Business planning

I have always hated being inefficient with my time. As a wife, mom, business owner, outdoor enthusiast, runner, musician, and 500 other things I’m sure I’m forgetting to mention, my time is precious.

Same as you, dear reader.

Spending time on something that could either take less time or trying to clarify what is even needed is infuriating for me. It always has been (sorry-not-sorry past bosses that were probably so irritated at my questions).

This is why I am so focused on the importance of planning. Without a plan, without an idea of what needs to happen to reach our goals, dreams, vision…. We may as well just ride the ocean wherever it takes us, never aiming for the big wave that will take us to shore. (I have no idea where that analogy came from… but you get the picture).

So, here we are, with our quarterly and weekly planning all worked out (see THESE BLOGS), how do we use that and make sure our daily plans are the best and most efficient use of our time?

 

Step 1 – Find a time of the day to do your daily planning. Either right at the beginning of the day or the day before.

Step 2 – Create a master list of all your tasks, and projects, that are upcoming, use post-its, note-cards, homing pigeons, whatever. But do something that really gets in your head. Make sure to check messages, emails, slacks, PM tool

Step 3 – Look at your list of tasks and projects and categorize them into the Eisenhower matrix.

Urgent / Important	Not Urgent / Important
Urgent / Not Important	Not Urgent / Not Important

Quadrant 1 High priority and urgent: 

• anything that needs to be done for upcoming meetings
• Anything for an upcoming deadline
• Anything to fix an “emergency”

Quadrant 2 High priority and not-urgent

• Not part of day-to-day ops but help you get closer to goals and typically requires more focus. 
• These are strategic projects, development, or something that is going to make your life better
• Try to fit only 1-2 of these a day( in fact 2 is way too much)unless there is nothing urgent and important

Quadrant 3 Urgent/not important

• These are typically admin things or things that can be delegated to someone else
• Unexpected texts or phone calls
• Social media replies. 
• Maybe can be done during buffer time or admin time.

Quadrant 4 Non-Urgent/not important

• If anything falls in this category, it’s not going to make your list at all. Fugetaboutit.

Step 4: Looking at your existing schedule, fit the tasks in priority order leaving buffer time in between. This week means you probably will ONLY have 3-4 “things” a day that will get done from your task list.

THIS IS OKAY!

Step 4.5: (This is only a half step because you don’t HAVE to do it, but I recommend doing it for those of you who need a bit more processing time to fully commit to getting things done that day).
Write down those three tasks, or highlight them in your list. I have a day planner on my iPad that I write down my priorities for the day being those 3 to 5 tasks/projects that will be done. Then I go onto step 5. 

Step 5: Go into your Task Management System (If you don’t have one… get one, and if you don’t know which one to get, I recommend THIS ONE (ClickUp) and make your top tasks are showing up on your worklist for that day.

You can also add the tasks in the calendar view as well.

** Recommendation – Create an “ideal work day/week” within your preferred calendar (Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Microsoft Calendar) and import that calendar into ClickUp. 

Check out how to do this in my YouTube video below. 

https://youtu.be/r9h-ySZRIx0

 

“Ughh. I feel like I have no time in the week.”

 

I am willing to bet that you say this to yourself from time to time. Or maybe even daily.

 

As a mom of two boys, wife, and business owner… I said that to myself A LOT.

Once I realized and started to operate with the mindset that every goal I had for the week needed a plan of action ahead of time, I finally felt like I could manage life.

Take a listen to my latest Youtube video that just dropped this week because it is all about weekly planning, how to use Airtable to plan your week, and as always, productivity for the busy neuro-divergent entrepreneur.

Watch my YouTube video for the six steps that I use to plan my week with Airtable. 👇

 

Don’t forget to grab my Goal Planning Template! (What you see in the video!) 

 

Are you tired of missing things that you love in life?

 

I know I am.

As a mom, a business owner, and a neurodivergent female, I have struggled to reach any long-term goals because my attention is constantly pulled in a million directions. 

Anyone out there feel the same?

Well, I’m going to share with you how I am changing the script in 2023 by going through my goal-planning strategy (or habit-creation strategy) that I went through to not only plan for my business, but for my LIFE. 

Think of your life in the following four areas 

Self-Care / Personal Health / Financial / Creative 

These will give you a good round view of all parts of your life that can be optimized or improved.

Write out what you imagine your “perfect day” to be like. This is not about your perfect vacation or a respite from the every day, but how you imagine living your life, earning your money, and choosing the people you are around.

This “perfect day” is your life intention, at least at the present moment. There will be pieces of it that you can pull out and identify as being geared toward self-care (meditation, yoga, massages), personal health (exercise, healthy eating, etc.), Financial (not having to worry about money, able to plan a long weekend away with the family) and creative (writing a book, painting a sunset, you name it).

Each of these intentions can help you identify the “goals” or the “finish lines” that you need to cross within the next year to get you a few steps closer to your intentions.

Watch my YouTube video for more details 👇

 

Check out my Goal Planning Template! (What you see in the video!)