First of all, if you're overloaded with work, be happy about it. Most people running their own business would rather be in your shoes, since many do not have enough work to maintain their business.
On the other hand, if you have taken more projects than you can handle, you should do something about it. Otherwise, you may end up with 3 hours of sleep a day, no sunshine, and no personal life. Still, some of the projects will not be done on time, since there is a limit to anyone's productivity.
The following tips might help you to manage all of the projects at hand and help you out of the overloaded situation.
1. Even if you are extremely busy, you can find half an hour for estimating your time and strategic planning. Make yourself a cup of coffee, take a pad and write down everything that is to be done. You will come up with long lists of these "things to do." Make sure, you haven't forgotten anything.
2. Now, divide these items into groups. Let one group be urgent and important things, another urgent daily routines, another of not so urgent tasks, and so on. You may use your own "grouping scheme," but you need to classify all items to target each group more precisely.
3. Sometimes it is good to do this planning on a computer, so that you will be able to delete items, change their order etc. You can even make a table, in which you can add all information, concerning each task. This information can include project's deadline, cost, timing, items needed to accomplish it, value and other parameters.
4. Once you have this table, take a look in your daily planner. Most likely, you have several meetings planned for next week, so you must approximately calculate the time you can spend for "pure work." Do not forget about 8-hours of sleep and lunch breaks - they're important for your health and keeping your mental stamina up.
5. Now, compare the amount of time you will have during a week with the amount of time you need for accomplishing everything that has to be done during this week. If these two figures correspond, just try to keep on schedule, and manage your time in the most effective way. That week might be hard, but you will feel satisfaction at the end of it.
6. If there is a substantial gap between these two figures, then it means you will not be able to do all this work on time. Instead of realizing this at the end of the week, try to find solutions right away. There is a rule - the Administrative 4 D's - Dump it, Delegate it, Do it today, Decide when.
7. Chances are that you cannot simply dump a project; even if it is neither interesting, nor profitable, you have promised to do it to your client. But, with some projects, clients do not really need them on the date they ask for them. In this case, the finished product will only sit on their desk for another week, and only then will they start looking at it. Therefore, choose several projects that you think might survive some delay and contact your client in order to find out exactly what kind of delay they are willing to accept.
8. If you work alone, you probably cannot delegate your. But, you can sub-contract it. Of course, usually these projects are either zero-profitable or bring very little profit. Anyway, it's not the profit you are now striving for; it's the ability to meet deadlines. It will be more wise if you sub-contract the project once, but do not lose the client for future work. Of course, try to leave more profitable projects for yourself and sub-contract less profitable ones.
9. Consider inviting a freelancer to be your temporary assistant for a week. It might help you a lot, especially if you have to do some simple routine work that takes a lot of time.
10. Make a detailed plan for each day, and follow it. Always finish more important urgent work before starting with something less urgent, or less important.
Finally, try not to be anxious or stressed. It will not help and will only make the situation worse. Instead, move forward and scratch finished tasks off of your "to do list." And before you take work, determine if you can do it on time. It is always better to say that you need more time, than to fail in meeting the deadline.
Let your business always be loaded, but not overloaded with work!
On the other hand, if you have taken more projects than you can handle, you should do something about it. Otherwise, you may end up with 3 hours of sleep a day, no sunshine, and no personal life. Still, some of the projects will not be done on time, since there is a limit to anyone's productivity.
The following tips might help you to manage all of the projects at hand and help you out of the overloaded situation.
1. Even if you are extremely busy, you can find half an hour for estimating your time and strategic planning. Make yourself a cup of coffee, take a pad and write down everything that is to be done. You will come up with long lists of these "things to do." Make sure, you haven't forgotten anything.
2. Now, divide these items into groups. Let one group be urgent and important things, another urgent daily routines, another of not so urgent tasks, and so on. You may use your own "grouping scheme," but you need to classify all items to target each group more precisely.
3. Sometimes it is good to do this planning on a computer, so that you will be able to delete items, change their order etc. You can even make a table, in which you can add all information, concerning each task. This information can include project's deadline, cost, timing, items needed to accomplish it, value and other parameters.
4. Once you have this table, take a look in your daily planner. Most likely, you have several meetings planned for next week, so you must approximately calculate the time you can spend for "pure work." Do not forget about 8-hours of sleep and lunch breaks - they're important for your health and keeping your mental stamina up.
5. Now, compare the amount of time you will have during a week with the amount of time you need for accomplishing everything that has to be done during this week. If these two figures correspond, just try to keep on schedule, and manage your time in the most effective way. That week might be hard, but you will feel satisfaction at the end of it.
6. If there is a substantial gap between these two figures, then it means you will not be able to do all this work on time. Instead of realizing this at the end of the week, try to find solutions right away. There is a rule - the Administrative 4 D's - Dump it, Delegate it, Do it today, Decide when.
7. Chances are that you cannot simply dump a project; even if it is neither interesting, nor profitable, you have promised to do it to your client. But, with some projects, clients do not really need them on the date they ask for them. In this case, the finished product will only sit on their desk for another week, and only then will they start looking at it. Therefore, choose several projects that you think might survive some delay and contact your client in order to find out exactly what kind of delay they are willing to accept.
8. If you work alone, you probably cannot delegate your. But, you can sub-contract it. Of course, usually these projects are either zero-profitable or bring very little profit. Anyway, it's not the profit you are now striving for; it's the ability to meet deadlines. It will be more wise if you sub-contract the project once, but do not lose the client for future work. Of course, try to leave more profitable projects for yourself and sub-contract less profitable ones.
9. Consider inviting a freelancer to be your temporary assistant for a week. It might help you a lot, especially if you have to do some simple routine work that takes a lot of time.
10. Make a detailed plan for each day, and follow it. Always finish more important urgent work before starting with something less urgent, or less important.
Finally, try not to be anxious or stressed. It will not help and will only make the situation worse. Instead, move forward and scratch finished tasks off of your "to do list." And before you take work, determine if you can do it on time. It is always better to say that you need more time, than to fail in meeting the deadline.
Let your business always be loaded, but not overloaded with work!
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