This article comes from Entrepreneur.

4 Ways to Make Time Your Most Important Business Resource

Despite the heavy focus on profitability or the strength of your human capital, managing your time properly is by far the most important element of success in today’s market. And yet you’re likely wasting it.

Here are some tactics to make better use of your working hours:

1. You need a personalized approach

Most people are familiar with the fact that time management is important, yet precious few understand that you need a personalized approach to seriously achieve any extra efficiency in your day. This is because everyone’s schedule is unique — no one else understands the importance of your time during particular periods of your schedule. But to appreciate that yourself, it’s important to start with an audit of your daily habits to see where you’re wasting the most time.

2. Prioritizing is the key to success

Most time management philosophies revolve around proper prioritization; after all, if you can’t understand what needs to be done immediately vs. what can be delayed, you’ll always be misapplying your time. Urgent matters that must be dealt with can be brushed under the rug when no one is keeping track of forthcoming deadlines. So, consider maintaining a companywide list of your most pressing business decisions.

3. Don’t let time management become a stressor

Despite how important it is to closely manage your time, it’s also true that time management can become a serious stressor if you’re not doing it properly. In reality, all you need is an understandable schedule and a realistic list of priorities. For instance, effective time management that reaches into your personal life shouldn’t dictate your free time too much. Closely choreographing your blissful moments of relaxation is just another way of overworking yourself outside the office.

4. Focus on what’s important

Perhaps the most vital lesson you can learn when it comes to managing your time wisely is that not everything that’s urgent is important and vice versa. Sometimes you’ll need to take care of an issue immediately but will find it to be of trivial importance. Elsewhere you’ll encounter decisions of chief importance to your company that can technically be put off for days, weeks, or even months. Learning to properly categorize your duties and incoming projects so you’re more aware of what’s important vs. what’s urgent is the final step of becoming a time management guru.

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