As a business owner, time is one of your most valuable resources. However, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and find yourself struggling to work on your business amidst the demands of daily life. 

Your business can stagnate if it doesn’t get the proper attention and focus it needs. Too much stress and work can also overload you and prevent you from performing at your best. It’s important to reduce and regulate your stress levels so that you can continue working optimally. 

By identifying the underlying causes as to why you’re so time-poor, you can start developing strategies to manage your time (and stress) effectively.

In this article, we’ll explore five common reasons why you might be struggling to find time to work on your business and provide practical tips on how to overcome them.

5 obstacles to managing your time effectively (and how to overcome them)

At each stage of development, business owners will face different sets of challenges. And at one point or another, you will likely encounter these obstacles in your business journey — if you haven’t already.

While these are common challenges that many business owners have faced, there are potential solutions that you can use to combat them.

1. Lack of time management skills

Time management is a fundamental skill that business owners must learn. Without proper planning and prioritisation, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and waste valuable time on tasks that are best suited for other staff members. 

This can include social media posting and responding to audiences on your official pages (which should be given to the social media marketing manager or marketing team), or even checking your junior staff’s work (which should be assigned to managers or team leads.

Time management is more than just using “life hacks” or quick tips, it’s about developing specific skills over time to work more efficiently.  Three particular skills can improve how you manage your time:

• Awareness – Knowing realistically how much time you have each day, and having the awareness that time is a limited resource. You can set clear goals for each day, week and month and analyse how feasible it is to accomplish them on time.
• Arrangement – Organising your plans, schedules and tasks to maximise your time. Create a to-do list and prioritise your tasks based on their importance and urgency.
• Adaptation – Tracking how you use your time as you accomplish your tasks and adjust to disruptions or changes in priorities. Using time management tools such as timers, calendars, and project management software can help you effectively monitor your progress on tasks as well as your time management. 

2. Constantly multitasking

Multitasking might seem like an efficient way to get things done, but it can be counterproductive. Constantly switching between tasks can decrease productivity and increase stress levels. 

According to Psychology Today, individuals that multitask are less productive than people who focus on one task at a time. Multitasking is ineffective as it pushes people to expend more effort and strains areas of the brain, which can make them think they’re getting more work done even if that’s not necessarily true. 

Multitasking just creates bottlenecks in the brain, disrupting communication between parts of the brain that allows you to process information efficiently. 

Multitasking can be a challenging habit to break if it’s already ingrained in your routine, but the key is to replace it with healthy habits that allow you to be productive. These are steps you can slowly incorporate into your daily routine:

• Focus on one task at a time. Mute your mobile devices to avoid distractions such as social media, text messages or email notifications.
• Use the Pomodoro Technique. This involves working in focused 25-minute intervals followed by a five-minute break. This is incredibly helpful if you encounter a block in your task, or if you start feeling bored or restless. A short break can help you refresh your mind.
• Schedule time blocks. Set a time for checking email and responding to messages, rather than constantly checking throughout the day. This will establish a routine not only for yourself but also for your team so that they know when to expect your responses to emails.

3. Neglecting work-life balance

“If I work more, I’ll finish more tasks,” might be the rationale you’re using to excuse overworking.

As a business owner, it’s easy to become consumed by work and neglect your personal life, but doing this can lead to burnout and decreased productivity in the long run. You need to reclaim your free time by setting clear boundaries between work and personal life, designating a workspace and establishing specific work hours for yourself. You should also take breaks and prioritise self-care activities such as exercise, meditation, or spending time with loved ones.

As your business continues growing, you can also consider outsourcing freelancers or remote employees for specialised tasks. This will ensure that you have highly skilled and experienced staff members working on developing different areas of your business while allowing you to focus on your tasks.

4. Failing to delegate tasks

Many business owners struggle with delegation, either due to a lack of trust in others or a desire to maintain control. Failing to delegate tasks can lead to a bottleneck in productivity and increased stress levels, not just for the business owner but even for their staff. 

Delegating tasks allows you to save time and build an efficient team. This allows you to be familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each staff member as you identify tasks in which they can excel. This, in turn, helps your employees to grow in their roles and enables you to identify potential successors you can groom. 

When you first delegate tasks to employees, provide clear instructions and expectations to make the work process easier for yourself and your team members. It’s important to establish trust in their ability to complete these tasks to boost their confidence and increase their efficiency.

As you scale your business, you also need to consider investing in training and upskilling programs for your employees so that you can support them in their professional growth and empower them to take on more responsibilities.

5. Poor prioritisation of tasks 

Business owners often have a long list of tasks that need to be completed, but not all tasks are equally important. Failing to prioritise tasks can lead to wasted time and decreased productivity. 

The Eisenhower Matrix can be a useful tool to help you categorise tasks based on importance and urgency:

• Important but not urgent tasks – These tasks are crucial to the success of your organisation but aren’t required to be accomplished in a short period. This must be completed by the company’s key stakeholders, and should be scheduled in the future or when there are no longer important and urgent tasks at hand.
• Important and urgent tasks – These tasks are necessary for the growth of your business, and can’t be outsourced to freelancers or contractors. These types of tasks need to be accomplished as soon as possible and can’t be scheduled at a future date.
• Not important and not urgent tasks – These tasks aren’t critical to the overall mission of your business, nor are they immediate or high-priority. In the short term, these tasks can be outsourced to freelancers or contractors, but eventually, your organisation must stop doing these tasks when possible.
• Not important but urgent tasks – These tasks don’t have a significant contribution to the overall success of your company, but they must be accomplished immediately. These tasks are best delegated to outsourced agents and can be the greatest drain on a company’s resources.

Once you’ve identified the most important and urgent tasks, you can learn to say no to non-essential tasks and delegate them to others. As your workload changes, it’s also important to re-evaluate priorities regularly and adjust your to-do list as necessary.

Managing time effectively as a business owner can be a challenging task, but it’s crucial for long-term success. By identifying the reasons why you’re struggling to find time to work on your business and implementing the tips provided in this article, you can increase productivity, achieve a better work-life balance, and ultimately achieve your business goals. 

Remember to prioritise self-care and take time to recharge, as a healthy and happy business owner is key to the success of your business.

We can help you effectively allocate one of your most valuable resources: Time. Contact us and we will support you in your business journey.