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This morning, I was sitting in on a brainstorming meeting and everyone was hashing out ideas on how to fix various problems and get their business working even better. One of the conversations I really liked was about how to organize yourself and write a plan.
It may sound pretty simple (who doesn’t know how to write down a simple plan and to-do list?), but it’s actually pretty helpful, so I decided to preserve it here in blog post form.
On occasion, I decide that I just have Too Many Things to do and end up completely paralyzed and overwhelmed. I’m guessing a lot of you can say this has happened to you at some point too. Now, that is a completely useless state of being and the faster you can reboot and get started doing things again, the better.
This is a small list of how to organize everything you need to do and make a plan that keeps you on track.
The first thing to do is to sit down somewhere quiet with some paper and a pen. Get rid of your phone, your computer, and sit and stare at the wall for half an hour if you have to, but don’t move until you actually make this list and don’t distract yourself with other things.
Write down what the results you need are, not the countless things you need to do.
e.g. An awesome, finished website, fully finished and clear presentation, three great 20 minute videos for your Youtube channel
Then, break that down into the specific actions that you need to take.
For example:
20 minute Youtube Video
→ Write main bullet points
→ Write script
→ Get ready for filming
→ Film the video
→ Gather B-shots
→ Edit the base video
→ Add the B-shots and effects
→ Do the subtitles
→ Edit the sound and music
→ Double-check it
→ Write the title and description
→ Make the thumbnail
→ Publish it
…And then do this exact same process for everything else that you need to do. Your to-do list will get pretty large very quickly, but it will leave you much more organized in the end and… more things to cross out anyway!
Go through every single task that you’ve written down and write how many minutes you’ll spend on each of them. This helps you make a schedule that’s actually realistic and by giving yourself a time limit, you stop yourself from the usual hours-long ‘I’ve done so many things and yet nothing is done’ state.
Of course, some tasks might be quicker to do than you expected and some might take longer, but this is just a general guideline to help you get more organized, not an irrevocable law.
For example:
20 minute Youtube Video
→ Write main bullet points: 5 mins
→ Write script: 15 mins
→ Get ready for filming: 10 mins
→ Film the video: 30 mins
→ Gather B-shots: 10 mins
And so on
Now, you have a whole bunch of things you have to do with how long you’ll spend on each of them, and you just need to order them in a way that makes sense. You can spread them out or mix them around with each other as well.
Write out all the hours you have available in your day to work and stick the right tasks to each hour so that for:
10am - (you have:) Filming video, answering emails & texts
11 am - Gathering B-shots, completing work #3 for a client
And etc.
After you have your plan finished, don’t forget to actually start putting it into action! Immediately, go and do the first few things on your schedule. Don’t leave it in some drawer and forget about it the next hour; start doing things right now!
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