3 ways to plan effectively for your business -

3 ways to plan effectively for your business

Posted on 1 March, 2021 by Lyndsey Segal in Business Coaching

“There aren’t enough hours in the day!” are words uttered by business owners across the globe. However, it’s how we use our time that makes a difference and helps us to be more organised, effective and productive in the way we run our businesses.

Most people try to do too much in the time they have or they don’t organise and plan effectively, so they waste time. So, what is the secret to time management success? Planning.

As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

I am going to share 3 ways to help you plan more effectively for your business:

1. weekly planning

2. daily planning

3. prioritising

These will give you clarity of your next action-steps and help you be more organised, focused and productive in the way you work.

Weekly planning

Weekly planning creates an overview of your week and sets out what you’re going to do each day.

This helps you design your schedule around your top priorities and business goals.

Match your tasks to your energy levels throughout the day/week to help boost productivity. This will help you to block off your peak hours for your most important work.

Make sure to create time for personal goals and priorities, such as exercise, hobbies, relaxing and time with your loved ones, to create a healthy work-life integration.

Revisit your weekly plan each evening to think through and plan for the following day, which will help to make your daily to-do list.

Daily planning

Daily planning creates an outline of your day and sets out what you’re going to do and when.

This helps you design your day around your top priorities and commitments.

To help do this, break down your goals from your week into daily tasks.

Aim for 3-5 tasks a day depending on the time you have available. Allocate tasks to the morning, after lunch and late afternoon/evening.

Revisit your to do list at the end of each working day, to help you think through and plan for the following day.

Prioritising

Prioritising helps you to know what to work on and in which order.

When looking at your weekly and daily planning, identify which of your tasks are the most important for each day of the week.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or are pushed for time, choose the ‘one big thing’ that must get done. This will help you to stay focused and accomplish the most important thing first.

If you use a task manager like Todoist, mark these tasks as high priority and move it to the top of your list.

If you use pen and paper, star, highlight or underline the most important task on your to-do list in your diary or notebook.

They key is to designate a regular, dedicated time for planning. Friday afternoon or Sunday evenings are good times to plan for the week ahead, so you can start a new week ready and raring to go!

Make time every so often, perhaps during a weekly review to consider whether your planning process is working or if it could be tweaked or changed to be more effective.

It’s the things we do consistently each day — the habits we create, the tasks we complete, and the things we prioritise that help us to work effectively and productively.