From the category archives:

Juggling Work and Family

What To Do When Your Workload Overwhelms You

February 24, 2010 · 3 comments

No matter how well organised you are there are always going to be times when things go wrong, take longer than planned or the unexpected crops up. Sometimes – especially if this happens over two or more consecutive days – it can start to overwhelm you. This is when you start to realise that there’s no way any human can do everything that needs to be do at the moment (e.g. today, this week, before a deadline) and you start to worry, stress and perhaps even panic.

I had 3 consecutive days like that last week. On the first day, where an unexpected technical issue cost me 7 hours from my day, I just rearranged the rest of the week to make up for this. Then some extra, urgent work cropped up the following day – a day where I was already overloaded trying to catch up from the day before. Then on day 3, another unexpected ‘challenge’ occurred and I was starting to stress.

Day 3 was last Thursday. Although I made up for lost time, I also realised that I was now way behind schedule with what I wanted to achieve that week and it was time to take drastic action if I was to avoid a breakdown before the end of the day.

Here’s what I did to ensure I caught up on Friday – even finding time for an impromptu interview with a national newspaper. Hopefully these tips can help save your sanity too.

1. Make a cuppa. I know this sounds crazy to some people, but when you’re feeling overwhelmed with the amount of things you need to get through, the first thing to do is to ask yourself, “What is the best thing I can do right now?” And if you’re particularly stressed, it may be that by taking some time out for yourself first, you’ll actually function better throughout the rest of the day.

So in my case, I made a cuppa and sat down with a pen and paper and my to-do list and started planning how I was going to handle everything.

2. Next, make a list of everything you need to do today (or this week or by your deadline) – this is what I did while enjoying my cuppa :)

3. Go through that list and cross off or reschedule anything that can wait until later.

4. Then decide if there’s anything you can delegate. In my case, I called in the pros:

  • My darling son took over cooking, cleaning, pet care and all ‘house’ duties for the next couple of days – is there anyone else in your home who can look after these tasks … or at the very least help you with them? That freed up more of my time so I could focus on the things that only I could do.
  • I called my assistant and offered her some extra work helping with general admin type duties, not just for the business but also some personal paperwork and phone calls that needed taking care of. If you aren’t blessed with a wonderful assistant like I am, look at hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) for a few hours or a couple of days. They will really help to take the pressure off. Or if you’re in Brisbane, give Kay at Hectic Helpers a call (just program her number into your phone as ‘HELP!’) Kay loves doing all your running around for you :)
  • Look for other areas you can save some running around. In my case, I had to do some grocery shopping as my hectic week meant I hadn’t had a chance to shop for ages! So I went to Coles Online and ordered our groceries in about 10 minutes. They were delivered the following morning. Next, I went to Officeworks and ordered my office supplies … again, all delivered the next day.

By now you should really be getting used to delegating, outsourcing and finding ways to save some time.

  • Okay, so next – after all this re-organising, delegating, saving running around, etc – you should have a much shorter to-do list with a greater chance of completing your tasks. So now, wherever possible, estimate how long each task is going to take. Then allocate chunks of the time you have available to the various tasks to be come.
  • This next step isn’t always as easy as it sounds, yet it’s extremely important. During those allocated time chunks … FOCUS on the task at hand. If you’ve allowed 1 hour to catch up on emails, start with the most urgent and get through them without letting yourself be distracted. If an email is going to require more time to research or consider your reply, where possible, you may be able to reply just to let the sender know you’ve received their message and that you’ll reply in detail on Monday (or whenever you feel you can reasonable allocate more time to this).

By the end of the day hopefully you’ll be in a much better place – you will have achieved so much, but also be more relaxed knowing that everything is being managed and under control.

Now the last step in this process … grab a nice cold drink and sit back and relax :)

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7 Easy Planning Strategies To Simplify Your Life

January 11, 2010 · 0 comments

If you’re anything like me, life just seems to get busier every year. Yes, you could slow down a bit… do less… be less involved in your various activities, business groups, children’s sports or whatever, but do you really want to cut back?

I lead an extremely busy life but in all honesty, that’s the way I like it.

I enjoy being able to take part in so many events and activities, meeting and building relationships and lifelong friendships with so many people.

Just how do you keep doing everything you want to, plus everything you HAVE to and still keep your sanity?

I’d like to share with you some planning techniques I use to keep me organised and on track.

1. Write lists. When you lead a busy life it’s so easy to forget things. I have lists galore – I should probably even keep a list of all my lists! There’s my daily to-do list, my list of birthdays for the year, my list of household jobs I want to work my way through, my list of Christmas presents to buy, my list of 50 people I want to meet during my lifetime, my list of goals and my shopping list. What’s more important than writing lists is that I actually USE them; I refer to them daily and cross things off or re-adjust them as I go.

When you’re adding tasks to your list, focus on WHY you’re writing them on there. Why do you want to include, ‘Go for walk,’ on your daily jobs list? Is it so you can cross it off at the end of the day? I doubt it. Is it to help in your overall goal to lose weight or to be healthy?

Focus on the big picture and your reasons for wanting to do this task; focus on how you’ll feel once you’ve achieved your goal.

2. Delegate, delegate, delegate! Do you really need to do all these things yourself?

Let’s work with household chores as an example. Grab a blank sheet of paper and write down a list of chores to be done. Now, cross off all those that don’t really need doing, or asterisk those that can be done fortnightly instead of weekly.

Next, what can other members of your household help with? Can you afford to hire a professional cleaner once a week or fortnight? These little things can make a huge difference to your schedule.

If you run a business or are self-employed, look at employing staff or ways of outsourcing tasks. Your main duty is to manage your business, not to do absolutely everything to do with your business yourself.

3. When it comes to planning for your year ahead, begin by looking at the big picture.

Imagine the date today is December 31st 2010; you’re sitting here, looking back at what you’ve achieved over the last year. What are you thinking of? What did you achieve?

Okay, now you can break each of those achievements down into bite size pieces. What can you do each day to work towards those goals?

4. What can you get rid of? Do you really need to do everything you write on your daily list? Remember: life’s too short to spend it doing things you don’t like. Sure, we’ve all got to do things we don’t want to but surely there are some things you can let go of.

I used to be the family ‘neat-freak’ until I realised how much time I was wasting ironing tea towels! (Bonus advice: the creases work their way out after you use them once and hang them up to dry).

A girlfriend of mine recently told me that she wants her children to think back upon their childhood remembering how much fun they had and how their Mum always had time for them, not remembering how clean the house was.

5. Buy a birthday book or use your diary, calendar or organiser to write in the birthdates of all your friends, family… anyone you would generally send a card or gift to.

At the end of each month, see what birthdays are coming up next month and buy cards/gifts as needed. Then you can keep them somewhere handy, where they won’t be forgotten, ready to mail a few days before the date.

6.Focus … and stop multi-tasking! You’ll find you’ll achieve so much more if you stop multi-tasking and focus on one main priority at a time.

Allocate a set time – 30 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours or however long you feel is required for a specific task. Turn off all other distractions and focus on the task at hand. Then make sure you stop after the dedicated time. If the task isn’t finished yet, allocate more time somewhere to complete it.

You’ll find that by spending this time totally focused and allocating a specific time-frame will help keep you on track.

7. And have fun! Don’t forget to reward your achievements and schedule time for living life and celebrating.

Hopefully you’ve found these ideas useful and they will be simple for you to implement into your lifestyle. Here’s to a wonderful year – your best year yet!

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Free Business Plan Template

December 29, 2009 · 1 comment

An important part of running a successful business is having a plan.

You may need a business plan to obtain finance and for contracts or agreements. Most importantly, you need it to determine your business’ viability, what you hope to achieve and how you will do so. You can also plan for challenges.

Preparing a business plan is something that scares or confuses a lot of small and micro-business owners, but it doesn’t need to be this way.

To help you out, I’ve decided to give away a comprehensive Business Plan Template to guide you through the planning process. Consider this my Welcome to 2010, special New Year’s gift to you.  :)

download_now_32FREE Business Plan Template

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How To Improve Business Through Outsourcing

December 14, 2009 · 0 comments

Sometimes you are not your own best employee.

Sometimes you are not the most cost-effective choice for handling certain aspects of your business.

Sometimes success in small business relies on recognizing where you could use some help and investing in the things that really make a difference to your productivity and profitability.

Sometimes, small business outsourcing is just a better idea.

Plain and simple.

Should You Outsource – Business and Personal Factors

Outsourcing certain business tasks is often the best strategy for small business management, both personally and professionally.

In every business’ life, there comes a time when, for one reason or another, it is in your best interest to bring in some outside help. The motivation can often start as personal in nature, but in truth the impact of successful outsourcing cannot be entirely separated from either side of life; the result of successful outsourcing should benefit you in your personal and business life.

The motivation behind outsourcing can very basically be broken down into one of two factors – time or skill.

  • Outsourcing for time management; when there is just not enough time in the day or the week to complete the essential functions that your business demands – and in truth, relies on – then you need to look at where you can benefit from some outside help to get the job done.
  • Outsourcing for skill and expertise; if you can’t do it well, you shouldn’t really be doing it. Someone who can do it better can. Spend your time where you can give the most value to your business, and rely on the skill and expertise of others to add value to other aspects.

Personally, if either a lack of time or lack of skill causes you stress and strain, thereby spilling over and affecting your personal life, it is time to get some help.  Being dedicated to your business is not the same as letting it rule your life.  Remember why you became a small business owner to begin with and look at outsourcing as a way to maintain a balance between your personal and business life.

Good Help Is Hard To Find – Or Is It?

They say good help is hard to find. This old adage keeps many small business people from outsourcing and improving their business and personal lives. However, if you know what to look for, you can find good help in short time, and start enjoying the benefits right away.

Here are a few tips to help you find good outsourced service-people:

  • be clear on the scope of a job or project and what you need
  • evaluate outsourced employees as you would any other – interview, read resumes or evaluate samples, and ask questions (NB: while many business professionals won’t have a resume as such, you should sticll be able to ask for and see some relevant samples, a portfolio and/or references or testimonials)
  • look for specific skills or experience relevant to the job
  • do not choose based on cost/payment alone (sometimes you get what you pay for…)
  • draft a written contract that clearly defines roles and responsibilities
  • agree to a small project first to trial this outsourcing relationship, before committing to any long-term contracts or major projects
  • look for freelancers who are part of a recognised professional body for their industry and/or for freelancers in general. While this won’t guarantee that you’ll get the best person for the job right away, however many of these organisations have certain standards they require from members.

If you are outsourcing a project, also consider your needs after completion so that you can get the ongoing support you need. Work to build a relationship with good freelancers so that you can readily come back again for subsequent projects and issues. In this case, also consider correlating pay to milestones throughout the project as an incentive to see the project through to completion.

Whether it is a virtual assistant you need to relieve the burden of record-keeping tasks and communications, a programmer, designer or writer for marketing campaigns, there are plenty of great agents out there waiting to fill your need. When business and pleasure begin to suffer, use these tips to ease your burden and increase productivity, all the while making your small business thrive.

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Useful Business Agencies Around The World

November 24, 2009 · 0 comments

There are a lot of agencies, departments and organisations around the world that are there to help small businesses – from planning and setting up your business, managing and growing it, through to closing or selling your business. But sometimes it’s hard to know where to look when you don’t really know what you’re looking for, right?

So to help you out, I’ve compiled a list – well, 6 lists in fact, of some of these organisations for you:

If you know of any others that should be included here, please email the details to me.

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The Secret Of Making Something Work In Your Life

November 17, 2009 · 0 comments


“The secret of making something work in your life, is firstly the deep desire to make it work.  And then a clear and definite vision without one thought of doubt or disbelief.”

Eileen Caddy (1917-2006) – Author and Spiritual Teacher

This is another of my favourite philosophies. While each of these components is necessary, quite often it’s that unwavering belief that you can do it, or achieve it, that is the most challenging part.

How many times do you find yourself thinking or even saying, “I could never do that”?

Next time you catch yourself thinking that, stop for a minute and think instead … “What if I could do that?” Or better still, “How can I do that?”

The more you are aware of these thoughts, the more you can focus on changing your limiting beliefs. In the beginning, you may need to pretend that you believe in yourself and your abilities. But after a while, this belief will start to become more natural. You’ll begin to doubt less and achieve more.

There’s another saying that comes to mind right now that you may be more familiar with…

“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
Henry Ford (1863 – 1947)

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Multi-Tasking Sucks!

September 16, 2009

A lot of people ask me for tips on how I manage to get so much done all the time. I’m more than happy to share my strategies, tips and ideas, but I thought it might make it easier for everyone if I wrote a guide about this very topic and gave it away freely.
So… [...]

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The Gratitude Effect

August 20, 2009

One of the blogs I love to read regularly is Claire McFee’s Organize Your Life.
It’s full of straight-forward tips and Claire’s personal strategies for being better organized in all areas of life.
Claire’s recent post on Gratitude is one that really resonates with me. I truly believe that what you focus on is what you will [...]

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Simple Ways To Get More Done Each Day

August 9, 2009

Think about this for a moment … how many times during the day do you have a couple of minutes to spare?
Maybe 5 minutes while you’re on hold on a telephone call, 10 minutes waiting for a tradesperson to finish a job or just a few minutes before you’re due to leave for an appointment. [...]

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3 Top Tips For Business Success

May 27, 2009

Nerida from Admin Bandit recently wrote an excellent post on her 3 tips for business success.
In summary, Nerida’s top 3 tips are:

Create a good team
Embrace excellence
Value relationships

I couldn’t agree more with her post, especially when Nerida breaks these down into further detail. If you want to make sure you’re applying these practices to your business [...]

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