Managing task overwhelm

Clearing your head after a busy day

I have struggled at times to stay present on an evening, to ensure I leave the job "in the office",
especially difficult, when the "office" is in fact my home. With a bit of commitment and a will to
find something that works for me, I have used the following method over quite a number of years,
I'm not sure where it came from or who developed it, but if I ever met them I would no doubt say
thank you way too many times! It has saved my sanity many times, especially on those days where
you feel as though no amount of organisation is going to save you from dropping a ball!.

Give it a try - I would suggest trialing it for no less than a week as it can take a few days to settle into a rhythm - Hope it helps you!

Throughout your day jot down your to do list, don't leave it until the end of the day as you will, no doubt, forget something. Do it as you go - jot down anything you need to remember, do, follow up or request from someone else - If you are just beginning your digital journey and don't yet have access to task tracking or project management software, you could use a diary, slip of paper (keep it somewhere safe), or your phone "notes" app - where you choose to do it doesn't matter - The point is to keep a record of anything which should be done, updated, cleared or followed up. Capture anything and everything which comes up that may need your attention, be that tasks you need to remember, open jobs which need updating, calls which need to be made, clients who need quotes or invoices, things to remind others to do, stock which needs replenishing, leads which should be followed up, deadlines for tasks and dates you've committed to - Capture everything.

Set the last 30 minutes of your day aside (it may take longer at first, but you'll soon get the hang of it), use this time to combine today's list with any incomplete items which need attention from previous days and assign a flag to each note; mark them as Urgent, or Not Urgent. Once you have completed the Urgency assignment, go through the list again; this time flag each note as Important or Not Important - be careful to ensure you re-flag those items from previous days as their priority and importance may have changed since yesterday.

A note: there will be tasks that need immediate attention and resolution, a persistent customer or immediate need to replenish an item of stock or a job which needs you to be there immediately. Do what needs to be done, but remember to add it to the list and mark it as complete - tracking what you have done is very useful when it comes to time to invoice and record the work you have completed.

You now don't have to remember a thing, close your book, app or notepad and enjoy your evening, hope you have a well deserved restful evening's sleep!

Now you have woken up rested, refreshed and rearing to go, block the first 30 minutes of your working day to compile your to do list!

Take the list from the previous evening and identify those items which are flagged as both Urgent & Important these items will be the immediate to do list = Priority 1
As you work your way through the task list, you have one of two options you can either Do it or Delegate it
If a task will take less than 15 minutes, Do it! - although be mindful that 20 x 15 minute tasks will quickly eat into your working day, be selective or sprinkle them between commitments you may already have or if you are able - remember to note these in your calendar - or Delegate it - If the task will take longer than 15 minutes and you work alone, delegation means booking dedicated time in your calendar to complete the tasks. If the task can be managed by another team member or a support partner, Delegate it!, send details to them and add a "follow up" task to your to do list.

Below is the guide I bear in mind when doing this, I seem to recall something similar when I was researching this for myself but as I said, I could not for the life of me say where or by whom, so sorry in advance if I have messed with someone's vision, the below is what I took away with modifications which work for me.

Divide and Conquer

Once you are in the rhythm you will find that this daily practice will not only help you keep on top of your to do list, support your admin records and free your mind to engage in thoughts that do not revolve around what you need to remember for work when you are off the clock, but will also give you a few insights into daily practices and time usage in your business:

1. You will discover what usually needs attention:
   - types of activities, how often tasks come up, which tasks are time consuming and which are quick to address

2. Where you could benefit from implementing processes or automation to handle certain types of queries i.e. a standardised customer onboarding process with automated triggers which send information to customers on topics your customers enquire about often

3. What type of queries you are fielding on the phone which could be addressed by publishing something to your social media accounts or websites in the form of a FAQ or series of "how to" blog posts

4. Looking back over a week / month or longer (if you continue the practice), you will be able to gauge how much time you are spending on administration by looking at your calendar.

5. You will be able to identify if the queries you are working through are important enough to be taking your attention away from the day to day core business focus or if they would be better placed being handled by a more junior resource - saving your time to focus on more important areas

6. If you work alone, you would be able to see if you should you be considering some back office support to ease the admin pressures, if you already have support, you could see if are you delegating the right tasks, are your resources managing with the volumes and complexity, could they use support with processes or automation to improve your customer experience

These are just a few of the potential uses of this information. If you used a CRM or project management tool, the analysis could expand into customer specific issues and monitoring, better customer service and even identifying trends, tracking the quality of workmanship and service delivery to your customer - A happy Customer is one of the best advertising investments you will make, especially for small businesses.

Talking about happy customers, are you gathering references? Do you ask your customers to rate your service delivery or product on Facebook, Trustpilot etc. do you have references on your website or social media from Happy Customers? - Customers seldom decline the opportunity to sing your praises if you have delivered above their expectations, you should wear these as a badge of honour. Your reputation is what elevates you above your competition. If you have not yet started your digital journey there are options to develop a customer feedback process which can be managed internally or, for the more digitally adventurous, there are options which can capture and automate these for you.

If you need support or advice on using this method or in discovering how to derive value and insights which could help you in decide how best to tackle your admin mountain. Or, if you are wanting to begin your digital journey and would like support, advice or assistance in identifying and implementing a software or process which could do much of the above for you - please do contact us as we would be love to support your journey!

Hoping you have a Spectacularly Awesome Day!

Michele

August 2024
Edition 1

All playful lined graphics are courtesy designed by Kester from Sparklestroke, available free on Canva