When you are running a business and a home, sometimes it can get a little messy. You need to be great with managing your time while feeling like you have no time to get everything done. First things first, every time you sit down at your computer make sure it has a purpose. That whatever it is you do makes a difference to your business. Big or small doesn’t matter, aim to be productive. 

• Fix your website. It might be that you actually need someone trained in web design to do this for you, if so then now is the time to decide what your goals are. If you are doing it yourself, then you should make sure that you update all of your plugins as soon as you get the notification. This helps keep all of your website’s functionalities in excellent working order and stops it from being vulnerable to attacks. Check that your theme is what you want to it be. Clear up clutter, update out of date links and information. Set a timer and see just how much you can do in 20 minutes

• Clean your workspace. This is where preparation pays. Have some screen wipes, keyboard putty and disinfectant wipes in your desk drawer. Set your egg times and clean everything down. Put wrappers in the bin, hoover the floor, use the putty on your keyboard to remove dust, crumbs and other debris. Clean under your mouse mat too. 

• Schedule your social. Use your twenty minutes to curate a super slick social media campaign. You know what you have coming up, and you know what you want people to talk about when it comes to your business. So click the timer and put in as much as you can. This is made much easier using the following tools:

• • Tailwind
  • Planoly
  • Buffer
  • Social Oomph
  • MissingLettr
  • Social Sprout

• Plan your month ahead. If you have product launches, events, networking, meetings or you just need to plan in a day of rest use 20 minutes to get it finished. 

• Creative minutes. This will take a few sets of 20 but will be totally worth it. Head to Canva or Picmonkey and create some graphics for your social media campaigns. Use their templates to help you get precisely what you need. If you like you can even upgrade and enjoy their premium plan which allows you to use your brand colors and helps you preset fonts too. 

• Emails. These are such time suckers. Spent 20 minutes in the morning replying, then move on to your next task. Then again in the evening use 20 minutes to follow up and response to things that need to be acknowledged. 

You will be surprised just how much you can manage on any given day if you work in neat time slots. Parkinson’s law is that your task will stretch out to the time you allow yourself to do it. Like cleaning your desk – that could take all day, unless you work with a timer!