News Articles

Time Management Tool


By Sarah Hall, Associate

22 March 2023

Sarah Hall, Associate at Brentnalls SA.
Hour glass with red sand going down sitting on top of a newspaper.

There are never enough hours in a day. As a business owner, it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of your business and not find time to work on what really matters.


Focus On What Really Matters

At Brentnalls SA, we have devised this simple time management tool to help you prioritise your precious time.

  1. First, list all of the activities you do or would like to do for the business.
  2. Rank each one on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is an activity with the greatest impact on achieving business goals, increasing profit and cash flow in your business, and 1 is of little impact.
  3. Then rank each one on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is the activity that will have the quickest impact (i.e., low-hanging fruit) and 1 is an activity that will only impact the business in the long-term.
  4. Total the scores to get a ranking out of 20.
  5. Delegate all tasks with a score less than 16 and focus your time on those with scores 16-20.


Another way of looking at this is if you mark each activity in the following quadrant:

Example Y & X axis through four quadrants.

How it works

All activities marked in Quadrant B should be where you invest your time now (i.e. your immediate goals).


Quadrant A requires more time to achieve your goals and these should have clear action plans with key people assigned to them to assist you with achieving the desired outcome.


All other activities in Quadrants C and D should be delegated to people in your team to free you up to focus on your activities in Quadrants A and B. The outcomes of attending to the above include:

  • Ability for you to refocus your attention to areas that will generate the greatest impact on your business;
  • Drive growth and profitability;
  • Increase the value of your business; and
  • Force you to delegate tasks to your team members and empower them to assist you to grow the business - resulting in you being freed up to work more on the business rather than in the business.


If you require further information about this tool and other business tools such as Ansoff Matrix and Benchmarking.

Download PDF

Discuss Further?

If you would like to discuss, please get in touch.

Disclaimer

The information provided in this article does not constitute advice. The information is of a general nature only and does not take into account your individual situation. It should not be used, relied upon, or treated as a substitute for specific professional advice. We recommend that you contact Brentnalls SA before making any decision to discuss your particular requirements or circumstances. 

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