I’m coming up on my third anniversary as a virtual assistant, so I thought it was high time I celebrated! I will say I’ve grown into more of a virtual office manager than anything else. Can we say hodge podge? Because really, if you look that up in the dictionary, my face is there.
I’m so thankful for the path my life has taken, and I love the freedom and flexibility this job provides. I am also thankful for the awesome people I have met because of it.
In honor of a day celebrating us organized folks, I wanted to give you a few of my current tips.
– Color coding my handwritten to do list – You know I’ve toyed with a number of methods for my to do list. Right now, I’ll look at each of my various lists – I have an Asana account for each of the businesses I do freelance work for, and a personal Asana for all of my projects, including but not limited to – writing, this blog, Journey with the G’s, Bret’s real estate investing business, and more. I’ll pull out my legal pad, and write my list the night before (this has been a BIG help). Then I’ll highlight – one color for all work for each client. If there’s a particularly important task that HAS to get done that day, I add a star. Another color for Bret work. Then I alternate two colors for everything else.
– Getting up at 5/5:30 a.m. – For years I’ve read that getting up early is a good thing. For years I’ve tried for a few days and then go back to my old ways. Friends, I’ve gotten up most mornings in this early window for about a week or so. I point to this change in my day as the main reason I have accomplished SO much in the last week or so. I finished my road trip manuscript, I created a Facebook community, I created an email list, I uploaded my road trip budgeting spreadsheet online as a bonus if you sign up for the list. I have such a fire under my butt about getting things done. I’ve talked about doing these things for a while, because I LOVE talking about travel. I LOVE encouraging people to take road trips. Now I will be able to talk to so many more people about it. Woooo!!! But I just love the feeling of getting the most important things done early (sermon/devotions, journaling, blogging, writing, sometimes working out). I used to jump into freelance work around 9/10ish, where now I’m jumping in around 7:30/8. At the end of my days, I’m not feeling overwhelmed because I didn’t get much done that day, I’m feeling accomplished.
What about you? How do you stay organized?
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I am also an avid list maker. In fact I have a list of lists. I have recently taken the plunge to set up my own Virtual Assistant business, so I’ve now taken to typing my lists up on my computer so I can easily track my progress in a spreadsheet. That way I’m less likely to lose my lists and I find it gives me a boost to see all of the tasks I’ve ticked off. I find it encouraging when I feel like I haven”t achieved anything that day.
Have you heard of Asana? It’s an amazing free tool (app and browser based). It has truly helped me in all my many lists! Ha ha, and like you, I have lists of lists. Good luck in your new business!
No I hadn’t but I will definitely check it out. Many thanks for the advice, that’s very kind of you!