Tag Archives: time management

Day 3197 – New Method To Manage My Millions Of To Dos – Productivity Tips

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I have lists upon lists of things to do. From routines for myself, to tasks to do for our business, to the myriad of tasks for my clients, it’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed with it all.

I’ve used the same printed to do list for years, which lists my week and all of my major to dos. But I’ve started a new method of keeping track each day that’s been working really well for me – yellow legal pads.

I currently have a stack of six, one for each weekday and one for the weekend. I’ve noticed a big shift in quality of work when I write my to do list the day before. I had been creating 2 days in advance, since I had 3 legal pads. But I recently purchased 3 more, which allows me to create my to do list for the next week when I finish a current day. I love that I have my to do lists written for the next week. I can easily add a task where it’s needed. I typically leave my client spaces empty, except for definite to dos.

I use Asana to keep track of all of my tasks for each client, our business, and my personal projects. I can’t say enough good things about Asana. It has changed my life. When I am finishing out my day and adjusting tomorrow’s to do list, I look through my Asana for each client and for us for tasks.

I’m a big believer in the pen to paper method for things. It really does make a difference in retention and it just feels good to write things down.

This method of writing out all my to dos like this will likely change as time goes on, but that’s the beauty of it – it CAN change. You aren’t stuck with one method of keeping track of your endless to dos. One thing will work today, and it might be a totally different thing in a month or a year.

How do you keep track of your to dos?

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Day 3194 – New Boundaries – or – Time Management Tips

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I am constantly trying to better myself and make my life more efficient. I try to pay attention to myself and how different things impact me. One area that I have struggled with is checking my work emails on the weekends and in the evenings……and first thing in the morning. I told myself it was because I was keeping up to date, but truly, I wasn’t going to actually work or do anything about what came through. So checking was distracting me from other things I could be doing – reading, hanging out with Bret, working on our business, or other projects.

Well friends, I had some major growth in this area over the weekend – I didn’t check my work emails AT ALL! From Friday evening at 5 p.m. until now, I haven’t checked my emails. I’m trying to be pretty strict about only doing client work during 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. each weekday. By giving myself work hours, it really does help me turn off work and the need to check. I have so many different things that I’m working on right now that I HAVE to have boundaries. 9-5 during the week is plenty of time to accomplish what I need to do. I did pretty well last week with my work hours, so I’m curious to see how this week goes, now that I’ve established this rule.

I think that creativity and productivity thrive with set rules, systems, and guidelines. (At least mine does)

What about you? What boundaries do you have in place?

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Day 2945 – How To Make Big Improvements – Track Every Minute Of Your Day

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As I admitted two weeks ago, I spent five hours playing video games in one day. It was painful to admit this to Bret, to myself, and to my readers. Boy howdy, it was a very humbling day. Since then, I have tracked my time on most weekdays. The only exception is when I work out of the home office. I haven’t tracked my time on the weekends, but I think I’m going to start. It is astounding how much my productivity, drive, and accomplishments take a dive on the weekends. I don’t want to necessarily work all weekend. In some respects, I don’t want to work at all. But I can be more purposeful in how I spend my time, and that’s what tracking my time has done for me – made me purposeful.

So how can you track your time? There are many ways to track time out there, but for me, I’m all about pen to paper, and using Excel to give me percentages and totals.

My best days start with preparation the night before.

Evening routine:
– clean all of the dishes
– prep the coffee for the morning
– fill all of the water bottles
– prep my doTERRA diffuser
– write out my to do list for the next day
– pick out the sermon to listen to
– copy my time spent sheet from today into a new sheet, rename it, and remove today’s time

I’m not all there for the first 15-20 minutes in the morning. If I have to sit down and figure out what to do, what to listen to, make the coffee, etc, it will not be the best use of my time.

Creating my to do list:
– I open all of my different Asana accounts (I’m only at three, not that crazy….yet)
– I move all my tasks around based on what type of day I’ll have – am I working at home or out of the office?
– I’m currently writing out my to do list on a small legal pad. This has helped me keep my expectations grounded. I mean, really, I’m not going to finish ALL of my tasks on a large legal pad, it’s too optimistic.
– I list my daily must dos first
– If there are especially important tasks, I add a star
– Once I finish my list and pack up my notes, I sometimes take the advice of Deep Work* and say something like “you are done work for the day.” It helps to tell my brain – “brain, you’re not working anymore, you are free to relax and do other things right now.”

Because I’ve done all the preparation the day before, it’s so easy to jump into my day. I already know what I’m going to do first, second, third, and beyond. My workspace is clean, my air will smell pretty (thanks diffuser!), and my coffee will be ready.

I use legal pads to keep track of my time; different colors for different clients and purposes. Over the last two weeks, I’ve split a few of the categories I’m tracking. Before, I had the following categories:
– On Jen Stuff
– On Fun
– On Home
– On Bret
– On each client

But this didn’t give me a robust picture at all.

Here are my current categories:
– Building Business – this includes blogging, reading other blogs, posting in my Facebook group, posting on social media, etc.
– Writing
– Workout/meditation/yoga
– Devos/journaling
– Self-Care
– Relax
– Organizing
– Education
– Fiction reading
– on fun – games
– social
– on home
– Bret work
– Bret growth
– each of my clients

I’ve set up a spreadsheet that totals my time and percentages and I update it throughout the day. Yesterday, I started the day with a goal of hours and percentages to hit in different categories. It was great to actually hit those goals.

Here’s a peek at my legal pads. Please excuse the handwriting. 😀

Do you track your time? Has it helped you or hindered you? Let me know in the comments below.

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Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel