The 1 Thing Busy Entrepreneurs Can Do Now To Find The Time You’re Looking For

You want to build your business, but just can't seem to find time in your busy schedule.

You've probably heard that you can't find time, but you have to make it. That's all well and good, but whoever said that doesn't get your "special circumstances." They just didn't understand why you don't have as much time, right?

This is how I discovered just how much time I really had to focus on my business.

Start Tracking Your Time

I get it, you already have to track your time at your full-time job, you don't want to do it for your entire life, but stick with me.

Saying you're "too busy" or "just don't have time" is really an emotional response. We need to remove emotion and look at your schedule objectively, which requires data. I recommend tracking time versus looking at your calendar because most people don't have every little thing on their calendar.

Once you have data, you can see exactly how you're spending your time and data helps us make better decisions about how to move forward.

How To Get Started

Fortunately, it's pretty simple, so don't overcomplicate it.

Find an app that lets you create your own categories, projects, or trackers and provides summary reports every week or so. If you want a recommendation, I use Toggl as the free tracking base and Timery (which connects to it via API) as the paid app-based interface (only 9.99 for the year). I like to have all my projects (my categories) in 1 place, then review the weekly summary that gets emailed to me.

The Timery & Toggl combo is far from perfect, but it's cheap and gets the job done.

Tips For Success

Tracking your time sounds simple and it should be, so don't overcomplicate it, at least to start.

Start out with large categories before getting detailed. I started with things like Sleep, Family, Errands, Work (my full-time job), My Business, and Unproductive. Now, I've split out "My Business" to include my writing, admin work, outreach, client work, and content creation.

Once you're set up, don't try to create an ideal week for the first couple of summary reports. We just want to get an idea of where your time is going, not how to optimize it yet. So be honest the first 2 weeks so we have good data to start with.

When you review your first summary report, you'll be surprised how much time you're spending running errands, watching Netflix after your kids go to bed, or getting ready for the day in the mornings.

Find the big blocks you aren't happy with and just work to make them a little shorter the next week.