Productivity Tips for Small Business Owners: How to Tackle Your To-Do List

Running a small business isn’t for the faint of heart. Every day, you’re juggling multiple roles: handling day-to-day operations, managing employees, taking care of customer inquiries, and—of course—keeping that never-ending to-do list in check. It can feel like a constant battle, with more tasks piling up than you can realistically handle.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to break down overwhelming tasks into small, actionable steps that you can tackle with ease.
• The power of prioritising your to-do list to focus on what truly matters for your business.
• Why striving for “good enough” often leads to faster results and less stress.
• Simple strategies to batch similar tasks and improve your productivity.
• How to turn routine tasks into effortless habits that keep your to-do list in check.

What if we told you that getting to the bottom of your to-do list isn’t about working harder, longer, or squeezing every last drop of productivity out of your day? It’s about being smart, strategic, and focused on what really matters.

Let’s get started:

1. Break Big Tasks Into Actionable Steps

Big tasks are often the ones we dread most on our to-do list. When a task feels too overwhelming, it’s easy to put it off indefinitely. For example, if you’ve written “organise finances” on your list, it might seem too broad and unmanageable. But here’s the key: break it down into smaller, actionable steps.

Instead of “organise finances,” try:

• Gather receipts for the last quarter
• Review Q1 cash flow
• Organise receipts by date
• Update business expenses in accounting software

By doing this, you’re not staring at an intimidating task. You’ve got clear actions that are much easier to tackle. Plus, as you check off each small task, you get a sense of accomplishment that keeps you motivated. And here’s a bonus: breaking tasks down also makes them easier to delegate to others, so you don’t have to do everything yourself.

2. Don’t Let Perfect Be the Enemy of Good

Perfectionism is a productivity killer, especially for small business owners. If you’re constantly trying to make everything perfect, you’ll never finish anything—and that only adds to your stress.

We get it—it’s understandable to want everything to be flawless. But in the real world of business, done is better than perfect. For example, if you’re working on a marketing campaign, you don’t need every detail to be meticulously polished before you launch. Send out that first draft. It doesn’t need to be perfect—it needs to be out there.

And guess what? Once you start doing this consistently, you’ll realise that “good enough” is often more than enough. Not only will you get things done quicker, but you’ll be able to adjust and improve as you go.

Here’s how you can put this into action:

• Set a deadline for tasks to avoid endless tweaking.
• Give yourself permission to move on, even if you feel something isn’t 100% perfect. Chances are, your customers or employees won’t even notice the small things you’re stressing over.

3. Prioritise Your To-Do List: Focus on What Really Matters

It’s easy to think everything on your to-do list is urgent. But let’s be honest—most things are not as critical as they seem. One of the biggest hurdles for small business owners is deciding what to tackle first.

Start by asking yourself: What will make the biggest impact on your business right now?

For example, let’s say you have “review employee holiday requests” and “update your website” on your list. Which one will help you avoid headaches this week? Reviewing employee holiday requests might be the priority if there are urgent leave requests, whereas updating the website can likely wait.

A simple way to prioritise is using the Eisenhower Matrix, a tool that helps you categorise tasks into four groups:

1. Urgent and important: Do these right away.
2. Important, not urgent: Schedule time to do these.
3. Urgent, not important: Delegate these if possible.
4. Not urgent, not important: Eliminate them from your list.

Focusing on what matters most means fewer distractions and more meaningful progress for your business.  

If managing holidays feels like it’s taking too much time, consider using The Holiday Tracker to automate the process and free up time for more impactful work.

4. Turn Your To-Do List Into Actionable Steps

A list full of vague tasks like “write report” or “sort out new website” doesn’t provide the clarity you need to make real progress. If the task isn’t clear, it’s easy to procrastinate or get stuck in analysis paralysis. Instead, break it down into specific, actionable steps.

For example, instead of writing “write report,” try:

• Create an outline of the sections in the report 

Instead of “sort out new website,” try:

• Research and make a list of suitable contractors to design a new website

This way, you can clearly see what needs to be done and make progress one step at a time.

5. Batch Tasks for Maximum Focus

Multitasking might seem like a time-saver, but it’s actually one of the biggest productivity myths. Switching between tasks constantly can waste valuable time and mental energy, a process known as context switching. Instead, try batching similar tasks together.

For example, if you’ve got multiple emails to send, batch them into one sitting. Or if you need to review employee time-off requests, do them all at once instead of spreading them throughout the week.

Batching helps you maintain focus, reduces the mental effort of switching between unrelated tasks, and allows you to dive deep into one type of work at a time. It also prevents you from feeling overwhelmed by constantly shifting gears.

6. Routine Tasks: Turn Them Into Simple Habits

Some tasks on your to-do list feel like they’re never-ending. Checking emails, reviewing holiday requests, updating employee records—they seem to pile up no matter how many times you handle them.

The solution? Turn these routine tasks into habits.

Make them part of your daily or weekly routine, so they don’t clutter up your list. For example, schedule 15 minutes each morning to clean out your inbox, or set aside time every Monday to review leave requests for the week. Once you’ve turned these into habitual tasks, you won’t need to keep adding them to your to-do list. They’ll just get done without much effort.

Final Thoughts: Take Control of Your To-Do List Today

Running a small business is all about working smarter, not harder. By breaking tasks into actionable steps, prioritising what truly matters, and building habits that support your goals, you can take control of your to-do list and free up time to focus on growing your business.

When it comes to managing employee holidays and absences, The Holiday Tracker is here to help lighten your load. Our simple, intuitive software takes the stress out of tracking leave, so you can focus on what you do best.

Start your free trial today and discover how efficient leave management can free up your time for what truly matters.