28 Sep How I Work – Problem Solved?
Lately I’ve been listening to this great podcast: “How I work” curated by Amantha Imber. It’s a great series of interviews with other leaders about their personal challenges with efficiency and their solutions.
Ironically given its purpose, the podcasts are slightly addictive! But problem solved as I aim to listen while I walk or do some domestic admin.
It got me thinking: could I explain how I work, and how that might link to the challenges that others share?
My challenges include:
- Juggling multiple projects at once
- Working from home, with its many wonderful distractions (think chickens, views, cherry blossom and the company!)
- Missing the stimulation of colleagues close to hand
I definitely need to be just as disciplined as I would be working in a more conventional office environment.
I use a variety of tools and systems:
- A very detailed To Do list with all my obligations in one place – and yes, this includes personal admin, household stuff, financial admin as well as work and sales planning. I’ve tried to do without this but I can’t – it means some of the tasks are only in my head, and that gets too busy!
- Supporting this, 2 online tools – Hubspot to track my client work and potential new projects and Todoist to track the non-client tasks
- Delegation and teamwork with Jen from Absolute GEMS
- Ruthless calendar planning, so I “book appointments” for the work I need to do, even months ahead
- Meet people regularly for new ideas, stimulation and support.
Sometimes this feels like a constant round of planning, and often a bit busy!, but it works … and I can create time to walk the local river loop or wander round the garden in the warmth of the spring afternoon sun when I want to.
Check out the How I Work podcast or the tools that I use, if you also need some help with getting stuff done.