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Had a great question pop up on most recent video:
"I like the concept of weekday themes, How do you handle urgent tasks and priorities? For example on friday I do my reviews, like you, but many times I have to work for clients as well because of deadlines and coordination"
"I like the concept of weekday themes, How do you handle urgent tasks and priorities? For example on friday I do my reviews, like you, but many times I have to work for clients as well because of deadlines and coordination"
I have many thoughts on this question, let's dig in:
1. Over the years I have reduced the "urgent client work" out of my schedule. That means more pre-planning, better boundaries, and better systems. Urgent tasks comes from reactionary unplanned work.
1. Over the years I have reduced the "urgent client work" out of my schedule. That means more pre-planning, better boundaries, and better systems. Urgent tasks comes from reactionary unplanned work.
2. Urgent or unplanned work DOES come up of course, because humans are not excellent at long-term planning. The key is to build "unplanned work" into both your schedule and the project plan. I'm talking actual "unplanned/buffer" blocks in your calendar every week (2-3hrs min)
If you think you don't have time to add those blocks to your calendar, then you probably don't have time for the *projects* you have on your calendar. "Unplanned work" needs be part of your planning and baked into your schedule. You need to be profitable *with* this time baked in
3. I used to take on every part of my clients launches: I was setting up funnels, doing website updates, copy editing on sales pages, automations, etc. I became the single point of failure because I was the only one who set everything up and knew how to work with it...
Didn't take long to realize that what I used to see as leverage was actually a liability: I found myself having to be "on call" for all my clients during their launches. This was completely unsustainable and I realized I had designed myself into a biz model that demanded urgency
Doing some deep discovery and introspection on my skills, talents, strengths... i realized I no longer wanted to feel the pull of other people's urgency. It was stealing my own peace of mind, so I needed to redesign my own offers to better align with my life goals.
A big part of this meant not being a lone wolf taking everything on by myself. I hired an assistant and started slowly handing off work. I started letting go of clients whose default mode was "everything is on fire i'm launching tomorrow please help!"
4. We often fall into the trap of reacting to other people's needs, especially clients. YES, some industries naturally lend themselves to this, but most of the times, we can plan for this time, by doing better planning, and by training our clients to be more strategic (not easy)
5. What kind of business/life do you want? I want to work on projects that are important and not urgent, so as much as possible I've designed my work/life to support that, and that means adjusting my offers, my planning, and my overall approach to work.
6. Integrating some digital products into your suite of offers can help with this. (doesn't happen overnight) Also having some services that are more leveraged than others, so we don't feel the need to cram our schedule with reactionary work.
7. I recommend the book Making Work Visible which address some of this planning conundrum :)
And of course, a plug for @NotionHQ - it's the only tool I've found that gives me true visibility into everything on my plate, both big and small, in a way I can digest and really work with. It has helped me reduce my tendency to overbook myself, and stay aligned w big picture
And the video that sparked this question:
