As the title suggests - what does your day/week look like? Do you have a strategy and have days reserved for meetings, admin work, etc? Do you group similar projects together? Or you’re just going with the flow?
I’m looking to optimise my process, as I feel like I can easily start procrastinating when I don’t have a system in place. And I’d rather spend that extra time going on a run or just be offline and read a book.
I’m working on several projects, most of which I could fit into two areas (I help with fundraising and marketing). I’ve reached a point where I’m comfortable not taking on new clients for a while. I’m also building two projects of my own, so my time is pretty much filled up for now. I’m working morning till evening, which is fine, but I’d like to claw back some time where that’s possible.
Currently, I sit down in the morning, check my Trello move things from “todo” to “today’s todo” and start working on the most important things first. I don’t have days reserved for meetings, although I have most of my weekly progress reports on Tuesdays. I have meeting scattered throughout the whole day, which I don’t particularly enjoy. Lots of room for improvement.
Interested in reading more about the routines that work well for you!
Am a project manager myself, always having multiple projects at any given time. I have blocks of activity in my outlook calendar. Catch-up on stuff that I didn’t get done the previous week / new in my inbox that need immidiate attention on Monday mornings. Some meetings in the afternoon.
No-call Tuesdays, partly because I have my son at home in stead of daycare then, which allows me to do administration stuff. Wednesday I have half a day calls with customers/stakeholders for updates and such and half a day for actual work. Thursdays I have a lot of internal meetings, with colleagues and to optimize processes etc, which should lead to less pressure in the future. Fridays whatever needs doing / socializing.I also have a 10-15 minute cal with my team everyday just to see what everyone is up to, if they need help etc (stand-up call).
Other than that, the difficult part is to have the discipline to do what you scheduled time for, also meaning telling people ‘not now’.
I’ve found it helpful to block out dedicated times for certain types of tasks, like meetings all at once on certain days. That way you avoid too many interruptions and stay focused on one thing at a time.