Entrepreneurs work long hours. It comes with the territory. But if you overwork, you'll be too tired to be productive.

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Technology can help but it's not a panacea. Mostly because the work of senior management is never done. 

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Growing your business, staying ahead of the competition and being innovative are all open-ended tasks. They can't be signed off at the end of the day (unlike the tasks you set for your staff).

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So what's the solution?

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Consciously decide what work you won't do.

And then execute the remaining (important) stuff in the most effective and efficient way.

 

The good news is that, for most companies, there's plenty of scope to be more productive:

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• By prioritising

• Eliminating waste (meetings and emails are usually the biggest productivity killers)

• Avoiding creeping obsolescence

 

The last one can be easy to miss — especially as your company grows. 

 

Processes that once served their purpose can become outworn or redundant if they're not updated. They become bad habits that take up precious time. For example:

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• Producing reports or content no one reads anymore

• Holding meetings about topics that are no longer priorities

• Providing intensive service to customers whose sales potential no longer warrants it

 

These are just some examples.

 

So, how do avoid it? We'd suggest a periodic review of meetings, reports and processes during which you ask the questions:

 

If we weren't doing this already, would we start doing it now?

Does this activity help us get to where we want to be?

 

There are other ways to save time too. Better personal organisation skills is one. We'll talk about that in another productivity edition.

 

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Image credit: Freepik