How I Manage My Time

Time, it seems we never have enough, am I right?!!  I have been getting a lot of DMs lately about how I manage my time bc I wear a LOT of hats throughout the day and keeping it all straight while getting it all done can be chaos if you’re not careful!  So before I share the crazy, neurotic OCD that is my life, just know that I am NOT perfect!  I do not get every single thing crossed off my to-do list everyday and that’s ok!  If I’ve done my best, remain focused and work diligently and efficiently, I’m okay with not getting it all done!  So here we go, How I Manage My Time!

Trello

Trello has been a game changer for me.  It is a free site/app where you can organize, plan, coordinate and just get.it.done.  Our Finance Director introduced our staff to Trello and my OCD eyes lit up once I got hold of it!  The beautiful thing about Trello is, you can set it up however you like – let it work for YOU!

I organize my Trello by day (i.e., each day of the month has its own “list” with to-do “cards”) . I’m able to add daily tasks on cards that I can move to the next week once I complete them.  I can add cards for my blog posts to each day for the entire month ahead and include checklists for each post so I don’t forget to do certain things after hitting publish (like pinning the post, sending it out to my subscribers, updating my blog’s landing page for instagram, etc).  I can color code the cards – I have a specific color for personal, church stuff, blog stuff, stella & dot stuff, etc).  You can place due dates on certain cards which will trigger reminder alerts.  You can add people to cards on tasks you’re working on together and communicate within the card.

Let’s just say, you can get really crazy with it and I’m sure there’s even more things you can do with Trello that I don’t even know about.  All of that’s to say is, it’s free and I cannot function without it.

Daily To-Do List

‘Daily To-Do List?  You just explained this whole site where you organize all the things!  What the hell do you need a Daily To-Do List for??’  Well, I’m crazy.  I like lists and I like to check things off.  Soooooo I have a paper planner that I use everyday that I can write out the schedule for that day, my to-do list and other little notes.  I like having a paper to-do list bc as little things pop up that I don’t plan for, I can jot them down quickly and cross ’em off as soon as they’re done!  I never said I was sane y’all!

A couple tricks I have for my paper to-do list:  One, I write it out the night before!  I like to plan my day out the night before bc it helps me see what’s coming at me and how I can plan ahead.  I find that when I go into a day without my to-do list made, I spend too much time trying to get it written out the day of and that wastes time in my day.  Another trick is identifying tasks that take under 5 minutes to complete.  I star these tasks and knock them off my list FIRST!  Why first?  Because these are the things we usually put off and end up moving them from one day to the next to the next and a week later you’re like, whyyyy did I not do that simple task last week?  Trust me.  Take the first 30mins of your day and knock out all those quick and easy to-do’s!

I have been loving this planner since July and will be rebuying when my current one runs out in June!  I found it on Amazon too.

Reminders

I shared my Morning Routine last year and while it is pretty much the same, I took it a step further.  Mornings are hard and when my coffee hasn’t quite kicked in yet, my Reminders App saves me.  I have Daily Reminders set up in the app with time alerts so I don’t forget even the most basic tasks.  This may seem silly, but it really keeps me on track and on my morning routine and I notice when I’m crushing my morning routine, I’m crushing it at life!

Here’s a peek at what my Daily Reminders look like:

I just started Monthly Reminders this year and it’s helping me to be intentional in my personal life.  Work can swallow you up sometimes and time moves too quickly so making space for these things is SO important!

Shared Calendar

We are busy people.  We oversee two church locations now, we have two teen boys who play ALL the sports and we try to have a social life on top of it all.  While we still haven’t mastered any of these things, it’s easy to double book ourselves if we’re not communicating.  What we’ve found to work for us is a Shared Calendar.  We have one that contains ALL the things and now each of our boys has one that downloads into their personal calendars so they know which nights they have practices, games, etc.  It has really helped us and its SO easy to do (and free!) –  I shared HERE about how to create a Shared Calendar.

FOCUS

You might be like, is that a typo?  Nope, focus is the missing factor whenever I’m dropping the ball when it comes to getting it all done.  I find myself saying I don’t “feel like” doing something.  I find myself distracted by scrolling all the feeds.  I find myself just not staying on task.  At the end of the day, you can see what’s important to you by what you prioritize.  In my head, scrolling Instagram is not a priority, but my actions show otherwise.  Choose what you spend your time on wisely y’all.  Those things we don’t feel like doing are usually the things we need to be doing.  Distractions are everywhere however, if you have a goal, you need to be focused and committed to doing the things necessary to reach that goal.  So all of these lists and programs I use to help organize myself may sound crazy, but I am committed to taking care of my life, serving everyone at FERVENT, providing value to my followers and styling women.

I hope you found these things helpful and if you did, do a gal a solid and “pin” this post or share it on your social media feeds! xo

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