Schedule, schedule, schedule…it is the word that has been running through my mind for a good week now. That’s because I am beginning to learn even more the importance of this word when you are running a home business.
Of course, I have always believed in having a schedule. I believe in scheduling your days to start and end at a certain time (if possible), and to even schedule in your breaks. But one of the things that I have come to realize recently is that scheduling needs to go beyond this.
I need to schedule time for other things, like reading email or the newsletters I subscribe to. I need to schedule time for leisurely reading, cross-stitching and laundry. I mean, the list could really go on.
Its just that as of late I have been feeling very overwhelmed. My workload had really increased, but my other responsibilities hadn’t diminished. Yet I found myself doing “little” things throughout the day that took away from my time of work…such as checking email.
In my line of work as a writer, I find it a necessity to subscribe to newsletters, blogs and other emails that pertain to my field. I have learned so many valuable things from them. But I really don’t have time to read them throughout the day. Yet I have tried and what has happened is either I don’t get from them what I really could have (because I am skimming) or I lose valuable work time.
So now I clean out my inbox by placing all of those items into a folder marked “Read Later.” I have Sundays scheduled as my time to eventually get to them. I only started this last week so I have yet to see how well it works but it does take the pressure off to read them right away. And if I don’t get to them that Sunday, then there is always the next.
Plus, I have some weeks where my work is slower so I can use that extra time to catch up my reading. Hopefully scheduling this will free me up.
It has been much harder—although I know it is necessary—to schedule a time to read and respond to email. I would love to just shut off my email while I am working but I need to be available to my editor. Yet I also know it doesn’t require checking email every few minutes, so even if I schedule times throughout the day that I do this, I will be better off.
It’s funny how these “little” things like emails and newsletter subscriptions can eat up your day. What things do you need to schedule, schedule, schedule…in order to be more productive?
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