Every single day, I am saying, “Where did the day go?” There never seems to be enough time.
When I worked my full time 9-6, plus house chores, family, it seemed 10 pm to 1 am was the only thing left for my side hustle.
It’s so funny. Your passion and side hustle are what will make you jump out of bed, but it seems most days are devoted to that full time BOSS who requires all of your attention.
I often was never completing much of anything and feeling super scatter brained, not knowing what were the most important things to work on if I only had a little bit of time each night.
The key is to be super strategic and intentional with every minute of you day. 😊 That means…..scrolling Facebook will need to be left for another day.
Here’s my 4 steps to get SH*T done (even with a 9-5)…
Step One: Batch To Do Lists
Take a look at 15 minute chunks of time. Do you get a lunch break? Can you do follow up via texts for 15 minutes? Touch base with new team members for 15 minutes? I approach everything I do in batches. Take a look at what time you get up and figure out where your 15 minute batch times can happen. If you are working a 9 to 5, there won’t be a ton of them but you can find time to do those income producing activities for your side business.
Personally, I find my best time batches in the morning, lunch break, afternoon walks ( to get out of the office) and of course night time.
Step Two: Adopt a Morning Routine
Mornings! Ugh! Many of us hate them right? But I found that mornings aren’t as bad if I set up my day to do a few things for my business before I even get out of bed. Lots of follow up can happen at the same time as puppy cuddles LOL. I considered myself a night owl for most of my life but now with a great morning routine….opening my eyes isn’t as dreadful.
Early morning really IS the best time to get sh*t done … you’re more focused, less distracted, and you really do get the most done when you first wake up. If you wake up an hour earlier than you normally get up, that gives you a whole 60 minutes to write a blog post, follow up with customers, create a video, check in with your customer groups. The possibilities are endless.
Think 1 hour doesn’t make a difference? If you ONLY have an hour everyday to devote to your #sidehustle, that’s 30 hours/month … or 365 hours a year. It really adds up!
I get asked all the time about my morning routine, so here it is: alarm goes off at 630 am, I drink 16 ounces of water and take my Thyroid medication. I have to wait 30 minutes before anything else, so I follow up in my Facebook groups. ( I set my alarm for 30 minutes for this or…you are setting yourself up for failure. I then stretch and make myself my shake. I next spend 15 minutes writing in my journal to get my brain going. Pretty much a brain dump. What I’m thankful for and what I have to get done that day. Next, I take care of the puppies and jump right into business for a full 60 minutes. (while listening to an inspirational podcast or audio book) It is important to fill the mind with good stuff.
Step Three: One Task At a Time
Multi tasking does not work. With long lists of things to do, you never actually get anything done. You feel overwhelmed and honestly…..like you have failed daily. Its absolutely horrible.
One task at a time helps you focus and makes you feel like a warrior completing many things in a week. I have a dry erase board and I focus on 5 big items outside of my normal income producing activities a week.
I batch my time and figure out where I can work on these 5 items and which ones are most important. Of course those need to be done first.
My One Task at a time items might look like:
Write blog post
Create a video
Update “About Me” section on website
Write outline for new digital course
Plan out dates for digital course creation
Graphic creation
If I were to try and complete ALL of these things at once, I’d probably end up sitting on the couch, scrolling Facebook, watching Bravo or catching up on Football highlights. Not good for anyone.
When you focus on ONE TASK AT A TIME, you’re able to focus and be MORE productive with your time. Win-win!
Step Four: Start Small but DREAM BIG
Action consists of baby steps. You can dream big but you don’t need to take on everything all at once. But when it comes to actually approaching your daily tasks, you’ve got to work SMALL.
Some of your goals may seem sooooooooo far off in the distance but its the act of doing small things every single day that will get you where you need to go. Write out your goals and then figure out what tasks will get you there and what order they need to be completed. Yeah they might not be your favorite tasks but if you get those uncomfortable ones done first, you will start to see things coming together.
Start first by writing out the big GOALS for yourself. Then, explore into what PROJECTS you’ll need to complete in order to reach those goals. From there, break down the projects into TASKS.
You actually have a lot of time during your day, you just need to pay attention to where it’s going and make sure its going to the places that will give you ALOT MORE time in the future.
Come hang out with me on my FACEBOOK PAGE or my INSTAGRAM account and let me know how you are able to work your SIDE HUSTLE! I’d love to hear!
You got this GIRLFRIEND😃
XOXO, Jilleysue
