Ever since starting my business, I've had to be more intentional of how I spent my time and over the last 3 years, I've figured out a groove that works for me. I'm not one to batch out every hour to the T, but I do love a plan that gets me focused and aware what each day will look like. Below is my routine on getting started with the week -
Pre-Plan Sunday
I like to loosely plan my week on Sunday's with a big brain dump of what I have going on that week. This includes
- key deadlines
- meetings
- social get togethers (biz or personal)
- flex day (includes left over to-do's and ending the day early)
Prioritize
From there I like to really consider what each tasks brings to my business and think is this really moving my business forward?
An example would be -
Do I work on adjusting the pink shade on my website to match my new branding OR do I work on SEO to get people to come to my site?
Probably work on SEO, but it's easy to want to pick the first option because it is a quick win.
Batch
Batch working is not a new concept, but what I like about it is that you are in batching things that make the most sense to do together to stay in the "flow." As someone who love(d) to multitask, I realized my focus was a little bit of everywhere and I wasn't getting a lot done as much as I thought. Batch working on specific topics one at a time is what helps me stay in the zone and move forward.
For example, on Monday's I like to create my content and anything administrative related so a blog (this post!) creating pins for the week, IG + email are part of content day. They all incorporate writing so my mind is focused primarily on that.
I don't like to do much creative work on these days because I'm mostly focused on the computer work. But if I want to do a creative day on Monday instead then I do! I just don't overlap computer + creative on the same day much.
Schedule It
I use my google calendar and notion like no other. I like combining both my written to-do's into my notion so I can visually see everything as well and block it into my day the morning of.
I don't like to plan the WHOLE week into my Google calendar because I like fluidity, but I like to have a general idea of what each day will look like and move things around as I want.
I work in 60 min increments then give myself a 15 min break in between each tasks.
Play with this method and use other time blocks like 30 minutes or even 15. Everyone works differently and it is up to you to try which increments allow you to stay focused but also not drained.
Planning my week on Sunday with a loose "skeleton" as I call it is super helpful for me. It lets me go into the day and week knowing what I am going to work on and also where I am busiest. It also helps me see where I have more free time, so if I want to catch up with my mom or friend, I can do it that day.
Hope you find these tips helping in starting your week with ease! Join our email list for more helpful tips on reducing stress and making the most of your time here!