If you looked at my desk 4 years ago when I started my business, you’d see a pile of notebooks with a million lists, post it notes scattered everywhere, and lots of empty coffee cups.
I was a hamster running on a wheel, barely ever getting caught up, never achieving my big goals, and using a whole lot of brain power to try and keep track of all the things (and a whole lot of paper!)
Now, I’ve streamlined the way I manage my tasks, and in turn, I’ve been able to skyrocket my productivity.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am still completely obsessed with paper planners and notebooks and stationery and pens and pencils and pretty colored markers and just ALL THE THINGS. But hear me out: I think you absolutely need to be using a task management system that’s online as well.
I use a combination of Honeybook and Asana as my go-to task management for literally every single thing I do. And today I want to share with you a few tips to manage your tasks better.
- Use the workflow tool in your client management system, if it has one.
I have all my workflow templates set up in Honeybook so that every wedding, portrait, brand, or mentoring client has their tasks applied automatically when the project is created. This gives me my task list for everything client related.
This is a COMPLETE game changer because it guarantees that NOTHING is slipping through the cracks with my clients because I can check off tasks as I go.
- Use another (free!) online task management system for your general tasks.
I use Asana for allllll my other tasks. I keep one board called WEEKLY TO-DOS and inside, I have a masterlist where I brain dump all the things I want to do that don’t have to do with a client. This could be updating my website, doctors appointments, blog posts, stuff like that. Under my weekly board I have my brain dump of tasks, and then I break this tasks down into daily list of things to do.
If a task requires a more robust project (such as a website refresh) I make a new Asana project and write all my to-dos in there.
Your brain or pad and paper shouldn’t have to keep track of where you are in the workflow for dozens of clients. You want to be able to go in and see what needs to be done for each client AT A GLANCE without flipping through your notebook or searching for emails to see what the last thing you sent them was.
This allows you to SCALE your business without the overwhelm.
- Batch your tasks!!
So now that you know WHERE to manage your tasks, let’s talk about HOW.
Batch your tasks!
This simply means doing similar tasks all together. If you have 2 blog posts to write for the week, try and do them both on the same day. It can be really difficult to switch our brains sometimes between different types of tasks and it’s just NOT EFFICIENT at all to do certain tasks every day.
A few example of this would be:
- Scheduling your social media for a week or two at a time
- Creating a content calendar monthly so you don’t have to be in brainstorm mode all the time
- Designing canva graphics for upcoming newsletters or blog posts (once your content calendar is made!)
- Meetings! I like to personally schedule all my meetings in two days so my other days can be dedicated to getting work done.
- Writing newsletters or blog posts
- Email Clean up for the promos tab
- Bookkeeping
- Taking flat-lay photos for your blog or instagram
- Break everything down into smaller tasks.
This makes daunting tasks such as edit a wedding way less overwhelming if you break it down like “Edit Bridal details, edit bride prep, edit groom prep etc.” That way, you don’t need to find an 8 hour (or however many hours it takes to edit) chunk of time to sit down and do the task-instead you can find 20 minutes to edit bridal details or 30 minutes to edit bride prep photos. It allows you to find little pockets of time to do your tasks, and really build momentum for productivity because you’re constantly crossing things off!!!
You can do this for any major task no matter what type of business you run.
**And another quick tip I do every week is braindump everything thats in my head into my masterlist on Asana.
I recommend a combination of a client management system like Honeybook that can keep track of your project tasks and a free task management system like Asana or Trello to track your other tasks.
So there you have it! 4 ways to streamline your task management and get more done in less time. I’ll be teaching 7 Steps I took to Save 30 Hours a Week on the HoneyBook – Rising Tide webinar. You can watch replays HERE!
