“If we truly want to change Africa, we have to prepare the next generation to become entrepreneurs who are hungry for growth so that we can create sufficient wealth that can cure the poverty” – Dr James Mwangi
This was part of a speech by Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi on January 8th at the launch of the World Bank sponsored book entitled Developing Africa’s Financial Service – The Importance of High Impact Entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship in itself is a complex term that is simply defined as running your own business. An entrepreneur possesses an interior fuel and stamina that drives their actions, form a mindset, a way of thinking and acting which helps them surpass different challenges throughout the business landscape. It injects the strength to continue pursuing goal even when difficulties arise.
One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is learning how to effectively manage their time. With the ever-evolving market and business environment, maximizing output within timelines is one thing entrepreneurs must do. And the allure of being your own boss sometimes allows procrastination to creep in and distort the workflow. In this article, we look at how to identify better ways to manage time.
Controlling Your Time
Our smartphones are essentials parts of our lives and are incredibly powerful devices. Much so that most people fail to realize just how much time they eat up. Especially entrepreneurs, who will frequently be making calls and responding to messages. Add social media platforms to the equation and you have a colossal amount of time spent stuck in the scrolling time warp or extended periods of time. When you also add time spent consuming content on the same platforms via desktops and laptops, that amounts to a lot of time that’s ‘wasted’
There comes a need to optimize your daily schedule for maximum productivity and get your stuff done with optimal efficiency and within the reasonable time. One of the productivity tips that most people still ignore is listing your tasks. What this helps with is providing you with a sense of direction and focus. It helps create momentum when you keep on checking things off your list. It also allows you to properly plan or when you can take breaks during the day. The tip is to start with the most difficult task first. You only have so much energy to spend before your concentration levels start dwindling as the day moves along. If you complete the most taxing task early on during the day, you will feel much at ease completing the rest of the tasks that require less mental effort.
Creation vs Consumption
If you live in Nairobi, you probably spend a little bit more time to get to work than usual. These are usually the best time to catch up on social media because you are suspended in a more or less idle state. Once you get to work, the dynamics change. While social media platforms can be extremely productive places to be in, as an entrepreneur, your focus should be more on creating and pushing content out instead of just consuming. Continuous consumption of content on social media platforms makes you more reactionary instead of proactive which instinctively kills productivity. Don’t just be a consumer, when you think of social media, consume for a specific function which serves a purpose and when you are not consuming, it is recommended that you become a creator.
Constructing and pursuing your vision will take time and lots of it. It might even take longer if you don’t make proper use of the time you already have efficiently. You will have to wage your priorities and often the cost is limiting the amount of time you spend with family and friends. But you won’t have to be alone if you recruit like-minded individuals as part of your team. Nothing incredible was ever accomplished alone. Time management is a habit that has to be practised daily in order for it to be impactful. It’s not an easy habit to master but is an essential one to have as an entrepreneurial trait. You reap what you sow, master your time management now and reap your rewards in months or years to come.
Here are more tips on how to make the most out of every day: 9 ways to increase your productivity
