Time Management for Entrepreneurs

Time management is the bane of my existence. For all of my ambition, it always seems to come down to my bi-polar propensity to either obsess about or neglect various facets of my personal and professional life. Let’s talk about it. Fair warning, this post may end up being lengthy.

Bre has a wonderful analogy for how I operate. She says that it’s like opening up a file cabinet and picking out a folder. Once I’m in that folder I obsess about it until I lose steam or get bored with it. Then, it’s on to the next folder.

I feel like that’s a rather accurate assessment of my personality, to a degree. When I’m in a folder, I’m obsessing about the contents of that folder and also envisioning what’s inside the next folder.

For example, you may have noticed that I’m currently writing again. As I’m writing this article I’m already envisioning the next video project that I’m going to undertake. Along with that I’m also designing our future timber frame barn. I do not have the ability to manage my time very well, and it’s hurting me and more importantly, those around me.

I sleep very poorly. Part of that is due to my work schedule. Part of it is due to previous back and knee injuries which prevent me from getting comfortable. But the main reason I don’t sleep well is because my mind never shuts off. I’m constantly obsessing the details of every aspect I’m involved in. If you experience this as well, then you know what I mean.

Part of the problem is that I’ve gone so long without the ability to actually work on my projects, so I’m left to dreaming about them. This constant cycle of thinking, and thinking, and thinking but never being able to take action really plays a toll on me. It leads to frustration and quite honestly, depression.

I am truly at my happiest when I am accomplishing goals and completing tasks. It leads to more enriched relationships and every other aspect of my life. It’s just that I am used to thinking about the tasks and not actually having the ability to complete them. This usually leads to me abandoning the “folder” I’m in and moving on to the next – constantly seeking something to complete to achieve a level of accomplishment.

Let’s Look at Some of my Previous Folders

  • woodworking
  • blacksmithing
  • timber framing
  • sawmilling
  • Arduino
  • gardening
  • herbal remedies
  • solar projects
  • vermicompost
  • blogging
  • OTC stocks
  • affiliate marketing
  • ebaying
  • flipping
  • renovating small engines
  • Youtubing
  • general entrepreneurship

It is exhausting. This, in addition to working 56 hours a week at my full time job and attempting to be present in our personal lives has been a challenge for me. A challenge that, frankly I am losing. I am forgetful, absent-minded, frustrated, prone to anger, short-tempered, neglectful, and oftentimes depressed. I generally take my family for granted, and that hurts.

I know that some day I will look back and regret the time that I did not prioritize what I currently have. My goal for all of this work has always been to provide the best for my family, but because of my poor time management I often end up neglecting my family instead.

I obsess about the folder I’m in and I’m not present in our daily lives. I forget conversations, and to be quite honest I don’t take the time to make Bre feel as special as she should. To make it even worse, I end up getting frustrated and depressed because I never get an opportunity to complete the folder and have resolution, so I just move on to the next folder and it starts all over again.

Because of the constant frustration and depression, it’s led to an unfortunate desire to procrastinate. That’s what I mean about the bi-polar effect. I’m either focusing 300% of my energy on a folder, or giving in entirely and just watching Youtube for two weeks.

This is All Going to Change in 2019

My dad always told me “just work harder” to solve any problem that I’m facing. He’s right, but only in the right context. While I thought that just working harder meant pouring the entirety of my being into different folders, what I realize now is that I also have to “work smarter” to complete the folder. This requires that I learn some efficient time management skills.

I should have prefaced this entire article by saying that with the completion of one fairly large folder, I now have a dedicated workshop. That means that after YEARS of obsessing about projects, I can actually start working on them and clearing the cache in my brain.

My hope is that this is threefold: first, I’ll be renewed by actually accomplishing projects I have long thought about. Secondly, it will help to provide us with some income to alleviate further stresses.

Most importantly, it will allow me to stop thinking about all of these projects as I realize that they are incrementally being completed. This should allow me to be more present with my family and to truly appreciate them and the time I have with them. Perhaps I’ll be able to sleep again.

Here’s My Plan

The truth is that in 2019 I’m actually going to be working harder than I ever have. I already shared with you my financial goals for the new year, and to accomplish them I’m going to work harder. The secret is that I’m also going to apply a bit of time management so that I can be successful.

On the days that Bre and I are together, I am going to limit myself to only a few hours of entrepreneurial work; content creating, research, projects, whatever it may be. This will afford us more time to do things together, or maybe just go for a walk more often.

That said, there are plenty of times where she supports me going out and working to complete something. The main point is that because of more efficient use of my other time, I will be able to put the folders away every now and then and just be present with my family.

On the days that she is at work I’m going to develop a schedule for accomplishing goals. Not just loose goals like “today I’m going to try to finish x.” No, concrete scheduling like: 6 hours at a certain task. Once that time is up, it is done for the day and I can let it go and spend time with the dogs or just to relax. If I finish the task ahead of schedule then I can have the rest of the day off.

Now, this time allotment needs to be divided as I have many irons in the fire. So yes, I will still be jumping back and forth between folders. However, now that I have a shop I can actually start to empty some of the folders as they’re complete, and I think that will be a huge boon to my psyche.

In addition, you may have noticed that I started writing again. With all of my frustration over the past year it was something I had abandoned altogether. Because of that, I’ve found my skills have diminshed.

I’ve said in the past that I’ve always wanted to write a book. Recently, I undertook the beginning of that dream as I started writing my first fiction novel. Bre has eagerly supported me in this pursuit as she has often recommended that I do it.

The first chapter flew on to the keyboard flawlessly. I was supremely pleased with the results, and excited for continuation. The second chapter was the complete opposite. I struggled; it was discombobulated, awkard, incoherent at times. That was when I realized I need practice.

So, as you can see by the evidence of this blog, it too is a folder of mine. Something to dive into and put away once resistance comes. That said, another goal of mine for 2019 is to Write. Every. Day. No, I’m not going to post an article every day, and I’m not going to work on writing my book every day, but I am going to write.

In order to hone this craft, and to document our lives I do want to make this blog a priority again as far as a facet of our business plan. My hope is to increase my writing skills, check off some folders, and help provide us with income opportunities.

That, and I want to finish my novel by this time next year. At least the rough draft. I’m not under any time constraints but my own, so I want to make sure that I continually plod along instead of obsessing about it and getting burnt out.

If you are an entrepreneur what suggestions do you have for managing your work/family time more efficiently?

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