7 Tips to Wrangle your To Do List & Get Things Done
We are so excited to welcome our member Jenn to the Outsourcing With Love blog today!
Jenn Pochobradsky is a workflow and systems strategist who believes you can run a successful business, love your clients well AND spend time with loved ones — all while fueling your REAL life, not your screen life!
We’ll let her take it away!
Whether you are a multi-passionate entrepreneur juggling various businesses and revenue streams or simply trying to find ten minutes in your day to sit in peace, this is for you! I’ve been in both realities in various seasons, friend. They are both hard. Over the past decade, though, I’ve discovered that there are tried and true ways to ease the stress. I promise!
Hi friends – I’m Jenn! I’m a wedding planner/designer turned workflow & systems strategist, book lady, mama, wife, dreamer and organization nerd. Until this spring, in addition to my 3 businesses, I was also juggling a 50+ hour a week corporate job. Over the last decade of entrepreneurship, I’ve learned a lot about prioritizing, organizing and setting myself and our family up for success.
Does any of this sound familiar? You find yourself worrying about work when you’re supposed to be present with your family. If you’re not burnt out yet, you feel very close to it – working all hours of the night to get your tasks completed. You feel like you’re on a hamster wheel and you’ll never feel caught up. You haven’t had a date night in you don’t know how long. Me too – been there!
No matter what we accomplish in business, there will always be more. That’s the nature of this awesome journey! We are always dreaming up more, new, etc. We always want to better ourselves and go to the next level. But I want to encourage you that where you are is an important season too! So let’s make it the best it can be and focus on the priorities for this season.
Every situation and personality is different, but I am excited to share with you some things that have worked for me over the years. I also want to encourage you that there will always be an evolving need to reassess as your seasons change, so don’t get too caught up in something being perfect right away. It’ll likely take some time to find the combination that works best for you. These foundational tips will help you see movement toward getting the right things done.
Define what YOUR success looks like:
Do not fall victim to thinking you have to have the same schedule, accolades, services, salary, etc as anyone else. Know what is important to you and your family, then build your business around that!
Set boundaries:
Once you know what success looks like, you can put boundaries around when and how you’ll work. Clearly and respectfully communicate that with clients and your family. Then, do it. Honor & enforce those boundaries! This will allow you to be fully present in each thing you’re doing, whether that’s work or family.
Have refined & efficient workflows:
Having refined workflows and templates for all facets of my businesses has been an absolute game changer! Year ago when I started out, that meant a binder, then I moved into Excel and a CRM, and now I use a different CRM (Honeybook) and task manager that I love (Asana)!
*Click Here for tips on getting started with workflows!
Dedicate Theme & Duty Days:
If you are running multiple businesses or revenue streams like me, it’s super helpful to dedicate certain days of the week or work sessions to each business. This is similar to batching tasks and helps me mentally be my best. For example:
Mondays: Business #1
Tuesdays: Meetings/Calls
Wednesdays: Business #2
Thursdays: Priority Catch Up (to make sure all must do’s from M/W are done within the week)
Fridays: Duty Day and Overview (looking at everything and planning for the next week or month ahead)
Schedule & time block tasks intentionally:
This goes hand in hand with theme days. Time blocking is one of my favorite things. Maybe because I like a well laid out plan and a challenge. Estimating and allocating a specific amount of time to a task helps ensure it’s getting done within those boundaries of your office hours. It’s also a fun game I like to play with myself to make sure things get done in the time I allot. It helps stay focused and not overthink things. Time blocking also helps make sure that you’re not over committing yourself, which helps reduce stress and gain momentum when you are on top of things!
Have a back burner list:
All those big dreams we have need a place to live. It’s so important to prioritize what we need to do in our current season, but we don’t want to forget ideas or projects that come up along the way either. I have a section in Asana for this. It gets it out of my head and I can brain dump, then move on and focus on what’s important right now. Then, when it’s time to set new goals or move on to new projects, I can get those scheduled in!
Be flexible!
The best laid plans are fantastic, but life does happen. So, make sure you allow for adjustments along the way. That way, you won’t feel entirely derailed when things come up.
My sincere hope is that you see progress using these tips that have helped many of my clients and friends over the years! If you ever have any questions, please feel free to reach out! I absolutely love to chat about business organization, systems and workflows with people – no pressure! It’s truly my passion to help business owners be as efficient and empowered as possible so they can succeed both at work and in their personal lives – whatever that looks like for you!
Xoxo,
Jenn
Thank you so much, Jenn! Be sure to follow along with Jenn on Instagram and check out Jenn’s OWL profile HERE!
