Time Management: 5 Important Ways Your Wasting Time

 

If you're working more than 20 hours per week to build a six-figure online business, you're doing it wrong.

 

According to Inc.com, entrepreneurs waste an insane amount of time per week (21.8 hours to be exact) on tasks that contribute little to no value to their company.

 

So much time is lost on a daily basis in meaningless tasks because we choose to avoid important things because they seem like difficult tasks.

 

Today, I've put together a list of what I believe to be the top five specific tasks that you are probably wasting a ton of time on.

 

By fixing these, you'll experience:

 

• Increased focus and energy levels
• Better physical and mental health
• More freedom in your personal life
• Greater control of your time
• And a ton less stress

 

I'm definitely guilty of indulging in each one of these, but I keep myself in check. I've gotten way better at noticing these things over the years, 

 

Simply being aware of these time wasters has allowed me to crush my daily activities, produce more quality work, and ultimately have a lot more professional success. 

 

Without further ado, let's dive in!

 

Time Waster #1: Email

 

The first way that entrepreneurs are wasting a ton of time is with email.

 

I'm not talking about email marketing. I'm talking about email. The endless checking, scrolling and cleaning up of your email.

 

People's email management is terrible. I was a productivity coach before I started teaching online business, so I totally get it. Email was a huge piece - "inbox zero." All that stuff.

 

My viewpoints have changed. I do not care about inbox zero. 

 

Sure, I could go the entire day focusing on my email, but each of the emails are like small tasks that create a whole part-time job within my business (no thanks.)

 

I do like having a clean inbox because I can be sure to respond to things that are truly important when I need to. 

 

The first step to successful time management with your email is to slowly unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters so you have less noise in your inbox.

 

But where entrepreneurs go wrong is we oftentimes spend a lot of time on low value emails. These are things like responding to every email that you get, whether they're from people who love you or who don't so much.

 

Making this a daily task isn't helping you grow your business. You only have so much available time in a day that you need to be putting into important activities that actually make you money.

 

Like if haters are commenting on your post saying, "You suck!" 

 

Okay, ouch, but I don't need to respond to that.

 

 

Even when people love you and they're praising you for what you do, it doesn't always require a response. And that's okay. The good news is they're not going to be mad at you and resent you for not responding to them.

 

Obviously, if you do respond to the people who are praising you and saying how much you've helped them, that's only going to help deepen the relationship between you and them. But you don't have to respond, and that's what I want you to understand.

 

The first key to better time management with your email is just ask yourself, "Is it REALLY necessary to check my email?" 

 

If you know there is an important client or collaborator that's going to help you reach your short-term goals or long-term goals, check your email.

 

The real problem here lies in the constant checking of your email. It's just adding extra work hours and we shouldn't be acting like it's at the top of our to-do list.

 

And I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything, there are some times where I'm looking at my email and I'm like, "Why am I even here? I just checked it." 

 

It's like a little stimulation piece where we just want to check something. So, I just have to check myself and get back to it. I recommend that you do the same thing.

 

A great way to get over this and to move past this is to put a time in your calendar, or just a mental note that you're going to check your email one time per day.

 

What I would recommend is to put this towards the end of your day. Checking email first thing in the morning isn't a good idea because you're probably going to be flooded with different requests and responses that will pull you away from your most important tasks that day.

 

Obviously, you should check your email because it's an important part of your life, but it shouldn't be at the top of your to-do list.

 

I challenge you this week to check your email only one time per day. Preferably, at the end of each day.

 

Time Waster #2: Social Media

 

The second great way that entrepreneurs waste time is with social media.

 

Now, I know this one's going to be a little controversial for some people if their entire business is on social media. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing.

 

I definitely make money from social media too, or I have in the past, but it's not one of the most effective ways that I make money in my online business.

 

I do have someone who takes my YouTube videos and chops it up into clips with a tool like Opus Slips and puts that onto Instagram or TikTok.

 

Posting every day on social media is one of the smaller tasks that doesn't really equate to a lot of money in my pocket. And that's what I want you to think about.

 

Constantly looking at social media, responding to all the different comments and looking at how many likes you get on each post - is that really leading to money in your pocket?

 

If it is then awesome, keep doing it. But nine times out of ten, that's not the case.

 

In fact, this past year I stopped posting on social media and my income doubled because I chose to focus on podcasting and my YouTube channel.

 

So much of the time in your daily life can be wasted on these smaller tasks because you keep looking to see who liked and commented on your post.

 

All of that is time wasted where you could be doing something productive:

 

• Building products
• Having coaching calls
• Enrolling people into your programs
• Having productive conversations with people

 

I'm not saying that social media is the devil and that you can't post on social media.

 

I still spend time on social media, but I have a time limit of about 30 minutes to an hour each week because I found more important work that grows my business faster - like having guests on my podcast.

 

My podcast is a huge part of my business because I build real relationships instead of just DMing people. I do have a blog where I talk more about that strategy. Check that out here.

 

So, when you catch yourself going on to social media, think to yourself, "Is what I'm thinking about doing right now going to put money in my pocket?". 

 

If it's not, that's poor time management, so stop doing it.

 

Time Waster #3: Consuming More Than You Create

 

The third great way that entrepreneurs waste a ton of time is by consuming more than you create.

 

If you have an online business where you're sharing your knowledge, you are a creative person. 

 

Your daily tasks should consist of important work like:

 

• Creating content
• Creating new products
• Creating a client on a phone call
• Creating opportunities that grow your business

 

If you're creating smart goals, goal setting, or want one of the most effective ways to put money in your pocket, it's in creating content.

 

Every time I make a YouTube video or a podcast episode it helps me make more money in my business.

 

But the problem here is that most people put more time into consuming more than they create.

 

It's okay to consume. In fact, it's very important. 

 

I, like most successful people, invest a lot of my personal time into study.

 

• I read books
• I read articles
• I watch videos
• I invest in knowledge
• I pay for online courses
• I sit on coaching calls with my coach

 

If you need to learn something because you don't know the best way to do something or you need to gain the right set of skills, that's totally fine. THAT is a time where your most important task should be in consuming.

 

But once you understand the specific activities you need to implement, it's time to get to work.

 

Get a solid plan for your most important tasks. Set some important deadlines. Time block them into your daily schedule, or whatever helps you just get it done.

 

Often times achieving success is not complicated. It's usually a series of simple tasks executed consistently over a long period of time.

 

The problem is that a lot of people get lost in easy tasks that make them FEEL productive.

 

These types of tasks include:

 

• Reading books
• Taking an online course
• Hiring a coach

And it's not that those types of tasks are bad, the problem is when don't take the action that's going to produce the result that you want. 

 

They don't take the action on the challenging tasks that's going to help them put more money in their pocket. 

 

It's much easier to just read a book than muster up the courage to hit record or make that phone call you know is going to move your business forward.

 

I believe small business owners should spend about an hour every day studying something, reading something, listening to a podcast episode, learning. 

 

I also believe that we should be spending less time on those things and more time on the most urgent tasks that actually move our business forward.

 

So if you're consuming an hour of content every day in your free time, maybe create two hours worth of content every day.

 

This doesn't just have to be creating content! Other types of tasks include:

 

• Creating a membership site
• Creating an online course
• Creating a coaching program
• Creating your first website
• Creating a sales page or a lead magnet
• Creating a client on a coaching call

 

Again, it's okay to consume in order to come up with a solid plan. Just be aware if and when you're wasting time. An hour a day is more than enough time.

 

Time Waster #4: Repetitive Task

 

The fourth great way that entrepreneurs waste time, and create unnecessary stress levels, is through repetitive tasks.

 

There's a great saying that goes if you don't have an admin, you are one.

 

A great way to get past this is to leverage the Pareto Principle (AKA The 80/20 Rule) which is an amazing time management strategy.

 

The first thing is to make a huge list of various tasks you do in your business, down to the most minute task. Write it out on a Google doc or with a pen and paper and get everything out in front of you.

 

Once you've made your list, look at all the tasks and strike through the different tasks that you can eliminate. Put a big cross through them. 

 

Some great questions to ask yourself are:

 

• "Is this task actually putting money in my pocket?" 
• "If I stop doing this task, what will happen?" (If nothing, stop doing it.)

 

After you've eliminated the small tasks that aren't getting you what you want, we want to think about automating the next set of tasks.

 

These tasks are important things that if you stop doing them would actually be a detriment. But that doesn't mean that YOU have to constantly be doing these tasks.

 

It's crazy how many things we can do nowadays to automate.

 

If you're going back and forth with emails all the time to try and schedule appointments, a great way that you can automate most of that process is by creating an account in Calendly or Acuity. That way, you can set up your own calendar link based on your schedule, and when you are typically available.

 

You can send this link over to people, they can pick a time that works for them based on your schedule, and then it automatically creates your Zoom meeting (or phone call, Google Meet, however you want to meet).

 

All of these different tasks that go into the back and forth are taken care of for you, and all you had to do was just send a calendar link.

 

After you've eliminated and then automated as many of the small tasks as you can, or at least gotten a solid plan for it, then we want to think about delegating.

 

There are specific tasks that you're doing in your business that are important, but you can't really automate them. And if you eliminated them, that would be a big problem.

 

For example, with me creating blog posts - I make a YouTube video every week, and then I put it into a transcription service and then put the transcription into a blog post.

 

The problem is that when I transcribe a video, the text is all jumbled up and messy. It requires someone to go in manually and format it into something worthwhile.

 

So, I have somebody else now who does this for me. Someone who runs through the post and formats the whole thing for me so I can have a better work-life balance. 

 

It takes a lot of time and it's tedious, but it makes a way better blog post than me putting it into ChatGPT, for example.

 

It's worth hiring a VA or someone to come in and help you with these simple tasks so you can have more personal time to spend on the important things.

 

You want to delegate what's important but doesn't require your voice or your face. The things that do require your voice or your face are the daily activities that you should be doing in your business.

 

From now on, your most important tasks include:

 

• Creating free content or your course content
• Showing up to podcast interviews
• Speaking on stages
• Coaching your clients
• Enrolling your clients (Well, technically you can outsource that last one too)
• Working with your clients

 

Time Waster #5: Comparing Yourself to Others

 

The fifth great way that entrepreneurs waste time is by comparing ourselves to others.

 

Now, I don't think that comparing yourself is really the problem here ... I believe it's envy.

 

It's when you look at someone that you may compare yourself to, but it's not the comparison alone - it's the envy of thinking, "That should be me. I should be the one who is succeeding!"

 

If someone grows faster than you, it's really easy to think, "Why isn't that me?" And that's where comparison turns into something negative that weighs on your mental health and hinders your productivity levels.

 

When I look at someone who has a type of business that I would love to have, or they're in the kind of shape that I would love to be in, I'm going to compare myself to them. 

 

I'm going to say, "I'm different than they are, and that's actually motivating and inspiring for me, because now I can see what I need to do to get to that level."

 

From there, I create a solid plan to move forward and accomplish those specific tasks.

 

If you can look at where you want to be, get a good idea of what it takes to get there, and then put your head down and do the work - you're going to be successful.

 

It may take you a bit longer than somebody else to accomplish similar tasks, and that's okay. They're on a different journey.

 

All that matters is that you are where you're at and you know where you want to be. And that's going to take some work.

 

The question is: are you doing the work that it takes to get you from where you are to where you want to be?

 

And as a bonus, another massive way that entrepreneurs waste a ton of time is by tweaking and playing around with their website, rather than getting out there and actually doing the work.

 

Now, having a great website is incredibly important, and most likely it's a lot simpler than you think it is.

 

In this blog post I show you how to build a profitable website for your business.

 

Conclusion:

 

So there you have it! 5 of the great ways entrepreneurs and small business owners waste a ridiculous amount of time.

 

I hope you got some insight in this post about the importance of time management and some solid time management strategies that will propel you forward.

 

To recap, pay attention to when you're burning time in your day on email and social media. Ask yourself, "Is what I'm doing right now ACTUALLY putting money in my pocket?"​

​

​Notice when you're consuming more than you create. If you know what you need to do, put the book down and get to work.

 

Be aware of when you're doing repetitive tasks that don't truly require your face or your voice. Someone else can do those things.

 

And remember that it's ok to compare yourself to others as long as you're not feeling envy that you should be the one experiencing those results. There's more than enough to go around.

 

Take what you learned here, get out there, make something happen and we'll see you in the next one.