Discover The #1 Secret to Time Management for Creative Entrepreneurs

Discover The #1 Secret to Time Management for Creative Entrepreneurs Dr. Minette Riordan

Many creative entrepreneurs balk at the idea of time management, structure and systems. Most of us started our business to have more freedom and flexibility not to be told what to do or when we have to do it.

And yet what I hear, see and experience with my clients is that they are struggling with overwhelm, too much to do, and not enough time. They are often putting in many more hours than they ever did when they worked full time for someone else.

As co-host of the podcast Structure & Flow: The Productivity Podcast for Creative Entrepreneurs, I’ve been thinking, reading and researching about productivity and time management for months. I had a big earth shattering, light bulb moment when reading The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. They argue that “managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance and personal renewal.” The secret to time management has NOTHING to do with time itself.

The #1 secret to managing your time is to manage your energy first.

Imagine what your day might look like if you stopped focusing on time management and instead start focusing on energy management?

In the book they share stories of their work with professional tennis players and other athletes. Long periods of rest and renewal are built into an athlete’s life and work schedule. Professional athletes spend around 4 months a year recuperating from the intensity of their season. When the authors started working with entrepreneurs and corporate executives, they were stunned.

No one was taking time off or creating what the authors call renewal rituals – planned time spent renewing our energy, like exercise, time off, meditation, dance, journaling, reading. These rituals can take a few minutes a day or a few days or months a year.

But really, who has 4 months a year to rest? You might think you don’t even have 4 minutes a day for rest. You do, if you want them.

Isn’t that why you became an entrepreneur? To create your own schedule, take time off, travel, make more money and enjoy more freedom?

Part of my problem is that I adore my work. We are busy building and expanding right now as we launch two additional brands in our business this year. I don’t want to take 4 months off right now but that is a conscious choice we are making to put the time in. How can we do this? Because we are getting good at managing our energy.

How exactly do you manage your energy rather your time?

My guess is that you are doing too much in your business. With all of the opportunities to be marketing, sharing and creating it can be easy to lose sight of what matters most: YOU! You cannot serve others from an empty well.

The first step to managing your energy is to look at your health and self-care practices. Are they nourishing you?

Are you paying attention to when you are working, how much you are working and what the results are of the work you are doing? Are you just spinning your wheels? Are you so focused on looking busy that you aren’t being productive?

You get to decide how much rest you need and what rituals work for you. Managing time is a choice. What are you choosing for yourself?

The second step to managing your energy and not your time is to invest some of your precious time in planning.

Brian Tracy in his book Eat That Frog says 2 hours of planning will save you 10 hours of doing. Wouldn’t you love to have that time and energy back?

Planning has become a weekly habit for my husband and I. If we get off track and don’t spend time planning, we start spinning our wheels and getting overwhelmed. We have an annual business plan, a quarterly plan and we know what we are working on monthly, weekly and daily. We repeatedly review our workload to make sure we aren’t doing too much. We are learning to slow down in order to speed up. And we have created very specific renewal rituals and schedules that support our energy management. Do we get it perfect? Nope. But we’ve got it going and are committed to the journey.

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How to get started:

1. Grab your journal or some blank paper and fun markers. Start dreaming. What would your ideal work week look like? How could you build in some regular time for rest and relaxation? You have to create it before you can live it.

2. Conduct a time audit. Use an app like ATracker or Toggl and track your time every day for at least 7 days. Be honest about how you are spending your time. How close are you to living your ideal day and week?

3. If you don’t have a written road map for your business, it’s time to create one. Again, grab your journal and map out where you want to be and how you plan to get there from where you are right now.

Minette Riordan is an award winning serial entrepreneur and creator of the Visual Business Map™. She is passionate about supporting other creative business owners to be more productive, creative and profitable. Dr. Minette Riordan has been featured in numerous television and radio interviews on ABC, CBS, TimeWarner and Fox Radio as well as Inc.com. She is known as the go-to experts for creatives who want to build profitable businesses without burning out. She excels at being able to teach creatives to design systems and processes that work! Minette is also the author of The Artful Marketer: A Fundamental Business Guide for Creative Entrepreneurs and A Time Management System for Creative Entrepreneurs. When she’s not launching new businesses, you can find her in her art studio covered in paint, glue and glitter. She is a seeker, wanderer and adventurer who loves dragons and coffee. Want more great tips and strategies on time management and productivity? Listen to Structure & Flow: The Productivity Podcast for Creative Entrepreneurs on iTunes or connect with Minette at www.pathtoprofitacademy.com.