Are you feeling overwhelmed by all the things you need and want to get done? If the length of your to-do list has you breaking out in a cold sweat, you’re not alone.
Pick any typical week. As well as your admin, blogging, networking, meetings and emails, you need to actually do your work, whether that’s working directly with clients or creating products and fulfilling orders.
And then there’s family, friends, housework… how the heck are you supposed to fit everything in?
I’ve been there many times too. I’ve had so much to do that I didn’t even know where to start. But over time I’ve picked up tips and developed a way of organising myself so that I can prioritise tasks and know what I should be working on.
[Tweet “Overwhelmed by your to-do list? Here’s a way to get everything done”]
Here’s how I get things done, and how you can too:
Batch your tasks
This system is based on batching tasks. Because if you flit from job to job like an office-based butterfly, it’s so easy for your brain to get tired out. Your concentration goes down and it becomes much easier to get distracted or procrastinate.
But if you group similar tasks together, you’re less likely to get distracted and your productivity goes up. Put simply, you find your groove!
For example, if you settle down to create a bunch of social media graphics, your brain goes into creative mode and you’ll complete each one faster than if you made one, then made a call, then wrote a blog post, then back to creating graphics. Because each time you switch tasks like that, it can take up to 15 minutes to refocus your mind on what you’re doing.
Schedule time to work on your business
So often you get so busy working in your business that you forget or run out of time to work on your business. It’s time to change that.
The easiest way to find time to work on your business is to schedule it. If it ain’t in your calendar, it ain’t happening. It’s too easy to forget or ignore it. So intentionally set aside time for your business and, most of the time, it should happen.
Tip: the same applies for your personal life. Struggling to find time to exercise or catch up with friends? Add it to your calendar to make sure it happens.
Block off the first hour or two of each day to work on your business. You can set up a repeating event in Google Calendar so that the same time is blocked off each week.
Intentionally setting this time aside means that during these hours you can focus on your business without worrying about client work or errands you need to run (put time for those in your calendar too!). And then once you’re finished, you can focus on your client work without worrying that you’re neglecting your own business. Everything has its place in your schedule.
[Tweet “Schedule time to work on your business rather than just work in your business”]
Prioritise your tasks
The next step is to decide what you’ll be doing in those 1-2 hours each day. You’re going to give each day a theme so that you know what to work on and what to prioritise.
Make a list of all the stuff you need to be working on. Include things that keep your business running, like invoicing, and things that will develop or grow your business, like creating new products or reaching out to new clients. Don’t include things like client projects though; remember, this is your time.
You’ll probably find you can sort your specific tasks into broad categories, like admin, marketing and product development. Use each category to give each day a theme. So, for example, on Monday you could focus on marketing your business.
Theming your days lets you prioritise what you work on. Rather than dithering between updating social media or writing a chapter of your eBook, you know that it’s a marketing day so now is the time for Facebook and you’ll be working on your eBook later in the week, on a product development day.
Different categories may need different amounts of time, for example, most weeks my admin fits into one hour, but if I’m working on a new product I may like to take the whole morning. Work out how long you need and adjust the times you’ve blocked off in your calendar. In Google Calendar you can also colour-code the events so you can see at a glance how your week is set up.
Take control of your to-do list
The final step involves your to-do list. It’s not enough to just theme your day. That’s too vague and you could still dither between which of your marketing tasks you need to get done.
So for each theme day create a to-do list. Try to limit it to 3-4 tasks, or what you can reasonably get through in the time you’ve set aside. Though if your first task is a networking event, that’s probably going to use up your entire session so that’s all that needs to be on your list!
If you’re always ending your session with things unfinished, you’re probably putting too much on your list. And, just as checking off a task motivates you to keep g0oing, regularly having things unfinished is really demotivating.
So only put down the few things that are most important. If you get through your list with time to spare you can always add in something else – or you could reward yourself with a celebratory coffee break to relax for a little while.
And if you want to get even more organised, at the end of each workday, write out tomorrow’s to-do list. That way you can launch straight into work in the morning rather than spending time planning your session.
Take action
If you’d like help figuring out how to theme and plan your days, I’ve put together a handy worksheet. Download your copy for free:
Fight the overwhelm
Download this free worksheet to help you theme and plan your days to make sure you don't neglect your own business. You'll also get regular helpful branding and WordPress tips to help make your business awesome.