Come once more—the pickle jar concept? No, you haven’t gotten misplaced. This text is related to your small enterprise time administration method, we swear.

We’re looking at precisely what this concept is, why the pickle jar concept is essential for small companies, and tips on how to apply the pickle jar concept in your time administration. (Meet you again right here if you must run to the fridge for a snack first!)

What’s the pickle jar concept, and what’s it for?

The pickle jar concept is a time administration approach to assist prioritize your duties and duties in a repeatable order that will increase efficiencies. Created by Jeremy Wright in 2002, the pickle jar concept (additionally known as the “bucket of rocks” concept or the “jar of life” concept) begins with the premise that your time is finite and must be used strategically. The speculation provides a set order to your duties that you just observe each day, whereas visualizing the analogy of an empty pickle jar.

Consider an empty jar of pickles as representing a typical day stretching out in entrance of you. Then image the next components, which want to enter your empty jar each day:

• Sand: telephone calls, emails, social media, much less essential conferences
• Pebbles: considerably pressing jobs in your calendar which have versatile timing
• Rocks: your most essential duties with damaging penalties when you failed to finish them
• Water: your relaxation, or “off” time

The pickle jar concept in observe

Now think about filling your empty jar with varied portions of rocks, pebbles, sand, and water. The thought is that you need to all the time begin together with your rocks (high-priority duties), adopted by your pebbles (medium-priority duties), after which your sand (low-priority duties). End off by filling the jar with water (“off” time). 

When you begin with the water or sand, only a few of the pebbles or giant rocks will match. And when you attempt to put in giant rocks solely, they’ll break the jar. However when you keep on with the order of descending precedence ranges, you’re extra prone to attain your highest productiveness stage and fewer prone to burn out.

The pickle jar concept can profit anybody with a busy schedule. Nevertheless, it’s particularly helpful to small enterprise homeowners and managers who have to know the quantity and dimension of duties that may be realistically accomplished in a day. 

Guidelines for tips on how to apply the pickle jar concept 

The pickle jar concept is simply that—a concept. It solely works for you and your small enterprise when you put it into observe persistently and correctly. Apply the pickle jar concept successfully by sticking to those guiding guidelines: 

Precisely outline your highest priorities

When designating your high-priority duties (rocks), be sure to perceive which of your duties contribute to your big-picture objectives essentially the most. Ask your self which of them can have essentially the most important impact on your online business, and be sincere. 

Save distractions for the top

Your high-focus hours are valuable. It’s important to start out your day with none distractions (pebbles), otherwise you’ll waste your mind energy on shallow duties. Certain, it’s pure to answer one thing that immediately grabs your consideration like an electronic mail coming in or a coworker strolling by. However all these little unplanned productivity-killers add up by the top of the day.

Keep away from multitasking as a lot as you possibly can

We all know—it’s simpler mentioned than accomplished. However multitasking is confirmed to lower your productiveness. Strive your finest to not procrastinate and keep targeted on one factor at a time.

Don’t neglect to delegate

Delegate smaller duties to your workforce members slightly than taking up all the things your self. It’d take a bit of additional coaching at the beginning. However in the long term? It provides you extra focus on your extra mentally consuming duties.

Control high quality, not simply amount

Extremely productive individuals don’t fixate on the amount of duties completed, however on the standard of their work. When you discover you’re undertaking fewer duties in a day, acknowledge that they’re extra essential ones.

Give your self time to recharge

A wholesome work-life steadiness isn’t simply “good” to have. Respecting private time and pursuing different pursuits helps you’re feeling recharged and desirous to get again to work, boosting your total productiveness. 

Benefits of the pickle jar concept for small companies 

Utilizing the pickle jar concept in your time administration method has actual advantages on your small enterprise. By utilizing the pickle jar concept over time, you possibly can:

Make prioritizing simpler

The pickle jar concept helps you see the urgency of your duties extra clearly. By retaining the larger image prime of thoughts when planning your day, it’s simpler to filter out what’s essential and what’s not.

Set up your days extra successfully

With higher perception into how a lot time you’re spending on completely different sorts of actions, you can also make extra correct work-time estimates. With a well-designed, organized workday, you’ll know with extra confidence when you need to change from one factor to the subsequent.

Forestall multitasking

Doing a number of issues concurrently, slightly than giving a single process your undivided consideration, can scale back productiveness by as much as 40%. You’ll not solely sharpen your focus when you keep away from multitasking, you’ll additionally really feel much less overwhelmed and make much less errors.

Overcome procrastination

If you set a purpose for your self to dedicate a set period of time (generally known as a “energy hour”) to a high-focus process, adopted by a break or a low-focus process, you’re more likely to remain alert and observe via in your intention.

Find out how to apply the pickle jar concept 

On your small enterprise, there are additional methods this idea may help you have a look at your workforce’s time administration a bit in another way. As you go about implementing the pickle jar concept for the primary time, contemplate these associated ideas:

Time blocking

Time blocking—an effective way to use the pickle jar concept—is a helpful time administration technique the place you divide your day into blocks of time. Every block is devoted to a selected process or group of duties, and solely these particular duties. On the finish of a workday, evaluation any duties you didn’t end, plus any new ones which have are available, and modify your upcoming time blocks accordingly.

Time monitoring

Going hand-in-hand with time blocking is time monitoring. When you’ve by no means tracked work hours earlier than, you won’t even pay attention to simply how a lot time is definitely being wasted. One examine discovered that over 50 million hours of productiveness are misplaced within the US each day due to unrecorded work actions.

There’s a motive profitable corporations with hourly employees use worker time monitoring—retaining monitor of the time spent on particular person tasks or duties. Being knowledgeable about the place your minutes and hours go is essential in making any type of work plan. With a greater understanding of how time is getting used, the scheduling enhancements you must make turn into rather more obvious.

Handle your workforce’s pickle jar with Homebase 

That is the place time monitoring apps like Homebase could make all of the distinction.

Homebase’s time clock app is the primary answer for small enterprise time monitoring.

From monitoring worker work hours to optimizing your labor prices, Homebase’s all-in-one worker administration answer makes managing your workers’ time a breeze.

The perfect components?

• Time monitor precisely with a small enterprise time clock that can be utilized on most iOS, Android, and POS gadgets.
• Evaluate your time monitoring together with your worker schedules and labor forecasts in just some clicks, so your labor prices are on monitor.
• We’ll automate your payroll processes. Now that point you’ve tracked can simply flip into cash in your workers’ pockets.
• Share the most recent time-tracking updates together with your workforce utilizing our in-app workforce communication options.
• Compliance has by no means been simpler with options that make it easier to keep compliant with state and federal labor legal guidelines. And don’t fear, our professionals are right here to information you alongside the best way.

Need assistance with time administration?

Get Homebase, and begin optimizing your time with top-rated scheduling, time clocks, messaging, payroll, HR, and extra. Get began at no cost