Must know: 6 Time Management Tips to Boost your Productivity

Now that the lockdown is over almost everywhere and some of the beauty professionals are back to work, something has changed. We got used to the home routine. We got used to seeing just our family members and doing things in a more relaxed rhythm. Back to work, we can’t afford to lose any minute of our schedule. This radical change of routine might come with a lack of concentration, tiredness, or a need for more breaks.

Time management is essential when it comes to maintaining a work-life balance. Keeping track of your time is a better way to organize your tasks to complete them productively. For doing this, you need to know your priorities: what is urgent, what can wait, and what is a long-term task. You have to find ways to work more efficiently. Learning how to manage your activities and commitments can be tough, but doing so can considerably improve your quality of life.

According to the author’s definition, “time management” is the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time between specific activities. Proper time management enables you to work smarter – not harder – so that you get more done in less time, even when pressures are high. Therefore, if you fail in managing your time wisely, you’ll end up with a lack of effectiveness, a need for assigning more time to a task, and maybe even a stressed mood.

What do you stress about?

If you’re working with people, you’re exposed to stress daily. We all want to live happy and without worries, but stress can get in the way anytime if we don’t manage our tasks correctly. As a lash artist, your concern might be promoting your business or working more hours. All these things may seem easy to do, but they can generate stress if you keep thinking about them, and you don’t know exactly how to act.

Managing stress is all about your ability to control your emotions, schedule, environment, and the way you deal with problems. The goal? Find your balance, your equilibrium in life. Find time for work, friends, family, and the most important one, for yourself. How to do that? Below you can find some tips & tricks about how to manage your time more efficiently.

1. Keep your schedule organized

After reopening your business, everything may seem a mess in the beginning: you have to respect the restrictions, people are calling again and again for scheduling, you have to get your work done. In this case, you need to know that stress management and time management go hand in hand. If you can successfully organize your activities, chances are you’ll be less stressed – or not stressed at all. Anyway…how to get more organized? A brilliant idea may be using scheduling appointment software for your business. Our clients consider that it is a blessing!

Goldie is a time saver when it comes to beauty professionals. It is easy to use, and it’s far better than your old-fashioned paper diary. Now, better than ever, you can manage appointments with just a few taps. Here are some top features in Goldie:

Manage your appointments from anywhere

Goldie syncs across all of your mobile devices and lets you check your schedule even using your voice.

Reduce no-shows with automated text reminders

Goldie is not just an excellent scheduling software but also automatically sends text message reminders to your clients when their appointments are coming up. Also, it lets you ask for deposits or full payments online right before the appointment.

Better manage your client’s information

Goldie helps you remember everything about your customers and gives you quick access to essential information when needed. Your client’s appointment list and your notes are just a tap away.

See how well your business is doing with reports

Know exactly how much money you’ve made on a specific day, week, month, or year, and export your reports for accounting purposes. Find out what services are selling more and discover who are your best clients.

Create and send marketing campaigns in minutes

Send a text to all your clients with an update, a special deal, or anything else. Or send a reminder to rebook to clients you haven’t seen in a while. Marketing is not as complicated as you think. 🙂

Grow your business for free with online booking

Get more clients, even while sleeping! Let customers book online on your free booking website and through your Facebook or Instagram page.

You can download the Goldie app and try the free plan from the App Store or Google Play.

2. Improve your efficiency

You’re not a robot, and you simply have to accept that you can’t get everything done in a couple of seconds. Maybe you consider that multitasking saves you time. Actually, your brain takes at least 15 minutes to refocus whenever you switch tasks. For example, while trying to schedule 2 clients in a single appointment, your mind has to shift focus continuously, which can hurt your productivity. Try focusing on one task at a time and switch only after you finish. This way, you’ll be less distracted, and you may even complete tasks more quicker.

Another good solution for improving your efficiency is practicing physical activities. If you exercise regularly, you already know that sports don’t mean only losing weight: it means better concentration and more patience. Exercise and work productivity go hand in hand. Therefore, if you start exercising daily, you’ll get your job done faster, which means a chance for you to have more clients.

3. Prioritize tasks

Knowing how to prioritize tasks at your workplace has a huge influence on your business success. Do first the most important tasks, then switch to the ones that could wait for a while. For example, if you have an appointment with a client, but you are hungry, it’s not ethical to eat in front of your client or make him wait until you’re done. This could reveal a lack of professionalism, and nobody wants that! We know exactly how awesome you all are. Therefore, try to divide your time and prioritize tasks for doing first what’s the most important (in this case, your clients are!), and then the activities that can wait for a little while.

4. Take a break

Breaks are a very important moment of the day for professionals and small business owners. Sadly, this habit is quite rare nowadays in Northern America, as people tend to be workaholics to gain more money. For maintaining a healthy lifestyle – physically and psychically- you should start to take breaks throughout the workday – especially lunch breaks. These breaks are essential for people to de-stress and re-charge for the rest of the workday, and they can even improve your overall job satisfaction. A recent survey by Tork shows that Millennials – who are now the largest generation in the U.S. labor force – are more likely to believe coworkers would judge them negatively if they took a regular lunch break. Well, give yourself a gift and try to take 10 minutes to break every hour– take it as a secret recipe for constant happiness. 🙂

5. Find your work-life balance

Being in a balanced work-home dynamic is probably the most difficult objective to set. You should love your job. Go out every morning with positive thinking; don’t consider it as a burden. Even if it is an easy-to-do activity, if your mindset is negative, then the activity you do will seem ten times harder than it actually is. Complete your tasks, go home to your beloved family, and forget about work and problems. For more useful advice for reaching an equilibrated work-life balance, check our article. You won’t regret spending some extra minutes reading it!

6. Disconnect

Even if you’ve worked hard to create your work-life balance, you will inevitably come home, sometimes feeling exhausted or stressed. Just like your body needs time to recover after a workout, your mind needs time to disconnect from the workday. If you think about turning on the TV just to disconnect from work, having your devices out of sight might be a far better idea. Screens such as TVs, laptops, or smartphones can make you feel even more tired. Therefore, a walk-in nature, a meeting with some friends, or chilling with your family might be the best idea to disconnect after a hard-working day.

“We all know our money isn’t infinite, yet we end up treating our time, energy, and attention as if they are.” – Shane Parrish

It is not enough to overwork for being successful. Success is sometimes translated into the number of your smiles, into the moments spent with your dear ones, into the days you felt happier than ever. Money doesn’t bring you happiness, but they can maintain it. Therefore, try to manage your time wisely and reach an equilibrated balance between your life as a professional and your life as a human being. 🙂