I am the organization queen. Seriously, I think that's what makes being a virtual assistant the perfect job for me. I'm not happy unless everything is organized. Not only that, but life is so much easier if you've got it all organized and you know what you're doing.
If you're going through your working day all over the place, jumping from one task to another, feeling overwhelmed, you'll likely find that although you feel as though you're really busy you're probably not getting that much done.
It's actually a very normal trait for creatives and entrepreneurs to struggle with the organization side of their biz. After all, you set up your business to create and sell your product or service, you didn't necessarily plan out all of the organization that comes with that.
Achieving your goals and a healthy work-life balance becomes a lot more attainable when you work toward them in a methodical manner. Learning to stay organized and manage your workload with your time will help you maximise your productivity so much, as well as generally making your life that little bit easier.
Here are my top 5 tips on getting organized!
1. Make Lists
It's almost a running joke with my family and friends how I love a list. But really, I love a list. When you have everything jumbled around in your head, and you know that you've got lots to do but you can't really remember what it is or what order to do it in, then you need to let it out. The best way to do this is by compiling it all together in a list and working your way through it.
It can be a really simple jotted down scribble of a list on your notepad, or you can be fancier about it and type up your list on a project management tool such as Asana. You can even section your lists in to categories, deadline dates, and priorities. Whatever way works for your best.
Having everything together in one place is such a therapeutic and simple way of managing your workload. It's also really satisfying to start working through it and eliminating those items off your list. You can make a list on a monthly, weekly or daily basis depending on your workflow, but remember to stick to it and refer back to it!
2. Time Block
I am a huge advocate of time blocking for effective time management. It is a time management process that essentially means you block out times of your day and assign them to different tasks.
Using your to-do list that you have created, or looking at your calendar for the day, segment your tasks into time slots and section them out throughout the day. So for example, if you know you need to respond to some emails, write a blog post, create social media content and plan an event, create four different time slots throughout your day and assign them to each individual task based on how long you think it will take to achieve it.
Time blocking is a super effective way of maximising your productivity and minimizing multi-tasking. You can focus on one project at a time, complete that and then move onto the next one without flitting in between reproductively.
3. Plan, plan, plan
Failure to plan is planning to fail! But seriously, the more effort you put into efficiently planning your workflow, the easier it will become to achieve it. Whether you use a written journal planner or use an online tool (Asana, Trello, Monday - they're all great!).
Planning and project managing your workflow helps you to stay on track with your ongoing projects and business commitments. Having this visual representation of your tasks, notes, schedule and requirements helps you to process them in a focused way.
As a creative virtual assistant, I create projects for every client that I work with and keep track of all of our tasks, notes, goals and ideas as we work together so that it's easy for us to collaboratively monitor the business. I can not recommend enough the importance of planning and keeping on top of everything, it gets it all out of your head and into one place that you can easily refer back to whenever you need to.
4. Tools, workflows & apps
Work smarter, not harder. There are so many online tools and apps that cover such a huge range of business requirements, look into the ones that can streamline your working processes.
If you spend hours managing your calendar, scheduling events and planning calls, look into automated calendar tools such as Calendly to help automate this process and reduce the amount of organization you personally have to put into this. Or if a big part of your business is customer relations, look at using a CRM platform, such as HubSpot, that can streamline a lot of your repeat tasks to take the manual aspect out of it for you.
5. Outsource
Do what you do best and outsource the rest. It's not a sales pitch, honestly. You just physically can not do it all on your own, especially not if you want your business to grow and uplevel. Look into what areas of your business seem to take up the most of your time, or the ones that you really don't enjoy doing. Outsource these tasks to a trained freelancer or virtual assistant and tick those items of your to-do list. This will give you more time to focus on and invest time into other aspects of your biz.
You will also find that by outsourcing these tasks to a trained individual, they will be able to offer suggestions or improvements on the way you're already doing things. Having multiple brains on ideas can give you so much fresh perspective, so be open to suggestions of change that could benefit your business.
Utilizing these tips in your business can really help you to run your workday with a fresh mind and a focus on the task at hand. Organization really takes the stress out of the overwhelm. Create a practical planning system and regular routine to follow, and you'll find achieving your goals a lot more feasible.
To talk more about outsourcing, time management or business productivity tips, you can get in touch with me at laura@kelpcollective.com. I'm always happy to hear from you!
L x
Creative Virtual Assistant