My Workflow: Why It Works

For the past nine months, I have been going a little crazy working a full-time job and running a business on the side. My day would generally be packed with meetings, workouts, self-care time and tasks. For a long time, I struggled to find something - agenda, task book, paper and pen -  that helped me visualize my week and prioritize my work. So the entrepreneur in me decided to stop looking and make something that would work for myself. This eventually became my workflow worksheet. In this post, I want to share with my workflow, why it works for me and where you can download your worksheet.

Why I Needed a Workflow

First, let's talk about workflow.

What the heck does that even mean?

By definition, a workflow is "the sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion." In other words, it's how you get things done.

We all have our own workflow that works for our style of comprehension, work and learning. For me, I am a visual person. I like to be able to break my tasks down and schedule them in my calendar so I have a visual idea of how my week looks. I color coordinate my tasks, meetings and workouts so I can keep track of things at a glance.

Having this visual representation is important for me for a couple reasons. First, I found this system helps me understand what I can do when and where there are blocks of free time. This has become a powerful tactic when I am booking meetings or responding to last-minute client requests. My workflow has also helped me be able to say no when appropriate.

My workflow worksheet has four basic parts. I want to talk about what is included in each part and how it fits the flow.

Weekly Tasks

This is where I list all my tasks. And when I say all my tasks, I mean ALL of them. I list everything from blog posts and email campaigns to laundry and groceries. This gives me an idea of what I need to do during the week. And, yes, I list self-care as one of my weekly tasks.

The Top 5

The Top 5 is where I list my top 5 priorities for the week. What five tasks must get done that week? For example, writing a weekly newsletter for a client goes into my Top 5 but adding testimonials to a website might not. These tasks are usually characterized as things that move the business forward. I usually include client content, blog posts and self-care in this list.

Workout

Writing down when I work out helps me understand how I can structure my day. And it helps me realize how many times I am getting in activity every week.

Meetings

One of my biggest fears is missing a meeting. So whether I am meeting someone for personal or business reasons, I write it down and plan my tasks accordingly.

This workflow may seem arduous and complicated, but it's very simple. It has helped me understand what is coming up that week and organize accordingly. I have found that when I use this workflow, I am much more focused and productive. I also want to stress that I don't use this to schedule every minute of my week - that's not healthy. This workflow simply helps me visualize my week.

I wanted to share my workflow worksheet with you, so I created a fun template which you can download and print for your own use.

Download My Workflow Template here.

What does your workflow look like? Share below!