Question: On a scale of 0 – Beyonce, how well do you manage your time?
We each have 86,400 seconds in a day. How you choose to spend those seconds equals your level of Bey-ness.
In my previous blog, I shared my favorite techniques and tools on how to be more productive while working remotely… and I shared my love of cake.
As much as I would love to fill up this blog with cake pictures (or just enjoy some delicious treats), let’s dig into how to set up your dream work week and calendar system…
Who, Where, What, and WHY? Do I Need a Calendar?
By nature, I am an organized – often annoyingly organized – human that loves routine and structure. Over the years, I have coached clients and co-workers to increase their productivity and organization skills. What I have noticed is that people dislike routine and are often afraid to keep a calendar because there is the chance that you might not get all of your tasks done…
I get it! Trust me, I do.
Working remotely has increased 115% in the past 10 years, with 43% of US workers currently telecommuting in some form. Even if you don’t work remotely, you most likely have meetings with team members or clients that reoccur weekly or bi-weekly.
But, how and where do I even start? What tools work best? What if I am unorganized? Well, that’s what this blog is all about – setting yourself up for the ultimate successful week.
Set The Tone For Your Team
If you are lucky enough to work for a company that prides itself on a solid gold team culture they should also slay at setting expectations; both internally and externally.
Our entire team works remotely all over the world in different geographic locations and time zones. We have our own offices, routines, and best practices. What works for one team member, may not work for another. At the end of the day, we all need process and routine to ensure the ultimate kick ass day, week, and YEAR.
#TGIM
Every Monday our core team meets at the same time via video conferencing to discuss the week ahead. We keep an ongoing agenda to check-in on projects, review new client opportunities, team calendars for the 2 weeks ahead, and more.
Now, that doesn’t mean that our work week winds up being an exact scale model based on our Monday check-in call, but we set the tone and expectations for our team each Monday. If we didn’t have our Monday check-in meetings we would be a hot mess team vs. a kickass successful and growing team!
Fast forward to Friday where we have our weekly “demo” day to discuss our work from the week, any team updates, reminders, hold mini-team training sessions on specific subjects, and CELEBRATE our wins.
Self Accountability
Okay – so far we have our Monday and Friday reoccurring team meetings. BOOM. Now add your due dates, tasks, deadlines, to-do’s, team check-ins or client meetings, and the rest of your workload that builds your calendar up and out!
Trust me, once your core meetings are in place on your calendar, you will fill up your days with perfect, delicious sprinkles of productivity.
BUT – How do you structure your day and week to keep yourself on track when tasks or meetings shift/ change during the week that may not be in your control or a due date is bumped up? What do you do when someone gets that vile bug going around? What do you do when demands in your personal life get in the way?
You keep reading is what you do. You keep reading…
Self Success Set-up
How do you set yourself up for success?
I’ve gathered some of my best practices for self-success, as well as some handy tips for how to be more productive that will help you get started!
- Build your daily schedule: For me, I schedule AM, midday, and PM check-ins for projects & my daily tasks. One thing that really works for me is to highlight the tasks that I was not able to complete and move them to the end of the day at my mid-day check-in or reschedule them for my next available time.
- Design your space: Make sure your surroundings are set up for comfort, creativity, and organization. And keep your space clean! If you work in a pit of chaos your work will reflect that chaos and that is when you are most likely to feel anxious, overwhelmed, and emotionally eat your feelings. (Judgement free zone…)
- Manage distractions:
- Block off time on your calendar to work with your team and for client check-ins. Some of you may not be able to do this, but our team sets up specific days/time for both internal meetings and client-facing meetings. Specified time blocks give you time to work on these projects without becoming overbooked – and, if a client needs your time, you can always shift your day around for them.
- Figure out what your brain space can handle while working. Maybe music stimulates your brain. For repetitive tasks a podcast might be an option, but not for writing, working on a project or any tasks that involve a well thought out response.
- Team Meetings: Many of my friends are stunned to discover that I work remotely. “But, you’re so outgoing!” Yes, I am very outgoing, but that doesn’t mean I stay in my bubble of snacks, puppy love, and yoga pants every single day!
- Our team has in-person meetings twice a month, where we work on bigger-sized projects, review reporting, pet puppies, and brainstorm new ideas for the company.
- During weeks that we don’t have in-person meetings, we do online work sprints via a video conferencing for any internal projects and cover any other items that need to be reviewed. During the online work sprints we check-in every 1-2 hours to review what we have worked on.
** The amount of internal teamwork that we accomplish via video conferencing is amazing! Often one project that we complete via video cuts out 2 – 9 steps that we would normally exchange via our internal chat system. We usually save projects or strategy meetings for our in-person or video sprint sessions for maximum ass kicking.
5. Leave and find your balance: Get up, get out, and go do something. Set time to walk around, stretch, go for a run, grab a coffee or some puppy love. You would be surprised at how many of my remote worker friends don’t have lunch or self-time set aside on their daily calendars. Shame on you!!
Embrace Your Calendar
Find a calendar system that works best for you. Google calendar, Acuity or your internal work calendar are all perfect options.
Pro Tip: You can build out separate Google calendars for different clients, projects, and for your daily work life.
Believe it or not, using retro paper and pen is so satisfying when you complete a task on your to-do list!
Set up your calendar and use it daily and schedule admin time first thing in the morning to plan and set-up your day. Include time for your breaks, tasks, project due dates, internal and client-facing meetings, end of day wrap-up, and whatever you need to keep yourself on track.
Having a structured and organized calendar will elevate your productivity, your work week, and will lift you up to a cupcake-level cloud nine! I promise.
Checklist for a successful calendar:
- Enter morning admin time to set up your day
- Add reoccurring meetings (both internal and external)
- Due dates for projects, reporting, tasks, and any other items that have a due date
- Set several times for your self-check-in:
- AM admin to set-up your day
- Mid-day to adjust your afternoon or to just see how much you’ve accomplished
- PM check-ins to shift any tasks that you did not complete to the next day or week
- Block off time for emails – your email will own you unless you own it; often AM and mid-day email review works best
- Create your routine: Block off time for specific activities and stick with your plan!
- Color code reoccurring meetings or each task if you want to get fancy…
Pro Tip: Keep your calendar fresh – once a month take a look at your calendar to review any days/ times that you have blocked off that you can switch around. To best manage your days/ weeks, it’s helpful to change and move around times that might work better. Trust me, this works wonders and is extremely helpful to keep your routine on track and increase your level of productivity.
That’s it! Remember – we all have the same amount of time each day. How you set yourself up for success will ultimately lead to fewer stressors, increase communication with your team, and carry over to your non-work life.
During this series of blog posts, I would love to share tips, ideas, processes, and more. What are the areas of work/ life that would help you to increase productivity? Please comment below. Let’s learn how to be more productive together!
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