Of all the abilities needed to lead and run a small business, the one that appears to be both the most crucial and least talked about is personal organisation. At best, a company school education provides some believed to time management and perhaps to prioritisation, but these leave the small company leader entirely unprepared for the fire hose of e-mails, telephone call, and things to do that are important in running a small company in today’s digital world.
A truth check initially: there are far more things “to do” than there are hours in the day, so merely composing jobs in a list isn’t really going to work: You need to be OK with the reality that some things are not going to get done– ever. There’s a great deal of theory around this, for instance, the 80/20 rule states that 80 % of the results originate from 20 % of the activity, which is fantastic if you know which 20 %. There are a lot of organisational systems available too, from fast list managers to full-blown GTD (getting things done) strategies, but for lots of small company leaders these seem to be either too simple, or too requiring and pricey to implement effectively.

I for that reason advise an approach based upon asking 3 questions of absolutely everything that appears in your life– every email, phone call, person walking by who interrupts you and every piece of mail, which are:

a)What is it?
b)Who is it for?
c)How do I feel about it?

When you’ve responded to those concerns, and caught the responses in your list or organisational system, then you’re all set to choose exactly what to do alongside get your day (and company) moving.
1) What is it?
A lot of business interaction today is really badly put together and therefore not clear. When somebody “just wanted to connect” to you– are they singing a number by The Four Tops? Probably not– they’re requesting for something. To comprehend their demand, you have to ask what they are asking you to do (the task) and why they are asking you to do it (the big-picture job).
2) Who is it for?
When dealing with clients, coworkers or shareholders, it’s actually simple to end up doing things that provide more value to others than they do for you. A customer might ask whether you can go the extra mile to deliver x, while a coworker may ask, “can you cover me while I.” You understand the story. Being clear on why the other person desires you to do something as well as exactly what’s in it for you is necessary. If you’re doing something for a client and you do not know why, then things are likely to come off the rails quite soon!
3) How does it make you feel?
Excellent leaders have their own vision and values and are able to shape companies and groups with clear direction about what need to be done. In my experience, the method numerous leaders communicate with others can be through a clear objective and vision declaration, however simply as crucial is how they respond to exactly what comes across their desk. The standards that you set with your colleagues do not come from inspirational posters on the wall, however from how you interact with them and comprehend what’s “OK” and exactly what’s not.
When you enter the practice of asking these 3 questions, I’ll hope that you’ll discover, as I have, that you’re able to use the framework to describe exactly what your vision is, what it provides for everyone worried, and how it’s something that you can all feel excellent about.
http://www.smeinsider.com/2015/07/28/could-you-be-managing-your-time-more-effectively/

A fact check first: there are far more things “to do” than there are hours in the day, so simply composing jobs in a list isn’t going to work: You have to be OKAY with the reality that some things are not going to get done– ever. There are a lot of organisational systems available too, from fast list managers to full-blown GTD (getting things done) techniques, however for many small business leaders these appear to be either too simple, or too demanding and pricey to carry out successfully.
A lot of business interaction today is very improperly put together and therefore not clear. To understand their demand, you need to ask exactly what they are asking you to do (the job) and why they are asking you to do it (the big-picture job).
Good leaders have their own vision and values and are able to shape businesses and teams with clear instructions about what should be done.