procrastination and distractions in your work will save you a lot of time. There is such a thing as scheduled distractions; do them and ignore them for the rest of the day. You’ll get more peace and quiet. Planning your exit at the end of the day will help you resolve time issues and have ample time for minor planning for tomorrow.
Get enough sleep
“Sleep is mending the sleep of care,” William Shakespeare. You got that right. You will never function to your highest level when you are deprived of sleep. Defining working hours to get enough sleep is the way to stay at your peak and boost your productivity.
Pose challenges and set that goal
Ever heard of a company motto that says, “Better your Best.” This is one of the best mottos of all time in improving and keeping productivity on overdrive. I know because I used to work in one of the top companies in the country. Proper motivations and goal setting from the management down to the rank and file employees did the job. Production efficiency shot up; Total preventive maintenance is on a roll, Sales and Marketing forecasts reached, and overall productivity is heaven. Goals reached and rose up to the challenge.
Entrepreneurs set milestones to motivate themselves on a task; this ensures the necessity of progress attained by staying focused. Avoid the” I quit “mentality when you are up to it.
Stay on track.
It’s not always easy to do this; temptations to deviate from your path looms throughout the day, and swaying away could be costly. Deadlines are set, and keeping up with demands could be tough; with hard work and discipline, Self-Improvisation is the key. Keeping up with your plans and their implementation will be easier to follow and get things done. Goals reached, demands met, projections in place, and everything in pace. At the end of each day, you can stand up and say, “I did it.”
Hirav Shah wraps it up by saying, “All of these strategies may help you to get more organized, become extra conscious of your choices of time management, and plan your productive time. The best suggestion is to do what works perfectly for you. Plan the work and work the plan. Make an extra conscious effort as to how you will spend your day for the betterment of your business. Ensure most of your time is going towards making your business goals come true.
If you live one day at a time and apply these skills and tips, you may find that you, too, will develop your business with time management at the ladder that gets you to the top.“
