My Top Secret for Staying Organized & Managing Chaos
As a mom of two who also happens to run a 6-figure business with a team of 3 full-time employees and several contractors, you can imagine I’ve got a lot on my plate. On any given day, there are a million and one things on my mind, from dentist appointments to team meetings to client calls.
And no doubt you’re probably the same.
But I get asked a lot, especially inside my coaching program, 10K on Replay, by my clients… “How do you manage it all?”
DISCLAIMER: I don’t have it altogether (does anyone??). There are some days when it feels like pure chaos. But because I keep things tidy and organized as far as time management goes, those days are few and far between.
So how do I manage my time? I use my trusty Google Calendar and some good ol’ time-blocking techniques to keep the wheels from falling off this bus! And today, I’m sharing my secret for getting that done!
First things first: Figure out what you’ll be working on
You can’t plan a calendar out if you have nothing to plan for! And you already know I’m no stranger to planning out my goals, but back at the beginning of 2022, I opted for 90-day goal setting instead of monthly goals.
This helps me stay focused without thinking too far ahead and getting sidetracked, but is still a way to help me stay diligent each week.
I put these goals on sticky notes (would it really be a Trena Little tutorial without them??) and then slap them on a giant letter pad so I can visually see what’s going on each month and can move around quickly and without any messes if things need to be changed. It also helps me visualize whether or not I have too much on my plate.
Working in my Google Calendar
I think one of the biggest contributors to the success I’ve had with calendars and time blocking has been going digital. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a good handwritten paper planner, but digital calendars make it so much easier to juggle everything and share what’s on the agenda with my team and my family because you can directly share the calendars with them.
Time-blocking
Blocking out your entire workday may seem a little weird at first. How the heck are you supposed to account for every single minute of every single day??
You don’t. You can be flexible by knowing things might come up. But the thing with time blocking is it makes you get a little more serious about what’s on the list for that day and helps you minimize distractions by having a set schedule.
And when you learn to plan for those distractions (like giving yourself time at the end of the week to catch up on stuff or adding buffers), you’ll find that time blocking becomes a lot easier!
How I time block my day
In 2023, I really want to focus on self-care, so I block out 15 minutes at the start of every workday to come into my office and begin some meditation. It helps me get focused and in the zone, and by being in my office already, I’m in the mindset to work.
I spend the next 45 minutes working on admin tasks, like answering emails or Slack notifications. I try to make this time as short as possible so I can get right into the juicy stuff that requires all of my attention.
For the next two hours, I have my full-focus time for things like writing sales pages, making YouTube videos, working on client projects, etc., at the time when my brain is most functioning and alert.
For me, that’s in the morning because the afternoon slump is real! But you can do this at whatever time you need to.
I also always block out 30 minutes for lunch, so I'll actually sit down and eat instead of realizing I'm starving halfway into the afternoon.
Then, every afternoon has its own theme:
Monday: Team Days. We have our calls and meetings, but if you don't have a team yet, you could use this as a metrics review day to check on things like email open rates, sales page views, abandoned cart stats, etc., and focus on how you can improve them.
Wednesday and Thursday: Calls. And I mean calls of any kind, clients, coaching calls, podcast interviews, etc.
Tuesday and Thursday: Breathing room. Another one of my focuses for 2023 is to slow down, so giving myself some extra time a few days a week helps me do that.
Friday: Playing catch-up. This is for anything I didn’t get to during that focus time earlier in the week.
And at the end of each workday, I have a shutdown routine, which is pretty much like my morning warm-up, so I can log off at 3:30 pm without any stress and be able to pick my kids up from the bus stop on time.
Color coding my calendar
Color coding my Google Calendar has also made a huge difference in the way I manage my time. If you’re interested in seeing how I do it, check out the video walkthrough at the 10-minute mark in today’s video!
Want more time management resources?
If you’re looking for even more ways to manage your time and make the workflow process a little bit easier, check out my full page of biz-owner resources that will make your life 1,001 times easier!
It’s chock full of some of my favorite things, from project management tools like Asana, to video editing essentials like Edit Faster, and even marketing favorites like Dubsado and Convert Kit.
