If you’re like every other entreperneur I know, you’re likely in the middle of busy season with the added stress of the holidays. In today’s episode, I’m walking you through how you can manage your stress and prioritize your workload as an entrepreneur. Listen in as I walk you through the exact exercise I do for prioritizing work and share some of my favorite tips for reducing stress.
Prioritizing Your Workload
When great opportunities arise in our businesses, it’s hard to say no as entrepreneurs, but you do have the option to say no. If you find yourself in a space where you feel like you’ve overcommitted and you don’t know how to prioritize and work on the right things, this exercise will help!
Make a to-do list
First things first, make a list of everything you have to do. Don’t worry about priority yet, simply write down all of the tasks. This will help us navigate the next few steps.
Number your to-do list in terms of priority
The second thing you should do is number each of your to-do’s based on priority. Here are three questions to ask yourself in order to determine priority:
High Priority: Which tasks have the closest timelines and due dates?
High Impact: Are there any tasks that have a higher impact on the overall season of your business?
Delegation: Is there anything that you can delegate? Move these to another list.
By labeling your tasks based on priority, this will help you to understand where to invest your time first—you may find that some of the low-priority, low-impact tasks won’t need to be completed at this time.
Stress Management & Self Care
Prioritizing your workload will really help with your productivity and understanding of your workload, but that doesn’t take away all of the stress of busy season. Let’s work through a few of my favorite tips for managing stress and taking care of yourself.
Find a Therapist
I truly believe in the power of therapy. Having a third party expert in your mental health can bring you so much value, insight, and validation for both your personal journey and your business.
Incorporate Physical Activity
If you’re chained to your desk during this season, make sure you’re finding a way to incorporate physical activity. This could look like taking a walk or using your walking pad, turn on a yoga video, or go all in and join a gym. Whatever it takes to get you out of your workspace and moving. This is so powerful for your self-care.
Look at Your Food and Water Intake
Speaking of self-care, I know just how easy it can be to skip meals or grab easy, unhealthy snacks when you’re busy at work. Oftentimes, we’re looking to avoid distraction, but are you nourishing your body? For me, the worse I eat, the worse I feel. Make sure you’re taking care of yourself by fueling your body with good food and hydrating with water.
Use a Time Blocking Technique
Another powerful tip for reducing stress, but also maintaining productivity in your work is to use a time-blocking technique or the Pomodoro Technique. When you set dedicated time to work on tasks based on that priority list we mentioned earlier, you can accomplish so much! If you haven’t tried this technique out, I highly encourage it!
Cultivate Community
If you know anything about me or my business, you know how important community is to me. I want to encourage you to try to further and deepen the relationships you’ve found in your communities by finding accountability. This could be with someone from a Facebook community, a conference you attended, or a mastermind!
Try a Mindfulness Apps
Lastly, and I want you to be open to this, try out a mindfulness or meditation app like Headspace. I once rolled my eyes at the idea of this, but it’s a gamechanger in reducing stress. Even if you don’t think they’re for you—give them a try.
When you are a creative entrepreneur, time management is the number one key to preventing burnout! Click to join the list and download my free worksheet.