There's a reason many creatives ask other entrepreneurs for guidance on a "typical" workday or workflow. Because ours feel scattered. From an outside observers perspective, my days generally look about the same. I start & end roughly at the same time. But what I accomplish each day is vastly different, depending on my brain space, my mood, my deadlines, my inspiration, my energy, if I have any appointments, etc. And I fondly think of it as a creator's day.
My husband is the opposite of me. He's one of those people that works from sun-up to sun-down. He will accomplish the majority of the stuff on his to do list, definitely his must-dos, and mysteriously always has more to do the next day (possibly because of people like me in his orbit that don't complete things fast enough for his liking.) He thrives in task completion. He is quick to respond to things that come up and lives and dies by his calendar. He even schedules blocks for his "work" time- which just means it's the time of day he gets to sit at his desk & complete tasks without coworker interruption, cause really it's all work time.
And my "system," if you can call it that, confuses him. He will ask me if I can take care of something and my answer is usually along the lines of "maybe." Maybe I can do that on Friday or maybe I could do it after my appointment or can you text me to remind me but not until the afternoon? I always want to help him. I just can't always guarantee my ability to complete a given task in his preferred timeframe.
For him, his schedule is clear-cut with hour time slots available to be filled. Yet, I work best when the whole day is mine. I can get a lot done on those days. Doesn't matter if it's business type tasks or creative work; I get into the groove and knock out a lot of work. Maybe this is just me. I love having an entire day free to work, with no appointments at all. I guess then the other side of that is that I feel a bit deflated when I don't.
"the mere consciousness of an engagement will sometimes worry a whole day." –Charles Dickens
This quote just gets me. :) Knowing I have an appointment in a day can sometimes waste the whole rest of the day productivity-wise. There's this cascade effect, if I know the afternoon has interruptions, I'm less likely to start something ambitious in the morning. Or if I have an appointment in the morning, I've lost the rhythm of a full workday and my motivation wanes.
So on appointment days, I shift to thinking in time blocks. Morning & Afternoon. Whenever the "interruption" is, that half of the day is pretty useless for important tasks, but I can catch up on emails or take care of other smaller items that don't need as much of my brain space.
But in case you really do want to know how my workflow goes...
What I've found helpful after developing the Focus plan is that I decide what my main focus will be for the quarter. Maybe it's finishing membership videos or completing a collection for licensing or listing a new product line. I decide my priority and go all in on that one thing. When my attention gets divided, I don't do anything well. I feel scattered and wonder which thing will make the biggest impact and that can lead to being frozen in inaction. So knowing which main goal is going to get me the closest to reaching my annual goal helps guide my actions.
The 90 day focus gets broken down into either (3) monthly or (2) 6 week periods. (I explain more of this inside the plan.) I then list every task I need to complete to help me accomplish my goal and sort them into order of operations. It acts like a master plan. And then on the days when I feel less like creating or I have an appointment that will affect my ability to focus, I can knock out some of the more tedious business-like tasks that still move me closer to my goal. It has helped me so much!
I would love to be able to draw or paint endlessly each day. But by choosing to run a business, I have to do the other tasks that take those works and turn them into something sellable. That's not usually the fun part.
“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.” -William Durant
So having a framework for what I'll get done in the month gives me the freedom to work creatively when I'm in that mindset and work on the more tedious tasks when I'm not. And since I implemented this system, I am exceeding my goals each quarter.
I hope this helps you try to tackle a plan for your business. But if not, just know from a fellow creative who understands, that it really is okay to work on what suits you best in the moment, as long as you do take some time to do the less fun work as well.
Warmest regards,
P.S. If you want access to the Focus Business Planner Workbook, you can see it here. It is also included free inside our Designed Simply Membership.
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