 | If you’re in business you’ll know the importance of having a budget, forecasting sales and expenses leading to profit/loss, things I have discussed in the past and which is covered in my online course Business Bootcamp. A time budget may be something that has not been on your radar however and can be just as important for managing energy and keeping that all important harmony in your life. This way you’ll stay fresh, motivated and want to keep pursuing your passion – avoiding burnout. This isn’t a time budget for activities like business development, driving sales, developing new products this is the human side of |
the equation things like; relaxation, sleep, creativity and fun! It’s a great way to help you focus on what’s important to you and relates the values exercise at the beginning of Business Bootcamp.
Time v Money Conundrum
I’ve seen and have experienced myself this conundrum of how many hours should I be working. When you are in business for yourself there is no right answer until you start working on a budget that works for you and your bigger goals. Burnout if a very real thing in our industry and too many people think more is better, when often it’s simply unsustainable and greater balance is required. I have said on may occasions, we could all push our prices up 10% and most clients wouldn’t bat an eyelid! We do need to do this so that we lose a few clients which will help create the space we may need to find that balance.
When creating the time budget, you need to look at what works for you. What you charge and how much time is left over for the other things that are important to you. We will typically overestimate how much we can achieve in the short term and under estimate how much we can achieve in the long term. Gates Law explains this phenomenon.
The Europeans are contracted for 35 hours per week and must not exceed 48 – by law. There’s good reasoning behind these numbers from Europe.
How may do you work each week? Productivity drops off heavily after about 50 hours so where are you pitching your time budget?
Are you burning the candle at both ends just to do all the things you would like to?
Your list of things to do: ‘but don’t have time for’
Have you made a list of all the things you would like to do but ‘don’t have time for’. This is where you will save wasted time and really move your time from ‘inefficient’ to ‘best spent.’
Whenever you default to social media your next thought needs to be the list. Hit the activities on your list so you can start living the things you love and not missing out. This not missing out will bring a sense of satisfaction that you may be missing.
Perfect week or time budget record
Now you can work through the ‘Perfect Week’ exercise where you look at how you’d like to spend your time and drop in the activities you want to. You could also set up a spreadsheet this would help you create a pie chart of time split across a day and/or the week.
If you are self employed then applying this into your life is relatively easy if you are employed by others then not so much, but take from it what you can for a better outcome for you. Use this as a target that may well be of the moving variety as life so often is. Nevertheless, have that guide handy so you can stay on track, stay productive and enjoy all the things you love doing alongside the work which must also be done.
Inspired by Cliff Harvey
I’ve seen and have experienced myself this conundrum of how many hours should I be working. When you are in business for yourself there is no right answer until you start working on a budget that works for you and your bigger goals. Burnout if a very real thing in our industry and too many people think more is better, when often it’s simply unsustainable and greater balance is required. I have said on may occasions, we could all push our prices up 10% and most clients wouldn’t bat an eyelid! We do need to do this so that we lose a few clients which will help create the space we may need to find that balance.
When creating the time budget, you need to look at what works for you. What you charge and how much time is left over for the other things that are important to you. We will typically overestimate how much we can achieve in the short term and under estimate how much we can achieve in the long term. Gates Law explains this phenomenon.
The Europeans are contracted for 35 hours per week and must not exceed 48 – by law. There’s good reasoning behind these numbers from Europe.
How may do you work each week? Productivity drops off heavily after about 50 hours so where are you pitching your time budget?
Are you burning the candle at both ends just to do all the things you would like to?
Your list of things to do: ‘but don’t have time for’
Have you made a list of all the things you would like to do but ‘don’t have time for’. This is where you will save wasted time and really move your time from ‘inefficient’ to ‘best spent.’
Whenever you default to social media your next thought needs to be the list. Hit the activities on your list so you can start living the things you love and not missing out. This not missing out will bring a sense of satisfaction that you may be missing.
Perfect week or time budget record
Now you can work through the ‘Perfect Week’ exercise where you look at how you’d like to spend your time and drop in the activities you want to. You could also set up a spreadsheet this would help you create a pie chart of time split across a day and/or the week.
If you are self employed then applying this into your life is relatively easy if you are employed by others then not so much, but take from it what you can for a better outcome for you. Use this as a target that may well be of the moving variety as life so often is. Nevertheless, have that guide handy so you can stay on track, stay productive and enjoy all the things you love doing alongside the work which must also be done.
Inspired by Cliff Harvey
