Guest Blog by Emilia Capper aka 'Organisation Queen' My Assistant Emilia
Are you feeling overwhelmed with how much needs doing in your business? Do you ever feel like you’re working constantly but achieving nothing? Are you always running out of time?
Here are my ‘Top Five Tips for Organisation’ that are going to help you get more done, in less time!
Lists, lists and more lists
I know this may seem obvious, but anytime anyone says to me they are feeling overwhelmed or has too much to do and doesn’t know where to start. My first question is always - have you made a list?
Transferring from brain to paper will calm your mind and allow you to formulate a plan. You can then get started, making sure you prioritise what is most important. A good tip is to start with the things you least enjoy, otherwise these are the things that never end up getting done and keep getting moved on to the following days to do list.
Anything that takes less than a couple of minutes should not be added to the list - just do it there and then!
I find it really helpful to write a list every evening for everything I want to achieve the following day. Not only does it help me relax and sleep better because it’s not all buzzing around in my head, but, the next day you can crack on straight away as you already have your day planned out.
Delegate
Delegate to your VA or member of staff if your workload is too much at the moment. If you don't have one, then get one! I understand in the current climate, that may not be an option. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed, have a look at your business and how much has to be done by you, and how much could be done by someone else to free up your time.
You need to look at the bigger picture. The more time you spend doing the day to day tasks, the less time you are spending on growing your business and doing the things that are going to make you more money in the long run.
Time Block
and stick to it!
This is about creating balance and ensuring things that are important to you and your business don’t get forgotten when you get busy.
For example, if you are a service based business, you could block out half of the day for client work and then two hours at the end of the day to work on your own business. Until I started using this method, I was also guilty of never allowing enough time for my own business. Yes, clients are important, but so are you.
Get specific about how you will use that time, whether it is social media scheduling for your business, or exactly which client’s work you will be working on - plan it all out. Most importantly - breaks! Block time for these too, otherwise we all know how easy it is to end up staring at our screens all day. This will help to avoid burnout and actually boost productivity.
Batching Tasks
This is a good one, because it really can save you so much time. The idea is that you group together a lot of similar tasks and do them all in one go.
In your business, you could batch create content for your social media. If you only do your posts day by day, it’s going to take you a lot longer than if you sit down and plan a couple of weeks in one go. If you send monthly invoices to clients, try and get them all on the same cycle so that you can do them all in one go, once a month.
Stop Multitasking
Most of us are guilty of doing this - alot! When you are juggling lots of different tasks, it can often mean things don’t get done properly or can take longer overall.
You are far better off focusing on one thing at a time, doing that task efficiently and making sure you tick it off your list. Otherwise you will end up having a load of half finished jobs at the end of the day and left feeling like you’ve accomplished nothing.
If you would like to learn more about ‘How to Become an Organisational Queen’ then I have created a FREE download with all of my top tips! All you have to do is click here and sign up to receive your free guide.
To find out how I can help you to reduce your workload and start delegating some of those daily tasks, visit my website and fill in the form here to arrange a call.
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Virtual Assistant - My Assistant Emilia, Emilia Capper
Emilia is Garnet PR’s resident Virtual Assistant, AKA ‘Organisation Queen’. With many years as a wedding and event manager under her belt, she knows how to plan to perfection; spreadsheets, itineraries and to-do lists are her things and her attention to detail is second to none.
A business owner herself, she understands what is required in the day to day running of other small businesses and can often predict what is needed; getting it done before you even knew you needed it.
Looking after the day-to-day running of the business behind the scenes, having Emilia on board means you can stay firmly in your zone of genius, knowing that all the business essentials will run like clockwork. She joins Garnet PR to support with our business essentials, social media and digital marketing, and assisting with the growth of the business.
https://www.myassistantemilia.com/