I've realized that I am an organized person in that I like things to be laid out and neat, but I don't like to actually do the work to get organized. Does that make any sense? I feel a ridiculous amount of stress (most of it likely unwarranted stress) when things are stuck in my head and not laid out in paper in front of me. For example, all the things that go into running my business. I know that there are a number of activities that I need to be doing, that I should be doing, on a weekly basis. However, I have not yet implemented a task management system other than writing out lists of to-do's and putting up a pretty calendar on my wall. Well, I'm now realizing that this (lack of) organization is not going to serve me well as things pick up with my business. As I take on more one on one clients, more group clients, and want at the same time to engage more with the people around me and potential clients, it's hard to keep everything straight in my head. So, now is the time for me to buckle down and put in the time and effort to set up a task management system. I just hate actually spending time learning a new system, and getting organized. It always feels like wasted time, rather than just doing the actual tasks. Is this just me? I wish I could snap my fingers and ta-da, new system in place. Well, no, I need to grow up.
So there were a few options that I looked into recently - Trello, Asana and Wunderlist. I chose Wunderlist because it seemed the most straightforward for me to use as a one person business and it didn't look like I had to spend a ton of time learning how to use the system. So far, so good. I feel a lot better having it all laid out in front of me, in terms of the things that I want to get done in the next 2-3 weeks. It still took me like 2 hours to choose a system and input everything, but now that it's in there, I hope it will make things smoother for me to run my business. At least less stressful - that's the goal. I can't run a heart-centered practice where I talk about stress management and how bad stress is for your health, with my own head in a tied knot of stress and panic, can I? So, baby steps. Always the name of the game in my health world.
What tools do you use to manage your life and work? Anything helpful to share? I would love to hear it in the comments below!