Written by our guest columnist Stephanie Haywood at MyLifeBoost.com.
As a small business owner, you either possessed or developed certain task management abilities as you pursued your entrepreneurial dream. These may not be obvious skills that involve classes and certifications to obtain. You may even have employed them subconsciously as you went about your day-to-day tasks. However, they were integral to your success, and you can utilize them to aid you in your everyday life as well.
Critical Thinking
Many people operate on instinct. While this is not a bad thing, there are times when more is needed than reacting. Critical thinking involves looking at a situation, assessing it and actively asking questions about it to come to a conclusion. It is important for a number of reasons, including the decision-making process and effective problem-solving.
By applying critical thinking to both your business and personal lives, you are able to rationally figure out the options you have, the possible outcomes of each, and the best course of action. This applies whether you are deciding on a new supplier or picking the best school for your child. Critical thinking also helps avoid the consequences of making hasty choices.
Negotiation
Communication is an integral part of virtually every aspect of life. Negotiation is one part of communication that is especially vital. Without it, no deals can be made, and conflicts would remain unresolved for long periods or end in violent or unsatisfactory conclusions. Knowing how to compromise and persuade others to follow suit helps in both small and big aspects of life, from trying to convince a major company to sign a contract with you to settling who gets to pick the Friday night family movie.
Delegation
As a business owner, you must juggle multiple obligations from family, friends, employees, suppliers and contractors, among others. Your time is already limited and the constant demands pulling on you can stretch it even thinner.
The best way to solve the problem is simple: Don’t do everything by yourself. Don’t even try. Rather than putting more strain on yourself, delegate small, easy tasks such as making appointments, doing inventory and filling out minor paperwork to employees. While there are responsibilities you cannot pass on to others, there are some you can, freeing up more time for the duties only you can perform. It also creates more room in your schedule for the non-business parts of your life. Don’t hesitate to delegate at home, either; assign chores so you’re not the only one doing the housework.
Use tools to save yourself time. For example, if you want to create a limited liability company for your enterprise, you don’t have to expend numerous hours doing legwork. There are formation services like ZenBusiness you can use instead that will cut down on the time investment.
Time Management
Time is a limited commodity. It is therefore imperative to use every second wisely in school, business and life in general. Time management is such a valuable tool that there are guides on it from government agencies, universities, and websites and whole courses dedicated to teaching it. Among other surprising statistics, research shows that ten to12 minutes of daily planning result in a time savings of up to two hours a day. Budgeting out your time, setting goals, writing down to-do lists and other time management tactics can help you make more time for family, friends and fun without neglecting your business.
As a business owner, you have skills such as delegation, time management, negotiation and critical thinking that have helped you on your journey. Remember to use these hard-won abilities in other parts of your life. Become the best leader you can be with Emergency Management Resources’ leadership courses and more. Learn more here.