Productivity Hacks to Help You Find More Time for Your Side Hustle
Having a side hustle is a great way to start building your own business while you still have the security of another job – or, if you love your job and plan on sticking around, it is a great way to simply make a few extra bucks. The challenge with working a full time job, plus having a side hustle, and having a life is how you manage your time. For your side hustle to be profitable, you’re going to have to put in time.
Two facts about time:
1.Each of us gets 24 hours in a day – how we spend those hours is entirely up to us.
2. When we say that we don’t have time to do something, what we really mean is that something else is more important to us.
For the next 30 days, try taking the words “I don’t have time” out of your vocabulary. Instead say something like, “I have another priority” or “I have chosen to do such and such an activity instead.” This subtle shift in language will help you gain ownership over your allotted 24 hours each day.
Each day we make choices about how to spend our time, whether it’s being with friends and family, checking Facebook, binge watching the latest hit on Netflix or working on a side hustle. None of these choices are necessarily bad, but whenever you make a choice to do one thing, you are prioritizing it over another.
So, how can we stop time from simply slipping away from us and take more control? Here are three productivity hacks that will help you find the time for your side hustle.
Hack #1: Track your time
The first step to controlling your time is to know exactly where it is going. By tracking your time, you will begin to see where you are spending disproportionate amounts of time on any given task. After all, how can you improve if you don’t know where you need improvement?
Tracking your time can be as easy as setting up an Excel spreadsheet, but there are also lots of handy apps that you can use (such as Everhour or RescueTime). Doing this will make you more aware of how you are spending your time. This will make you more productive, and it will also give you a record of your regular tasks.
Once you’ve got a detailed outline of your daily tasks (this should take about two weeks), review them to see what you can eliminate, what you can do in a smarter, more efficient way and what you can delegate to someone else. Now that you have a handle on your time, you can prioritize your side hustle and give it the attention it deserves.
Hack #2: Write tomorrow’s to-do list today
Sit down each night and write down your priorities for the next day. This should not be a list containing every single detail (because that would be a time waster!) but rather focus on your top two or three priorities. Ask yourself, if I only accomplish three things tomorrow, what would I want those things to be?
Then, when you wake up the next morning you will know exactly where to focus your time and you will be less likely to be distracted by other things that might pop up.
Hack #3: Do ONE productive task first
Instead of immediately checking Facebook or opening your inbox, do one productive task for your side hustle before you do anything else. More often than not, this should be one of the top three priorities you wrote down the night before.
Doing so will help you set the pace for the day and be more productive.
Remember, you have the same 24 hours in each day as everyone else. Start using these hacks today to create the space necessary for you to succeed in your side hustle!
Written by Kristen Duever