Miles Davis, an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader, once said, "Time isn't the main thing, it's the only thing."

The big dream is to become a successful entrepreneur, but we fail to realize that with success comes bigger responsibilities. And like everyone else, we have 24 hours a day to do all that is required of us. But, how can we even know how best to manage our time then when we aren't even doing a good job managing it now?

As a business owner, you've got to understand that time is just as valuable as money, which is why not only should you be concerned with learning how to manage resources, but how to effectively manage time as well.

In dealing with time, always remember the words of Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, Peter Drucker, "What gets measured gets managed."

Have you ever taken the time to find out what is responsible for bad time management in the first place?

To effectively manage one's time, it's best to first find out what might be responsible for poor time management and then deal with it form the root cause.

Reason for Poor Time Management

1. No to-do list or endless to-do list

A to-do list is a planner that helps you schedule your various activities for the day to achieve a set goal. The important thing is that your to-do list is working towards a set goal, outlining only the important thongs you need to achieve for the day.

When you do not have a to-do list, you end doing whatever you like becausd you can not track what needs to be done with what has been done.

Likewise, if you have an endless to-do list, you just might end up frustrated by your inability to cover or perform it all.

2. Distractions

Distractions come in different forms such as not having a workspace, which means putting up with noises from your environment, trying to respond to emails, text messages and the liked or it could be chrcking through social media, perhaps, to find out what the latest in your industry is. However, before you realize it, the day is over and you have to postpone today's work to tomorrow and the cycle continues.

3. Multi-tasking

Yes, multi-tasking is a strenght but can also be a weakness. According to David Meyer, a cognitive scientist, "When you perform multiple task that each require some of the same channels of processing, conflicts will arise between the tasks, and you're going to have to pick and choose which task you're going to focus alone and devote a channel of processing it."

So, attempt each task one at a time instead of trying to juggle everything up at once.

4. Procrastination

Procrastination is a time thief. It is intentionally delaying to start or finish a task despite knowing that it might have a negative outcome. We all procrastinate doing one thing or the other sometimes but when it becomes habitual, achievung success becomes difficult, whether as an entrepreneur or not.

According to Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, "A man who dares to waste one hour of life have hot discovered the value of life."

Now that we know the causes of poor time management, how can we change that to become effective managers of time?

How to effectively manage Time

1. Set priorities

Setting priorities means placing importance to each of the listed items on the list. When you set priorities, you know what must be done, what would be done, what should be done and what could be done by the end of the day. It helps you to say no to the things that need your attention and unnecessary distractions as well.

Victor Hugo, a French poet, and novelist said, "He who every morning plans the transactions of that day and follows that plan carries a threat that will guide him through the labyrinth of the busiest life."

Most successful entrepreneurs understand the importance of setting priorities as it helps them achiebe their goals at the end of the day. Hence, they set targets and key performace index for both themselves and those that work with them

However, in making your to-do list, you must understand that the goal is to list out your priorities, not prioritize what you decide to list out all in the name of making a list.

Stephen Convey once said, "The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule but to schedule uour priorities."

2. Complete the most difficult task first

Once you are done in prioritizing, the next step is to figure out the toughest task on the list, which in most cases, takes priority.

Checking through upur mail, responding to messages fixing meetings, checking through social mediacto find out the latest news in town nd the likes shouldn't be the first thing to do when you start your day. Instead, start by identifying the most difficult task, such as writing a blog post, and then go further to accomplish it before moving on to the simpler tasks.

When you take down the difficult tasks, you'll fell good and less likely to procrastinate what's left since they are easier. But when you start with the simoler task by thectime you are ready to take down the complex task, you are exhausted already and all you want to do is postpond the task to the next day.

3. Concentrate selectively

As an entrepreneur, you'll always have so much to do that you'll begin to convince yourself that the best way to achieve your goals is to take up so many things at once. The truth is, however, is that you might end up ruining everything that way. So, why not focus on achieving one good thing at a time?

Ryder Carroll said, "Inevitably we find ourselved tackling too many things at the same time, spreading our focus so thin that nothing gets tge attention it deserves. This is commonly referred as being busy. Being busy, however, is not the same thing ad being productive."

4. Delegate

Delegating duties means transferring those non-priority things to the more appropriate individuals. The truth is that as an entrepreneur, you'll always have so much to do. So to avoid multitasking, you should consider delegating.

For instance, you can get a personal assistant to delegate your scheduling and other administrative tasks and routines that eat up most of yourctime and prevent you from focusing on the most important aspects of your business.

5. Schedule time for interruptions

Of course, certain interruptions are bound to surface during the day. You can set aside one or two hours when you plan to return phone calls, respond to emails, and even del eith colleagues and employees wothout being dragged away from something important.

When it comes to time management, always remember that "What gets measured gets managed."

Thank you for your time reading this article.