What Happens When You Get Busy? by Brandi Grays

Guest Blogger, Brandi Grays

I guess you all have noticed that I have been a bit absent from the blog for a week or two.
I have been really busy with client work and while that is great, I should have had a better system in place to avoid things like a quiet blog. This is one of those areas that small business owners must have in place, otherwise when business increases (which we all pray for) something is going to fall through the cracks.

I am a prime example of why planning is such an important small business task. Really it is an essential business task, however, when you are the only person responsible for everything planning becomes even more important. But back to me (and you)…Without a schedule and some sort of time management tool, the less pressing items (even if they are more important or valuable) will get neglected due to the more urgent. Therefore, we have to have a way to evaluate the items we are spending time on.

Helpful Tools

Calendar
A calendar is great for giving you the broad picture. When you can see weeks or even months ahead you can better plan the time you have so that you aren’t behind schedule and nothing creeps up on you. A basic wall calendar or even one of those big desk calendars can help you keep track of important dates and obligations. You can also use a calendar to create deadlines for recurring work.

Lists

I am a list LOVER. I keep all sorts of lists for everything that I have to do business-related and not. Lists can be very effective because you can scratch off something as soon as it is accomplished. The downside to lists is that they still need to be integrated into some sort of time management system. Which list are you going to do what day? How much time is the list going to take to accomplish? MS Outlook and Remember the Milk work great for integrating lists into a tool that will help you actually achieve them.

Appointment Book

I am sort of new to the idea of an appointment book. However, I think that this will be a helpful tool. If I block out the amount of time I plan to spend working for the day and allocated a time-slot to each of my tasks it is easier to get stuff accomplished in a days work. If there are certain things that need to be done everyday like prospecting or making phone calls, you can block that off immediately and get a sense of the amount of time you have left for your other tasks. I think that setting an exact time for specific tasks can make them easier to accomplish. I think you will find this true as well.

How have I made changes?

If you have read my blog for any length of time, it is clear I struggle a bit with planning and keeping all of these things in order. I have get myself back on track quite often, especially if I have an influx of work. So, what have I done to try to get me back on track for good this time.

• I have integrated my lists into a daily appointment book. Most tasks have a pre-determined time slot. This helps me address the things that I need to doing at a given time. I am using Google calendar for this. It integrates alerts through gmail so it works good and alerts me to when I need to be working on something else.
• I have created an editorial calendar for my blog. The calendar is laid out on a monthly basis and gives me an idea of what I should be writing about. The calendar also helps me keep track of special topics, such as things related to holidays, that I need to keep in mind.

What happens when you get busy? How have you stopped things from falling through the cracks?

Brandi Grays