3 Ways to Save 5 Hours This Week in Your Business

We can all use a little extra time in our lives, right? 

Whether you want to free up time in your business so you can start new projects, feel less overwhelmed, spend that free time with loved ones, or something else altogether, saving 5 hours each and every week sounds pretty good! 

Here’s how you can save 5 hours this week—and every week—in your business (each tip can easily save 1–2 hours per task)…

1) Review, assess, and plan your tasks each week. 

Weekly audits are a fantastic way to get super clear and focused on exactly which tasks you need to do, when. 

Including a weekly audit (or check-in) as part of your regular schedule will empower you to prioritize the tasks that really matter for making serious progress with your business, plus it will help you to avoid the issue of working on tasks that are holding you back from making progress. 

In other words, weekly audits ensure you don’t waste time on “busy work.” It’s an absolutely essential tool to stay motivated and on track. 

The best part is that weekly audits don’t have to be boring or a drag. In fact, they are something I (and many of my clients) look forward to eagerly each week! The trick is to explore easy, fun ways to incorporate them into part of your schedule. Many visual and tactile learners find that mind mapping is an interesting and effective way to do this, for example.  

I recommend including a list of typical questions to include during your weekly audits as part of a review to understand what tactics did or didn’t work (and why), plus what tactics you will change in the week moving forward, and an assessment of how your current work plan fits into your business plan. Every week, you should be working on tasks that align with your business plan—and if not, then it’s time to overhaul either your regular tasks or your business plan. Or both! 

2) Repurpose content. 

If a potential customer needs to see your services offered 7 times to them before they decide to purchase from you, then that’s a lot of reinventing the wheel that you need to do… or, you could avoid the hassle by instead repurposing existing content. 

For example, you could write one blog post for your website, then turn it into several “nuggets” for Twitter and Instagram, send a newsletter to your email list with a link to that blog post (and explain some background on why you wrote this particular article), highlight a couple quotes from the article and turn them into graphics you can post on social media, etc.  

You can also automate various pieces of your business to make it even easier on yourself: for example, recycle social media posts so that the content isn’t just a one-time deal.

Remember, not all of your potential customers will follow you on every platform—and not every person will resonate with your content in the same way. The more that you can use a single piece of content and expand on it in multiple formats or from several different angles, the more that you will connect meaningfully with your audience, and the more time you will save in the process. 

3) Identify your most creative times of day. 

Maximizing your energy is crucial to getting more done in less time—without the overwhelm! 

With that in mind, what time of day are you most creative? What time of day are you least creative? Compare those times of day to which times of day you typically do creative work. 

If you often work on creative tasks during a “slump” time of the day (for example, I often hit a slump in mid-afternoon), then it will take you significantly longer to complete that work… not to mention, your quality of work will likely be subpar. 

Instead, once you identify your most creative time of day, you can begin adjusting your schedule to accommodate for that. This is a simple way to enjoy your tasks that much more, streamline your processes, and, yes, save time while you’re at it. Make the most of your creative energies to free up extra hours on a regular basis!

Want to save an additional 6+ hours each and every week (beyond the tips mentioned here)? Grab the time saving tips cheatsheet at SaganMorrow.com/savetime! 

Can’t wait to see how many hours you save in the coming weeks as a result—and what joyful things you do with that extra time.

Sagan Morrow teaches busy, time-crunched solopreneurs how to build their own successful home-based businesses—without the overwhelm—through her online courses at SaganMorrow.com. 
Specializing in productivity tips and action-oriented strategic planning, Sagan has a decade of experience as a freelance writer and hosts the Indie Author Weekly podcast. Connect with her @Saganlives on Twitter or Instagram.