I was talking with my new intern last week about switching gears with clients. I had these great plans for what she would be working on this week for me, and I wasn’t ready plus I had some new stuff come up. So, I had to punt with her. She got a great learning experience from it!
As a VA, this is not unlike punting with my own clients. I head into the week thinking we are going to work on X, but Y and Z come up and we are off in that direction. It doesn’t mean these clients have “shiny object syndrome”, it just means they are busy, their businesses are growing, and there always seems to be more stuff to do.
So, I got her the new stuff and planned to get a lot of work done over the holiday weekend, which didn’t happen. I got work done, but not nearly what I hoped, and now I have a big week ahead. It occurred to me that I need to work on my own adapt and change about how I schedule work around my business and my free time.
July is a busy month for me. Coming off of my two weeks in Illinois we had the holiday and now two full weeks of work before I am out of the office for 3.5 days for a client event in Princeton, New Jersey. I am so excited about the event and all the work I have to do for my clients, but I find myself packing my own work into the evenings and weekends if I want to get it done.
Here are my strategies to adapt and change this for myself this month:
- Be more intentional with my work time.
- Plan carefully and work that plan.
- Be realistic with how long things will take.
- Dig deeper into what can be delegated.
- Be more aware of the times I give up Amy time for Amy Kazor VA time. They are different.
I still have a lot to fit into these next few weeks, but it is a prime learning opportunity for my intern. She gets to experience the real-life shift of what happens with a busy client. She can practice rolling with the punches, and helping me keep focus by realigning me with the initial goals I shared with her when we started together. She did just that on the call. She asked me how the new things I gave her fit into the plan, and I had to think a bit before I answered… but they all fit. She stepped up to the plate and rocked the call, and I got clarity around something I was feeling frazzled about. It was glorious virtual assistance!
So, I will be working this week on practicing intention around my time, working my plan, and being more realistic on how much time I have to devote and still take care of my personal life. I have someone to delegate to, and while I am teaching her, she really does help me gain clarity, perspective, and get rockin’ work done. It’s time to adapt and change together!
How do you adapt and change to the needs of your business?
Do you find yourself cutting into personal time to often?
How do you adjust?
Thanks for this post, Amy. Here’s what resonated the most for me… “I head into the week thinking we are going to work on X, but Y and Z come up…” and number 3 in your list, “Be realistic with how long things will take.”
Don’t we set ourselves up for failure by making our lists too long, and then we focus on what we didn’t get done instead of what we did?
My new strategy is self-care first then client work. And fewer items are going on the list each day.
I love this!
While I was home at my parent’s house, I learned something about what I do and where I learned it. Every day, despite what she did accomplish, my mom would say she didn’t get anything done. In reality, she didn’t get her list done, but she did accomplish many things. Sometimes our lists are not only unrealistic time-wise, they are schedule-wise as well. It was an eye-opener for me, as most nights when my husband asks about my day, I reply that I didn’t get anything done. Well, in fact, I DID. I am trying to celebrate that more as well.
Thank you for your comments. I love your strategy. Let me know how it goes!
Amy, after our conversation about this, I’m really working on keeping my to-do list REALISTIC. Thanks for the reminder… great post!
Thank, Jude. It is so easy to fall into the “I can do it all” trap! Here’s to being intentional about staying out of it! <3