Sometimes, it feels like all we need in our lives is these few extra things;
More hours in the day
A clone
More wine, and
More hours in the day (!!)
Only one of those things is a realistic possibility, and more wine will not actually help you get more done… it might make you feel better short term and that’s about it. So, we try and cram things in and pedal faster!
I am going to share a little secret with you. Pedalling faster isn’t the answer. In fact, it’s never the answer. The opposite is the answer. Get out of the go cart, have a look at it, and see if you can streamline it and make it more efficient.
We all get given the same amount of hours in our day! It’s how you choose to spend it and organise yourself that makes the difference.
There’s the big, overwhelming list that is looking at you all day long (that actually is only half a list cause the rest is in your head!), the messy workspace you don’t have time to clear, and OMG your email inbox is terrifying. Am I right?
You feel like you don’t have time to stop and sort these things out or do any planning because you are already behind with what you need to do, and that will just slow you down. It’s something I see so many people struggle with, and honestly, it doesn’t have to be this way.
If you actually STOPPED trying to hustle yourself into working faster and did a few essential things to help you manage your time, you would be far more productive. In a day and age where business coaches are all about ‘hustle hustle’ and small business owners brag about being so busy they have to work until midnight every single night of the week, I’m actually all about slowing down and being smart about it.
Here’s a few tips that might help you out.
Declutter your workspace.
A cluttered workspace equals a cluttered mind, if you don’t believe me, try it! My tip for decluttering is to put everything on the floor and then only put back what you need. Buy some coloured archive boxes from the office supplies store, and ‘hide’ things out of the way. By putting things on the floor, you tend to only handle things once as you deal with them, if you start with a corner or a cluttered area, inevitably you will move things repeatedly as you progress….
Set yourself a time limit for things.
It’s amazing how much faster we all work on a deadline, but when we work for ourselves, there’s no-one hovering over us to please. It’s super easy to think ‘oh I must just check who has saddle pads on sale whilst I think of it? (I mean, everyone does that, right? It’s not just me?) An hour later you have bought two saddle pads, replied a few messages, watched a funny cat video and commented on a few posts in your favourite groups on FB.
A great way to get things DONE is to set a time limit for tasks. So instead of ‘I’m going to reconcile my accounts (YAWN) you might say ‘I’m going to spend 30 minutes on reconciling accounts and nothing else. If you break your day into chunks like that, even if it is a few hours at a time, you will get far more done in the day, than if you just float from task to task.
Be realistic.
You can schedule all you want, but if you are trying to do too much, in too short a time, or do things when your energy is low, no schedule can fix that.
Here’s a way forward for you, and possibly a hard truth…
Figure out what is important.
Do that first.
Figure out what isn’t important.
Don’t do it at all.
Figure out why some things take you so long.
Fix that.
Figure out what you need to do but struggle to do.
Outsource that.
Like I said at the start, pedalling faster is never the answer. There is NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT to stop, hop out of your go-kart and sort some things out. You can thank me later. 🙂