Decimate Your To-Do List

Despite all our modern conveniences, for most of us, our day to day lives seem to get more and more hectic.

Staying organized amidst the chaos of our demanding jobs and family obligations can be a struggle at the best of times, and often our hobbies and self-care routines are the first things we’ll give up when time is at a premium.

You might wonder how some people manage to juggle it all with barely a hiccup in the flow of their day.

What sorcery is it that allows them to manage a schedule full of meetings and music lessons, household chores and volunteer duties?

How do they get anything done?

Witchcraft?

Have they made some deal with the devil to be able to move through life untouched by the grasping hands of forgotten obligations and the stress of an overflowing to-do list?

Unlikely.

If you do a bit of digging you’ll find the black arts don’t enter into it at all!

It’s simply a habit or two they’ve established that ensures they always have a handle on their schedule and an empty back burner.

Things like:

1. Keeping A Calendar

I know it’s hard but believe me, you will thank yourself later if you just stick to putting things in your calendar.

Use a web-based calendar that you can access and update from anywhere at any time, and put everything in there. Things like meetings, parties, dentist appointments, anything that you need to schedule.

And put the reminder/notification function to good use. It’s easy to get caught up in your work. Before you know it, your 10am meeting has now turned into 10:15 and you’re totally flustered and embarrassed because you’re late. Been there!

Personally I also schedule blocks of time for doing things like planning my marketing or professional development. If you decide to go that route, you have to stick with it.

Pro Tip: If you’re setting a date with someone on the phone, do not hang up until it’s in your calendar. If it’s via email do not RSVP ‘attending’ until it is in your calendar.

2. Always Having Paper And A Pen With You

You never know when technology will fail you, and it will.

Even though we are constantly connected to the good ol’ interwebs these days with smartphones, tablets, and laptops, there is always a possibility that adding your new appointments or commitments to your calendar on the fly might not be possible. Wi-fi and cellular networks can go down or you could drop or otherwise break your phone…

I mean… that’s definitely never happened to me or anything… yeah. Let’s go with that!

The point is, have a backup plan so that you can jot down a note or an appointment if necessary but DO NOT go to bed until that note or appointment has been moved to its permanent home (wherever that may be).

3. Use a Project Management Tool

If you’re like me, scheduling is the least of your worries. The real trouble is that massive and ever-growing to-do list that often resides solely in the confines of your mind.

First, that to-do list needs a home. Put it somewhere you can refer back to easily and often. Then you need to start tackling it and checking things off.

A great way to do this is to set up a project management tool, such as Teamwork. There are other good options out there (such as Asana, or Trello), but Teamwork is my personal fav.

You can set up a space for each of your clients and house all your major projects and all of the relevant tasks for each within them. Set due dates, reminders, link files, and add comments to keep all relevant info in one spot.

Teamwork even allows you to log your time which is great for keeping track of your hours. This can be useful for a few reasons:

• If you have clients on an hourly retainer package, this will help you ensure you’re on track to use their hours for the month and help you keep track of overages for billing purposes.

• If you have clients on a package you can use the information to make sure your pricing is on point and estimate your future workload.

4. Keep Your To-Do List Tidy

Before you put a task off to the back burner, ask yourself how long it will take. If the answer is “45 seconds or less” – just do it then and there.

Then keep a task list of items that will take 10 minutes or less. Put aside 1 hour per day to complete these tasks and get as many of the tasks done on your list as possible during that block of time. You can do this at whatever time of day suits you. Bonus, that little rush of adrenaline you’ll get after seeing how much you’ve done! I live for that feeling.

Another trick is to group similar tasks and complete them together. For example – if you need to create a whole bunch of images in Photoshop for different clients, do all of these tasks together. Having to switch gears constantly is a well-known productivity drain that you can avoid!

Lastly – don’t be afraid to delegate! If there’s a task that you don’t enjoy doing, or aren’t particularly good at, give it to a team member or outsource it as needed. You don’t have to do all the things yourself.

Wrapping Up

No matter how you decide to handle things, remember: consistency is key. The more you do something the more it becomes a habit and once it becomes a habit you’re golden.

What did I miss? I’d love to hear your tips for staying productive! Leave me a comment below!  <3