9 Tips To Get Back An Hour A Day

In case you missed it, I gathered 20 of my most popular 2020 blogs to give you the positivity, inspiration, practical tools (and a bit of tough love) you need to springboard into a successful 2021.

In one of these blogs, I can't find anymore time in the day, I outlined the power of an hour.

This is also the title of one of my chapters in my RTO business book, The Five Little RTO Pigs.

This book, the first and only business book for running an RTO, uses the analogy of The Three Little Pigs fairytale to show how we build our registered training organisations - from straw to stick to brick.

However, in writing the book, I discovered two other RTO Pigs: The Reno and The Rundown.

In the Power of an Hour chapter of my book, I include 27 tips to get back on hour a day.

So in no particular order, here's 9 tips to help you get back an hour a day.

9 Tips To Get Back An Hour A Day

1. Turn off all bells and whistles on your email program.

2. Set up rules so emails move automatically into organised folders rather than into an overflowing inbox.

3. Develop weekly rituals and stick to them.

4. Turn your phone to silent (or even better, switch it off) for at least an hour a day of uninterrupted time.

5. Have an answering machine or service so you can be 'offline' for at least an hour a day. However, for this to work, you also have to turn down the volume.

It may seem obvious but when I suggested to a client they purchase an answering machine, they told me they had one but it didn't work. 'Is it broken?' I asked. 'No', they replied, 'but what happens is the phone rings and I stop working so I can listen to the message to see if I need to call them straight back.

My look said it all.

6. Eat That Frog!

Brian Tracy developed this concept to overcome procrastination and ensure people focus on what's really important. If you're not familiar with this concept, please watch the clip and then just do it.

I have a page of cute frogs which I laminate and provide to my members, clients and workshop participants; as well as using on my whiteboard. If you would like a copy, please head to my website and send me an email.

7. Focus on doing your three most important things every single day and then move on to the rest.

8. Work out your hourly rate (your value) and then ensure you're spending as much time as possible on activities which add value to your RTO (and equate to this high-value rate).

9. Spend time working out your financial numbers to ensure you cover how much it costs to keep the doors open (which includes paying yourself).

There's no point running a training program if, at the end of the day, you don't even earn $20 per hour; regardless of the amount shown on the invoice.

How many of these nine simple tips are you already using to get back an hour a day?

Which ones do you need to start implementing straight away to help you get out of overwhelm and back in control?

If you need to embrace more than one tip, I suggest starting with one and get that working well; and then start work on the next one etc.

Remember: Everything is about practice and ensuring you implement these tips consistently so they move from being occasional tasks to ingrained habits you do automatically.

And here's my final thought:

The only way to get back an hour a day is to SPEND TIME (STOP) to CREATE TIME so you can FOCUS YOUR TIME on what's really important, not just what comes through your door or into your inbox.

By embracing the power of an hour, you will continue to build a simple, profitable RTO business you actually love.... one brick (aka 15 minute chunk) at a time.

P.S. I'd love to know which tips you decided to embrace and how they've improved the running of your RTO business.

Dedicated to helping you manage your growing RTO business

Tamara