“I suppose it’s like the ticking crocodile, isn’t it? Time is chasing after all of us.”

–J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Yes, time is chasing you every hour of every day and if you are an entrepreneur (or solopreneur), this prompting predator is always nipping at your heels.

This month’s newsletter (sign up here) covered a few links for managing time, but what if you want to become more efficient with the time you have, not just find out what you’ve been doing?

Below I’ve added a few more links that may help in your daily race with the ticking crocodile.

Planning

Pick the time of day when you can get the most work done. 

Morning Lark

If you are a Morning Lark (aka the Early Bird), you bound out of bed and start your day before the sun comes up or before the household is awake. Early birds are known to be calmer, more organized and productive. Most take the early morning to plan their days.

Morning Lark Productivity Tip:

Do the most important things first. Your productivity may wane later in the afternoon.

Night Owl

The Night Owl is famous for being more creative and their energy actually increases throughout the day. Night Owls have adaptable sleep patterns, they can do an 8am-5pm schedule or an 11pm – 7am schedule with equal contentment.

Night Owl Productivity Tip:

Make all the decisions for the following day at night – work outfits, breakfast, lunch, etc. – fewer decisions to be made in the morning, the better. In a diurnal world, coffee is a nocturnal person’s best friend.

Determine what keeps you energized.

Morning or night, time is time and we’re only allotted 24 hours. To a make the most of that time, we need energy.

Exercise is a great energy boost. Whether your choices are first thing in the morning, running at lunch, walking breaks during the day or swimming later in the evening, getting your heart rate up increases brain power thereby making you more productive.

Some swear by meditation. This practice has been shown to reduce stress, improve focus and concentration and enhance creativity. Strangely, it seems that taking a time out allows you to get more done.

It has been proven time and again that eating healthfully will give you more energy. Yes, sugar is wonderful but the energy boost doesn’t last and the crash makes your more tired than when you started your task. The best boost comes from complex carbohydrates, fats and protein. Even if you’re a Night Owl and you’re living on caffeine, get out your glass water bottle and fill it with water instead of having another cup of joe. Trust me, whether your water is iced, with lemon, or cucumbers or just straight up, being hydrated gives you the most energy.

A lot has been said about the differences between introverts and extroverts lately. The world seems to be in tune with extroverts, or those who draw energy from social interactions. This can leave introverts, those who derive their energy from quiet surroundings and deep concentration pushed out of their comfort zones.  This may seem like a weird productivity consideration, but finding out how you work best is important. Are you most productive in a lively team environment and lots of face-to-face meetings or do you prefer a dimly lit office and conference calls? Determining how you work best can help you produce your best. Any question about which you prefer? Take an assessment and see what type you are.

Systems

With smart mobile devices all of our lists are in the palm of our hands and can be accessed anywhere, anytime. For the list makers, this is ingenious. I’ve pulled a few links from two of my favorite podcasters – Tim Ferriss (The 4-Hour Workweek) and Nick Loper (The Side Hustle Nation).

The following should help with being more productive using apps.

Calendly – Schedule meetings with clients, team members and even friends without the back and forth texting and discussion.

If This Then That – Combine all the things you need to get done into one app. Get the weather report each morning, connect with your Fitbit and get notified if you haven’t taken all your steps by 2pm or tag photos to be sent to Dropbox or posted to Instagram at a certain time.

Sanebox – Do you have tons of subscriptions, signed up for lots of interesting newsletter, or wanted the latest deals at your favorite retailer…but you also want your important emails to not be buried in all that? Sign up for this tool and it will filter out those emails only leaving the most important ones in your InBox. They have a “snack” version for $4.92 a month to filter one account, but you can also try them free for 14 days.

Procrastination

The easiest way to pull yourself out of this is to first admit you’re doing it. Then admit that Facebook knows you’re doing it, too. It can lie to you sometimes and make you feel like you’re accomplishing something. You are not. Admit it then try apps like Finish or Procraster to help conquer the urge procrastinate.

Also check out this infographic from Entrepreneur about ways to overcome procrastination.

And a final tool on your skills belt to help with procrastination is Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art which calls this issue with not being creative and just goofing off, “resistance.” He states, “Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet” and continues with “To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be.”

I suggest you get the book on Audible, and LISTEN to it so you can keep working!!

Hopefully with these suggestions you can outrun the ticking crocodile and make more of your time so that he becomes more a whimsical pet than a toothy time predator.

If you need more time in your day because the workload is too much, hiring a writing consultant can help

I’ve been known to slay a few time crocodiles!

For time slaying, email me to setup a call!