Life has changed a lot over the past two years. Where we once drove everywhere, scheduling things closely enough to be busy every hour of the day, we’re now looking for ways to stay closer to home.
It’s also made us realize there’s more to life than being busy. Sometimes it’s about relaxing, and doing things we love.
Maybe that’s why the arts have suddenly moved forward and are on the top of everyone’s mind again. That’s good news if you run a busy piano studio.
With a little ingenuity, you can fill your calendar with clients, bringing the joy of music to many more people in your community.
But before you get overwhelmed with possibilities, start the process out with a few time saving tips.
Track your time
This is a lesson taught in a variety of productivity classes because it’s the starting point to becoming more efficient. You have to know how you spend your time before you do things to add more time to your days. And that’s important if you hope to run an efficient piano studio.
Keep paper or your favorite app nearby and track everything you do for a week. This gives you a running look at where your time goes, and can help you make choices for ways to curb time spent on things of little importance.
Limit social media
As you track your time, do you find a great deal of it goes to checking in on your favorite social media site? It’s an escape for many of us. But if you’re like a lot of people, you also find that a simple check can quickly turn to thirty minutes wasted. It’s also a distraction that holds you back from doing other more important things.
If you really love social media, possibly using it for your business too, schedule it. Put a time on the calendar where you give yourself permission to check in and surf to your heart’s content. Just be sure to activate a timer with it so you know when your time’s up.
Organize your to-dos
Have you ever organized your to-dos with sticky notes? The pile grows, they get lost, and there’s no way to manage if you’re truly doing what’s important first.
Get rid of your sticky note pile, and go with a calendar system instead. You can use something as simple as the calendar system that comes with your phone. Or use a paper calendar if you like a visual that sits by your desk. If you have something that needs completion, write it down. Create lists for your piano studio and your personal life. Then give them priorities, and work items accordingly.
Batch your tasks
The more detailed your to-do list, the more you start to see related tasks. Batch them together to help get things done faster. You’ll start to see related items that can be combined into one session with possible overlap that shortens your time involved with each project. You’ll see efficiencies in ways you never thought about before.
Plan your days in blocks
When do you have your most energy? When do certain projects have to be done?
We all have our own internal clocks that give us peak energy. Are you a morning person, or do you prefer to work late into the night? Taking advantage of your optimal workspace can allow you to get things done quickly. Learn when your peak work times are, and create a block on your calendar where you work on specific projects during that time frame. Block other time wasters out, and you’ll quickly see a boost in your productivity.
Are you working to create a more efficient piano studio this year? What tips have you used to save time throughout your days?
