Go to meetings and/or make phone calls with an agenda and questions in mind. Know in advance what you both WANT and NEED to accomplish during a telephone call or meeting. Having no objective, pre-preparred questions, or agenda allows other topics to creep in, thus potentially wasting your valuable time.
Running a business is challenging! Resources are at a premium (e.g., time, space, money, etc.), so learning to maximize what you have is important, and can mean the difference between success and failure. Often, we simply need to change the way that we are looking at things, and, in turn, how we are managing our time. By freeing up time, you can then focus on the things that are important to the success of the business. So, learning how to “create” time in already busy days…, not only adds to your productivity, it grows the success of your company.