Do you ever feel stuck? Or feel as if there just isn’t enough time in the day?
As a creative entrepreneur, I constantly have ideas swirling in my head. I always have at least 10 projects I could be working on. And when you add the daily tasks of cleaning, adding products to my Etsy shop, blogging, playing with my dogs, and exercising, things can become incredibly overwhelming.
I hate when I finish the day and feel as if I didn’t get anything productive done—like I was just spinning my wheels all day trying to keep up.
Have you ever felt stuck, because you don’t know what idea to choose?
Sometimes when I have 5 different things I want to be working on, I spend a couple hours just deciding which one to work on. That’s wasted time.
Thinking about things instead of acting can seriously eat up way too much time, and when you’re running your own creative business, time is valuable. You don’t want to waste it.
This past weekend, I found a way to end this problem, and I thought I should share it. Because, I can’t be the only one who struggles with this, right?
It’s a pretty simple solution, and I have to give credit to the lovely lady who I got it from, the beautiful Laura Roeder.
At Rich, Happy, and Hot Live she talked about getting organized, and one of the things she covered was using Google calendar to schedule everything that’s business related.
I’ve never made the transition of keeping my schedule online as opposed to in a fun paper planner—but she convinced me to give it a try. And, man, it has already made life much easier. Here are some benefits of using Goggle calendar:
- It’s free. And who doesn’t like free stuff?
- You can repeat tasks. For instance, I could schedule my newsletter to go out every Wednesday, and repeat this without having to input it every Wednesday.
- You can schedule your content. A lot of us have blogs, newsletters, and websites that we constantly update with content. If you plan out your content for the next few months, you don’t have to spend that time each day deciding what you’re going to write about.
- You can schedule your ideas as they come. Now, when I have an idea for a project I really want to do, I can schedule it within the next few months. Then I can stop thinking about it until that time comes.
- You can share your calendar if needed. Let’s say you hire a virtual assistant and you want her to have access to your content calendar, so she knows when to publish the blog posts you’ve written. Well, it’s super easy to give her access to your calendar. If you have things written down, you’ll have to redo it online to give her access.
You know those tasks that you always mean to get around to doing? Sending out your first newsletter, reading your camera manual to take better product photos, figuring out how to make videos for your blog. If you schedule them, you’ll be more likely to complete them.
I love waking up in the morning knowing what’s on my to-do list. I can jump right into accomplishing stuff, instead of trying to decide what to do that day.
It sounds like a simple change, but it’s a change that can revamp your business and productivity. Try it and see if it makes a difference for you.
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I do this! It works well as long as I can stay on schedule. When I can’t, then I’m effed and need to resort to another tactic.
Hey Cat! Thanks for stopping by. Staying on schedule can definitely be hard–but if you don’t have a schedule then you start out lost. At least with a schedule, you have a map of where you are going that day. Life can always get in the way. I realized this on Wednesday morning when I had to take my dog to the vet and put off work for a couple hours 🙂
April, I love this idea. I have used Google Calendar for awhile but really just for appointments. Expanding that to content posts, ideas can free up my notebook. Even those things I keep forgetting to do, like upload tons of pictures etc.
Thanks for sharing it.
Hey Christina,
Scheduling my content has completely changed how much I get done each day. Instead of brainstorming ideas or hunting through my notebook to figure out which one I want to use, it’s right in front of me. I already know what topic I’m writing about and it saves me a lot of time.
I really need to make the transition to this as buying a paper planner every year is just too heavy for me to cart around and get impractical quickly when most of my work is online!
I completely agree Cynthia. When you no longer have to bring a paper planner with you everywhere, it’s freeing.
This is such a great idea, your post really makes me want to get doing this and get more organized. I feel like I have a bunch of ideas and I am always jumping from one project to the next. This seems like it would help me a ton!
Hey Dawnmarie,
I’ve been using this method for two weeks now, and I seriously get more done every day than I ever have. I used to jump from project to project. But, now my attention is focused on specific things and I can add any ideas I have to my calendar.
Thanks for reminding me. 🙂 it really helps to have a plan for the day, to get started right away and not waste time.
Hey sunshinecolour,
I used to wake up, respond to email, and then decide what to work on first. Sometimes, that would take 30 minutes. Then, if I decided to start by writing a blog post, I’d have to decide what I wanted to write about which could take another 30 minutes. Before I knew it, I’d wasted over an hour just making silly decisions. Now, I pull open my calendar and start working on the tasks that are there. Whenever I have new ideas, I just add them to the calendar.
Hi Just discovered you website via an etsy link, just wanted to say I’ve really enjoyed reading it, its really inspirational and I look forward to readying it on a regular basis. Have never looked at Google calendar but will do now as it sounds like a really useful tool.
Lovely to have you as a new reader Claire! I hope you find Google calendar as useful as I have 🙂
Hi,
I’m glad i’m not the only person who finds there’s not enough hours in the day! I had paper planner at Uni but when I graduated I made the switch to an electronic organiser. I use Microsoft Entourage as I already had it with my Microsoft package and it really helps! Mostly I use it to set tasks, plan new projects and I have lots of reminders popping up all day. What I now need to do is not set myself unachievable daily goals such as clean house, complete two new illustrations, do 45min of exercise, meet friend for lunch, bake, spend quality time with partner and start redecorating the house.. 🙂
So true Emma. I know when I set unreasonable goals for myself, I feel crappy at the end of the day when I haven’t completed all of them. I only put six tasks on my Google calendar for each day–and that includes things like exercising and cleaning. I almost always get all six tasks done, and then I let myself play creatively. I’ll work on mixed media, making fiber art bracelets, or work on something else that inspires me. It’s so nice to check everything off and then have time to work creatively without anything else on my mind.
Hi April,
Wow! It would be so nice to spend more time being freely creative! I feel like i’m constantly rushing through my task list.
The 6 task a day idea sounds good. I’ll try it over the weekend!
Many thanks for your interesting and useful article 🙂
When I first thought about limiting my to-do list to 6 items, the first thought that popped into my head was, “But how could I possibly run a business and only have 6 things on my to-do list?” And, interestingly enough, I get more done with only 6 items on my to-do list! I hope that idea helps you out.
Thanks. Very timely for me as I have been feeling exactly like this these past days
Cool. I have always had those exact same problems getting started each day and then wandering from idea to dishes (maybe) and getting distracted by 900 different things. I’m going to try this and see if it helps – and if it doesn’t, I’ll see if I can get some prescription for what seems to be ADD.
Hey Chad Alice,
What helps me combat the “distracted by 900 things” syndrome is including cleaning, exercising, and all the other daily stuff on my to-do list. Then, I do one thing at a time until they’re all done–if it’s not on the list, it doesn’t happen that day–I’ll add it to another day that week.
Yikes it all sounds good when your reading it. I am going to give it a try.My work station is a mess right now and I still have a few leftover dishes in the sink which should I do first or should I just read more blogs laughing.Oh thats right I was cleaning my E-Mail box ok think I’ll take a whack at those dishes no clean areas no dishes yeah dishes that includes more coffee ok thanks for all your help have a great day hope you all get alot done Ryka
Lol Ryka….
It always sounds more simple when reading than when actually putting it into practice. It’s like anything else you do on a regular basis. At first, it takes a lot of consistency and thought and then it becomes second nature…like a habit.
I never thought of using the Google Calendar for my shop related schedules. Thanks for sharing the idea. I too have so many things going on at once that I sometimes get so overwhelmed and end up doing nothing. Time management is my biggest problem. Thanks again!
Diane
No problem Diane. I hope this tip helps you get more done each day 🙂
This has been my biggest complaint recently – not enough time to do everything. I’m going to give the Google calendar a try. Thank you!
Thanks for this post! My mom emailed it to me, which was both kind and ironic since (a) I already do this using Outlook and syncing it with Google so that my hubby can view it online and (b) I’ve mentioned to her a few times before that it would be a good idea for her to do as well but she has always told me how tied she is to her paper calendar. I don’t actually think she’ll switch over anytime soon, but I’m glad to know the seed is at least planted. 🙂
Oh my gosh Emily…I’m laughing so hard…because that’s totally something my mom would do!
I may need to start doing this. I highly rely each day on having the ambition to figure out what to start on and what the priorities are. I tend to get more done as well when I’ve been looking forward to working on something. The only thing I really schedule at this time is commission work because I want to be very timely with those ones. I get them done right away and feel good knowing that the buyer will be getting their item soon. I need to find a way to get my shopped filled up and I think keeping a schedule will help me to do that!
Hey Kristan,
I used to do the same thing–rely on figuring out what to start on each day when the day started–but figuring out the week or even the night before has seriously increased my productivity. I hope this idea helps you!
Great idea! I am attached to my paper day planner, but this seems like a much better way to go! Hopefully this will motivate me, too!
I hope it does motivate you–stop back by and let me know how it goes 🙂
We just recently discovered Google Calendar and it rocks! The best is that we can share it. Before this we had to keep sync’g our portable devices via the home computer.
Yay Linda! Thanks for sharing.
This is actually so useful information. I discovered Google Calendar a couple of months ago and started using it, not its full potential. But I find it very helpful. Your aarticle and comments are very helpful.
I love google calendar! One thing that I haven’t thought to use it for was scheduling posts and newsletters. I mean I use it to keep my day relatively organized but I know I could focus it down way more. I’m definitely going to start to implement it more for my blog financially digital. Thanks for the insight and I can’t wait to come back shf report all my success with it too!
I too started doing this recently. I swear there is a ticker running through my brain of the things I want/need to do & it can be overwhelming. I love google calendar. I have my iphone setup to sync with my google calendar, so my iphone reminds me to do things. It gives me the freedom to work on one thing at a time, to get more done, stay focused, etc, etc. I mean come on, who can remember to do everything on their list?!
Love the post April!
Especially appreciated you sharing this :
“When I first thought about limiting my to-do list to 6 items, the first thought that popped into my head was, “But how could I possibly run a business and only have 6 things on my to-do list?” And, interestingly enough, I get more done with only 6 items on my to-do list!”
Because that was exactly my thought too!
I’ve started using different Google Calenders for different parts of my business (also Laura Roeder inspired). ie one for meetings, classes, exercise, etc another for my newsletter, another for work tasks.
That way I can select which ones I see at any one time (and it looks so pretty!)
Thanks for stopping by Djanira! And, of course, for your feedback.
I tried putting things on different calendars and keeping them all on the same–and it works better for me to have everything on the same calendar. That way I can look at one thing and see everything that needs to get done that day.