I have always been super organised. Well I say always, my mum will probably disagree, it’s likely as a child I wasn’t, but as far back as I remember I have always loved purchasing my new diary ready for the year ahead and sitting down to input all of my special occasions and events into it. I used to love it at work when we got our new diary and I got to transfer all the bookings over to a new, crisp, un-damaged diary (yes, I’m THAT old!!). No-one was forgiven for making a mistake or using the wrong colour pen!
I love managing my time, I love having a plan for everything and I love making sure that other people are organised too. I mean I wouldn’t be a very good Virtual Assistant if I didn’t. Life can be so hectic, things get in the way of perfect plans all the time, and it can be super stressful when deadlines come and go and you still haven’t figured out how to meet them.
Here are my top 10 tips for time management – how do I fit everything into my day, and how do I organise my time so that I can enjoy my social life (when Boris allows), my family life and my business.
Top Tip #1 – Get a diary!
Whether that’s a paper diary, a calendar app on your phone or the diary connected to your emails. Get one and use it! I actually use a bit of a mix. I use Gmail for all of my email accounts and therefor Google Calendar for my diary. I have it open on my laptop whilst working and as an app on my phone for when I’m out and about.
Top Tip #2 – Plan your day, to the minute.
As mentioned above, alongside my Google calendar I use a paper planner. I love stationery. Like have a rather serious addiction to it. So the thought of not having a paper diary used to make me really sad. I have evolved, especially now I have a baby, I just take my phone with me anywhere and I have everything I need, but I still love something I can write in and plan my day. I plan the forthcoming week on a Sunday. The planner I use is from Papier, it is personalised a pink so right up my street, they have such an amazing selection I highly recommend having a browse.
You don’t need to have a paper planner but it is helpful at the end of the week/day to plan your next week/day whether that be in a planner or on a calendar, or both. Set the time aside for the most important tasks and transfer anything from your to do list that you haven’t completed – yes, we are human and to-do lists don’t always get completed. Schedule your full day, work out realistically how long each task is going to take and block the time in your diary. Make sure you schedule breakfast, lunch and dinner (you cannot function on an empty stomach!), and time for checking your emails.
Top Tip #3 - Stop checking your emails.
I know, I’ve just written above to schedule time to check your emails. What I mean here is stop popping into them every 5 minutes to check them and respond to them. Nothing is that important that it can’t wait until your scheduled email response time, and if it is and it is something you are waiting on to complete a task check for that email only and only respond and read that email.
I set time aside first thing in the morning to check my emails and respond, then again about 3/4pm. If you respond to emails immediately and continue to do so your clients will expect it every time. Set the precedent. Stop being available 24/7. Even use the out of office function to inform clients that you will respond within a given time frame. Just remember to under promise and over deliver, never the other way around. If you say you will respond to emails in two hours and realistically you can’t, change it. Set the expectation now.
Top Tip #4 – Invite yourself to appointments.
So, if you are anything like me you probably want to keep work and your home life separate. I have a personal email and therefore a personal calendar, plus my work calendar. I don’t want to see work stuff in my personal calendar, although there are some personal things that need to be in my works calendar so I don’t double book myself. So if you ever make arrangements for things like doctors appointments, school pick ups / drop offs or anything else in the hours when you would normally be working, invite your works email to the calendar appointment (that is assuming you use a calendar app). That way you can work your diary around said appointment and as I said earlier, not double book yourself.
Top Tip #5 – Factor in travel times
Okay, so right now no one is meeting face-to-face, but that is going to change, it really is, and when it does it’s going to be a bit of a shock to the system? Remember to always block off travel time in your diary for getting too and from meetings so that you set off in plenty of time and don’t get side-tracked.
Top Tip #6 – Create a content planner for social media
Let’s face it, social media can be a pain in the bum for independent business owners. It is time consuming, confusing, a nightmare for those non-creatives, and you can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the volume of stuff you need to do. It can be much easier to spend a bit of time brain dumping ideas and creating a plan as to how the month and weeks are going to flow. This helps make sure you touch base on everything you want to cover, you don’t forget to post about the key things you need to remember and it helps to limit the time you spend on social media planning.
So, create a content planner containing the where, what, how of your posts and keep a bank of media that you can choose from – I promise it will help.
Top Tip #7 – Schedule your social media
Using a scheduling tool for social media can help you create content for a few different platforms in one go. I’m not saying it is always the case that what you post on one you want to post on the other, but for so many independent businesses the ability to post across a number of platforms can save so much time and energy and means you having, at the very least, content going out onto a few platforms with minimal effort. I totally appreciate it isn’t always practical to post separate posts on different platforms and thinking up different content for each, but do make sure you adapt the content suitably to ensure all tags and information are correct on the different platforms, (such as ‘link in bio’ being changed to the actual link for Facebook).
Top Tip #8 – Be realistic
Stop trying to fit too much into your day, set yourself realistic time frames to complete tasks and don’t be afraid to roll things over to the next day. We are human, not machines, it is okay not to work 24/7 even whilst owning your own business. You NEED time to yourself, down time, time to enjoy the fruition of your hard work. If we don’t, what are we actually working for?
Top Tip #9 – Don’t be afraid to say NO!
If you can’t do it, don’t say you can! That applies to everything. It is really that simple.
I have spent years saying yes, always helping others, stretching myself into numerous departments and never getting the help in return. This applies to you too. Only say yes to the things that are going to help your business, the things that are going to make your business thrive and those things that are going to offer value to you. It is your life, your business, do what makes you happy.
Top Tip #10 – Schedule in self-care
I cannot stress enough how important it is to set time aside for your own self-care. In a world where we are trying to be perfect at everything; business, parenting, teaching (especially when home-schooling was a thing), friendships, families, you name it, we simply must remember to take time for ourselves. Whether that’s just a quick 10-minute morning ritual with positive affirmations, or a full evening soak in the tub, every day you need to think about you. If you don’t, quite simply put, every other aspect of your life will suffer.
“Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you.” Katie Reed.
If you have given everything above a shot, and you are still finding it hard to manage your time please get in touch. It is highly likely that you really don’t have enough time in the day and it is time to consider outsourcing. I can help you decide what to outsource, how much to outsource and when to do it. You can book a free discover call with me here (https://www.clarewilson.co.uk/services), or just drop me an email clare@clarewilson.co.uk to find out more.
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