Time management help for business owners

As a small business owner you likely know how hard it can be to stay on top of everything. It is always challenging to try and manage your employees but when you add managing your website, bookkeeping, marketing efforts, and HR on top of it you can find yourself worn a little thin. If it seems like everyone wants your attention and is always pulling you in a number of different ways, you need to take time to write up a method that will help you to stay organized. Here are some effective time management techniques that work quite well:

1. Always prioritize your tasks. The best way to get something done on time is to place a priority level on them. This way you won't waste time on the un-important things like sifting through your email for an hour or two when you could be updating your website and sending out newsletters. When you have a task list, you are focused and studies find that a list will allow you to accomplish up to 90% more of the items on that list.
2. Provide yourself with time. You always need to give yourself plenty of time to get things done. Be realistic about how long it will take you to accomplish tasks. Almost all of us will underestimate how much time it takes to finish a project. Add more time to your tasks so you will have a little spare time if you complete one task ahead of time. It's always nice to have 5 extra minutes than to be behind by an hour.
3. Take breaks. You need to re-charge your batteries once and awhile and you need to plan in time to take breaks. This will help you to relax and to stay focused on what needs to be done. It also makes it much easier for you to stay on schedule with everything because you are allowed to take a few breaks.
4. Quiet time. In order to accomplish large projects it may help to have a quiet office area where you can work. If you have a noisy area, shut the door to your office so you can work without distractions. Too many distractions will make it hard for you to focus and this can make it almost impossible to get work done.
5. Work when you are the most productive. If you want to be successful you need to take a look at the time of day when you are productive. Place your big tasks on the schedule during these times so you will get them done when you have the energy. Schedule your meetings in the morning when you have more energy and you are awake versus after lunch when you may be tired.
6. Avoid spreading yourself too thin. You need to stop multi-tasking. While you can answer emails on the phone, you may reply poorly and you aren't giving your complete attention to what needs to be done. You have to stop multi-tasking too much and really focus on the things that can allow you to be productive. When you take everything one step at a time, you will be able to become much more productive and you will become better at accomplishing the tasks that are vital to the company.
7. Say no and learn to delegate. Even if you love to deal with PPC and SEO, you may need to assign this out to another person so you can deal with other tasks. You need to say no to yourself and know that you have to trust your staff and rely on other people.