Do you respect and value your time?

Time is a precious commodity and one that we should respect and use wisely. Therefore, in business you need to make sure you are using it to the best of your abilities.⁠

Here are my top tips on how to treat your time like the valuable asset it is⁠

Be conscious of how you are spending your time.

When we are moving as fast as we do through life, our week, our day we tend to lose focus on where our time goes. We should all be focusing the time in our career or business on productive minutes and/or revenue-generating minutes depending on what your role looks like. Not all productive time necessarily equates directly to revenue but it should be productive and valuable. We all know when we are starting to shift away from spending our time on value-add work, but it is whether or not we choose to take notice and adjust accordingly.

Set boundaries.

We all have a whole bunch of things to juggle but what we cannot scrimp on is our own self-care. Whatever, this may look like for you - it needs to be scheduled in and boundaries placed around it. It needs to be non-negotiable. If you do not look after yourself and carve that time out you will inevitably struggle to continue to perform at the level you currently are.

Don't be late.

If you want people to respect your time, the best thing you can do is respect their time too.⁠ Don’t be late to meetings, appointments, anything! If you are going to be late, make sure you acknowledge it rather than pretending it’s not happening. This allows you to show how you still value their time and it was just an unfortunate turn of events that didn’t allow you to arrive on time.

You are in charge of your schedule.

Manage it accordingly. Don't feel like you are always at the mercy of other’s demands. You can say when you have something prescheduled and hold your ground. If that something falls into the self-care category it is still as important as if it were related to work (see above) - so don’t feel different about those two sets of scheduled time. Both deserve to be respected and to be frank, your clients and colleagues are likely to be unaware of whether you have a meeting with another client or a meeting with yourself.

Know your hourly rate.

I work with many highly successful professionals who generate huge amounts of sales revenue for their employers and some who even have big juicy charge out rates. But when they talk about it they are almost shocked by it. DON'T BE SHOCKED! BE EMPOWERED! People pay big bucks for you. Your time is hugely valuable so act like it.⁠

What are you going to do from now on to show your time the respect it deserves?⁠