Every one of us has been given twenty-four hours a day to spend. However, the way we spend it differs. How do you spend your own time? Have you ever consider your time in terms of monetary value? How much does your time worth? Have you ever consider the fact that when you squander away your time, you are invariable wasting money? Do you know that when you spend the bulk of your time watching TV, you are wasting away creative time that could have been otherwise spent to bring value to other people’s lives and enrich your own pocket as well?
Let’s take a look at these 5 simple steps you can follow to turn your time into money:
1. Separate what is important from what is not.
What do you set out to achieve in your business and life? What are your values? What are your missions and visions in life and business? You must be able to define all these clearly in black and white.
Now whatever you do every seconds of the day would either be in line with or out of tune with these values and goals that you have set for yourself.
Any thing you do at any time to bring you closer to achieving or attaining any of these are important and would invariably turn your time into money whilst you are enjoying doing it.
It therefore suffice to say here that the first step towards spending your time doing what is important and what is not is by setting up at the beginning those values and goals you want to achieve. It is a must if you must convert your time into money.
2. You Must Set Your Priorities.
It is not sufficient that you define your values and set your goals, you must also arrange and take actions to do them in accordance with the time frame you have set to achieve everyone of them.
You must set and take action to achieve and attain your short term goals before you embark on your long term goals, otherwise, you would be courting disaster and it would be a gross mismanagement of your valuable time without anything to show for it.
You must decide at the onset the results you want to achieve and then do everything within your power to invest the bulk of your time in attaining exactly that.
3. Don’t Work Hard But Work Smart!
If you spend 5 hours to do work that you could have spent 3 hours in accomplishing, then you are working hard and not smart. This is definitely not a good way to spend your time and you are wasting away!
You must work to achieve your goals with the minimum investment of your time and energy.
4. Take Note Of What Works And What Doesn’t.
One way to work smart and not hard is to take note of every steps and time it takes you to achieve a particular task so that next time you have to carry out such task or a similar one you will be able to cut out all the ‘trial and error’s time you went through doing such task initially.
You will save yourself lots of valuable time and energy if you take time to develop templates for your repetitive tasks. It would definitely enable you to achieve more in less time. Try it out and you will thank me for it.
5. Strive For Efficiency The First Time.
Whatever you do always aim for efficiency and effectiveness the first time you do it. You waste valuable time if you have to do the same task all over again.
Concentrate and focus on the task at hand so that you don’t have to spend another time doing it again.
Finally, you will be turning your time into money when you:
• decide on what is most important;
• Set goals and prioritize to do what is most important;
• Work smart and not hard;
• Concentrates on what works;
• Make efficiency your priority.