When You Feel Like You Can't Catch Up, Prioritize!

When you're feeling overwhelmed with all the things you need to get done, take a few moments to prioritize and make sure you're working effectively. Connect with me through your favorite platform: https://pods.link/aardvarkgirl -- Have you ever had one of those weeks where you feel like you just can’t catch up? Like every time you cross one thing off of your to do list, you’ve added three more? That’s the kind of week I had last week. I started off with what I considered to be a reasonable list of things to accomplish. Get all of the year-end reporting done for my business and for my clients. Send out all the 1099s. Produce a short video to kick off the new year. Get some podcast episodes finished so I can get ahead again. And all of my usual weekly client work. Some of the things on that list, mostly related to the podcast, I had planned on doing the weekend before. New Year’s Day fell on a Friday so it felt like I had an extra day. I had every intention of being productive. I did get some things done around the house that I’d been wanting to do for a while. Remember back in March of 2020 when everyone was organizing their pantries? I took a bit longer to get around to it. But organizing my pantry turned into organizing every single thing in my kitchen. It took a bit longer than I was expecting. And there was a new season of Cobra Kai I had to watch, of course. That was very important. Then Saturday I just wasn’t into it. I woke up with a headache and I knew I needed a day of rest. I always think it’s important to listen to your body when it’s telling you what you need. So even though I kept hearing in the back of my mind that I should get some stuff done, I knew I needed the break. Sunday is my food prep day and I got a bit ambitious with all of the recipes I wanted to make for the week. And then suddenly the long weekend was gone. Oops. I wasn’t too concerned about it though. I only put things off when I know there’s enough time to put them off. So I often bargain with myself. For example, “I’m going to binge this show this weekend and then if I need to work later than usual next week, that’s fine.” Or “I am going to spend all day Saturday on my personal projects this weekend and next weekend I’m going to stay away from all screens.” When you run your own business, you get to do things like that because you really only have to answer to yourself. And maybe your clients, but I would never put off work that needs to be done for them. I always say you have to put yourself first sometimes. Whether that means taking a day for self-care or turning down a client project because you have things you need to do for your own business. But sometimes the right move for you and your business is to delay your plan and focus on what they need. Within reason, of course. The level of service I give to my clients is why they’re so loyal to me. They know they can depend on me. And I never want to be the person that someone is waiting for. I get frustrated when I’m delayed on what I need to do because someone else hasn’t done their part yet. I know how many times I’ve been venting to someone that I’m at a standstill because I can’t do anything I need to do until someone else gets back to me with something. I don’t ever want to be the person someone is venting about. I think it’s important when you’re running your business, or just in being a human in general, to keep in mind what it would feel like if the roles were reversed. If you were the client and were being held up because someone you were paying wasn’t getting their work done, would you want to keep working with them? Again, within reason. I’m not talking about those clients who don’t respect boundaries or expect you to drop everything any time they need you. That’s a separate topic. But being considerate of other people’s workflow is really important. And when your workflow involves managing several clients who are all on their own schedules and timelines, you have to balanc