As an Etsy seller, I used to feel overwhelmed often. I would look at my to-do list, my product planner, my finance spreadsheets and everything else in my inbox and feel like crying. It felt horrible and almost caused me to close up my shop multiple times. And then I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and actually do something about it. I knew there was a way that would help my productivity. I wanted something different to my usual to-do list, which was just a bunch of words scrawled down in a mess. Don't worry friend, I'm not going to leave you hanging! In today's blog post I will tell you how I organised my to-do list so that I actually get stuff done and beat overwhelm. While I was looking at all the paper I had I knew there was another way. A way that didn't leave me feeling exhausted and incapable. I didn't know what to do, but I was determined to find a way - and I'm happy to say I came up with a great method that got my to-do list organised and made me more productive.
Fresh beginnings The first step is to start a new planner. This isn't essential, but I see a new planner as a fresh start. When you start over, you have room to make a whole new method, or to mix and match your old methods into your new one. Your fresh beginning could be a new notebook, a binder, or even some digital software. A new start is a great way to get rid of your old, unproductive habits and bring in a good routine and motivation. This doesn't mean you have to get rid of the old planner (I kept mine to look back on for a few months), but starting something new can be refreshing and easier to organise. Task chunking Next, I split up my tasks into sections. Most tasks are very similar, so these can be grouped to increase productivity. A common mistake made in task completion is jumping between different tasks, so you never settle and it takes time to get into the rhythm of doing a new type of task. I was finding I would make a new product, add a new listing, make pins, come up with promotion material etc, and each task was so different that it was hard to keep up. By splitting my tasks into sections, I could chunk similar tasks together to complete more. The sections I used were:
Assigning deadlines Due to the nature of my business, I found a lot of my tasks had no time restrictions. If I didn't make pins on a certain day, it wouldn't matter because I could do it at a later date. This was a nice, relaxing way to see my to-do list, but it didn't help for productivity. So I started setting deadlines - which changed my entire perspective. I found that by prioritising certain tasks, I was setting a little pressure on myself to actually get them done rather than watch another episode on Netflix. It's important to note that setting pressure on yourself should NOT result in feeling overwhelmed. If you are feeling overwhelmed, you are setting too many tasks for yourself. Using deadlines is purely a way to help encourage you to work on your business. If you do feel overwhelmed, there is nothing stopping you from pushing that deadline on. Using deadlines is simply a way to make you feel productive and set a schedule of what you have to do that day rather than picking random tasks. Assigning Importance Deadlines are a good way of adding importance of your tasks, but you'll also be setting deadlines that don't have a specific time restriction. For example, promoting in Facebook groups is a task I can do any time. If I don't get around to it, I can decide to push it on. However, posting on my Instagram page is a very important task that has a time restriction. If I don't post on the specified day, I will be behind and it will mess up my whole content strategy! So I also assign importance to tasks. Tasks that have a date that it ABSOLUTELY MUST be completed by get first priority over tasks that can be done at any time. Assigning Order This is a really important part of productivity - and that is the order in which you complete tasks. Everyday, you should be focusing on your very important tasks and they should be the ones you are completing first. No matter what section they are from, you need to do your time restrictive tasks first. Then, you can go on to your other tasks. First thing I look at is the next few days tasks. What very important tasks do you have to do? Is it something you can plan or do early? If there are other important tasks, do those first. I usually look up to 3 days forward and see what tasks I can compete early. Then, I go on to my other tasks. Using the grouping method we started with at the beginning, I pick 3 tasks that are similar. Sometimes, they are exactly the same (e.g. creating pins for three different products) or they can be related, but not the same (e.g. Creating a set of pins for one product, scheduling the pins and repinning old pins). Using these methods, I was able to create a foolproof system to organising everything in my business. It tells me what I need to do, how important my tasks are and gives me a schedule to follow. Got any new ideas? Let me know in the comments below! Start organising your Etsy shop easily with my FREE Etsy shop checklist! With tick boxes for tasks you should be doing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, you can star to develop your to do list easily! Click here to get your free copy.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
find the information you want easily with the buttons belowAll Business Essentials Business Finance Etsy Seller Tips & Tricks Pinterest Knowledge Productivity Hacks Social Media Tips |