We all know how it feels like to sit down with a plan for the day, only for something to pull the rug out from under our feet and throw everything into disarray. The annoyance, the frustration, the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realise that the lovely calm day you were hoping for just ain’t gonna happen.

A couple of weeks ago I had such a day.

I recently saw something somewhere on the t’interweb that really made me stop and think. I can’t remember where I saw it, or exactly what it said (great story, Louise), but basically someone was questioning the merits of being organised.

Everyone talks about being organised as though it’s some great virtue. But is that really the case?

Even though we’re using less and less paper these days, general detritus still tends to accumulate on and around our desks as we work. Scraps of paper, mugs of cold coffee, things you’ve printed off, notes you’ve made during phonecalls. It all builds up.

If you just get up and walk away at the end of the day, chances are you’ll start the next day feeling a little ‘off’. If you were feeling drained, frazzled or overwhelmed the day before and you haven’t tidied up, you’ll be reminded of that negative juju the moment you sit down the next day. One bad day can easily turn into a bad couple of days, which can soon escalate into a bad week.

Today’s Getting Stuff Done Gold comes from Australia. More specifically, from the brilliant Michael Back, customer experience enthusiast, marketing & social media dude, people lover and provider of clarity to small businesses. (And all-round lovely guy. I’ve worked with him. He’s awesome.)

Michael’s article, “The triangle: lame musical instrument, amazing productivity tool”, caught my eye for a few reasons. Firstly, it involves a triangle. Anyone who’s been through my Getting Stuff Done Challenge knows how I feel about the number three, so BOOM – box ticked. Secondly, it takes a corporate-ish productivity tool and explains how it could be usefully deployed in a wide range of situations. And thirdly, it made me laugh. 

Last weekend I received a message from a friend who was feeling overwhelmed. She had loads of ideas, but was struggling to focus and prioritise.

We jumped onto Skype and spent a little time talking things through. During the course of our conversation, my lovely friend used a phrase that stuck with me. She described what I do as ‘compassionate, sustainable productivity’.

Her words really resonated with me; I felt she’d really hit the nail on the head. Here’s why…

“I can’t be bothered.”

A phrase uttered by teenagers the world over! But although we might not say it out loud (or perhaps we do?), we adults can also be afflicted by a severe case of ‘meh’. You know the feeling: there’s something we know needs doing, but we just can’t be bothered. We’d much rather be doing something else.

The reality is that we’re not going to feel motivated 100% of the time. And no matter how much we love what we do, if we decided only to do things when we felt motivated to do them, we probably wouldn’t make much progress.

But there are things you can do to coax your motivation and enthusiasm out of hiding when all you want to do is nothing much.

I hear them all the time from people who are drowning in a sea of ever-growing to-dos and the pressure of juggling their family, friends and work. Those four little words that many of us utter (or scream inwardly) several times a day: “I don’t have time”.

You may have noticed me talking about getting stuff done with less stress and more ease. But what exactly does that mean?

Hopefully the first part is fairly self-explanatory. We all want to get through our day with as little stress as possible, so anything we can do to minimise our triggers and maintain a sense of calm has got to be a good thing.

But what on earth do I mean when I talk about more ease?

Hands up if your work involves doing just one thing. One project at a time. One client at a time. Anyone? No-one?

I thought not. That’s just not how things work in the real world. We're all working on lots of different projects simultaneously. We have lots of clients to look after. Lots of different demands on our time.

Last week I shared some tips to help you manage your time when you’re working with multiple clients or have lots of projects on the go. This week I have three suggestions that will help you stay organised and focused when things could easily start to feel out-of-control.

I recently asked the good people of Facebook to tell me where they struggle most when it comes to their productivity. One of the themes that arose was how to juggle multiple clients or projects without becoming stressed.

At the time of writing, I’m happily supporting 15 small business owners, so you might say that I have form in this area! I’d like to share four tips that will help you manage your time effectively, so you can give your best whilst keeping one eye on your own sanity!

Ten years ago I bought my first book on the subject of productivity. Since then, I’ve explored many different ways to get stuff done as efficiently as possible.

Then, when I realised that efficiency for efficiency’s sake is not healthy, I became interested in pursuing a slower way of life. Over the last couple of years I’ve been learning about mindfulness as part of my mission to slow the heck down.

Now, I’ve started to notice a connection between productivity and mindfulness. The two go hand in hand, and it’s been a revelation! (It’s obvious when you think about it, but it somehow took me this long to join the dots…!)

If we put all the things we associate with mindfulness - meditation, colouring books, serene Instagram feeds - to one side and go back to basics, being mindful is simply the opposite of being mindless.

When we’re being mindful, we’re being intentional. We’re actively choosing to do whatever thing we’re doing, and we’re fully engaged and present with that thing.

Now you know why a bullet journal could help you tame your to-do list and I’ve outlined the basic structure, let’s look at how you can make it work for you in reality.

As I’ve said before, it isn’t necessary for your bullet journal to be a thing of beauty. Having said that, I have perfectionist tendencies and would get cross if I needed to scribble things out. My solution? Use a pencil with a rubber on the end! I have one within grabbing distance at all times.

The journal you choose doesn’t need to be fancy, but if you’re planning to take it everywhere with you it does need to be durable.

The key to making this work, is to make sure your bullet journal is always with you. When I had a proper job, mine lived in my handbag.

If yesterday’s post about bullet journaling whet your appetite, today I’m going to get into the nitty gritty of how I structure mine.*  (Can I also just reiterate that bullet journals do not need to be works of art. Keep reading, and you’ll see that mine certainly isn’t. My journal is here to serve me, not the other way round!)

Is your to-do list captured on sticky notes stuck to your PC monitor, noticeboard, fridge, dog and occasionally, for the really important ones, forehead? (And let’s not forget all those that have fallen down the back of your desk once the sticky became unstuck.)

Not having easy-to-see clarity around what needs to be done can equal overwhelm all too quickly. Quite often it’s not the volume of tasks that causes those feelings of stress. It’s the not knowing. That feeling in the back of your mind that there’s a task lurking somewhere, forgotten and waiting to pounce at the eleventh hour. I used to feel that way all the time, so I know how debilitating it can be.

So this week I’d like to talk to you about bullet journals and how they can save you from drowning in a sea of small yellow squares.

As I’ve started working with more and more clients, I’ve started to notice a pattern.

At some point during the first week or two of our working together, my clients apologise for being all over the place. At first I didn’t give it much thought. But as it keeps happening I’ve been mulling it over to try and figure out what’s behind those apologies.

Here’s what I think.

I think people who run a small business (and perhaps also those who don’t) have convinced themselves that they need to be brilliant at everything. Admitting that they’re not and that they need help takes guts, and my clients have usually gone through that process by the time they contact me.

But then comes the bit where they invite me in to see how things really are. And then they get embarrassed that everything isn’t all ship-shape, and zen-like. And then they start apologising.

In my last blog post I talked about how I came to a realisation that changed everything. I realised that I didn’t enjoy managing people, that I wasn’t any good at it and that trying to be good at it was making me miserable and ill. The solution was simple: stop doing it, and focus on the things I am great at. That’s what I did, and I’ve never felt better!

Today, I’d like to encourage you to stop for a moment and think about your business. Are you spending enough time on the things you love and are great at? Or does running your business feel like a constant battle?

Don’t get me wrong; it’s extremely unlikely that you’re ever going to love every second of your working day and that there won’t be any tasks that make your heart sink. But the key is to find a balance, and to make sure you’re not spending more than 20% of your time feeling ‘meh’.

The first step to redressing the balance is awareness.

Over the last year or so, I have come to realise that we should all be doing more of what we love.

I realise that’s nothing new. There are memes all over the t’interweb telling us that. We know. We get it.

But for me, the “AHA!” moment hit when I did some soul-searching and realised that the reverse is also true. That it’s ok to admit that this thing I’ve been trying to do for the last 5 years…

The thing I’d also done ten years ago and hated…

The thing I tried to do again because I really should be able to do it….

… it’s ok to admit that I’m just not very good at that thing. I really don’t enjoy it. Worse still, it actually makes me ill.

So perhaps for me it’s not so much “do more of what you love”, but more “do less of what causes you crippling anxiety and stress”.

Duh. *Facepalm*

Let me explain.

I have always enjoyed getting stuff done. I take great satisfaction from finding the most efficient way of doing things, whether that be when cooking dinner or coming up with a process for managing a complex higher education admissions system. For me, it’s not just about getting whatever needs doing done to a high standard; it’s also about getting whatever needs doing done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Until one day, on my way to the kitchen at work (I remember this moment so clearly), I stopped and asked myself: “What is all this rushing actually FOR? Yes, I’m saving a few minutes here and there, but what am I doing with the time I’ve saved?”

I was hit by a realisation so blindingly obvious that I couldn’t understand why it hadn’t occurred to me before.

If you follow me on Facebook, you might be wondering why I post about slowing down so often on a page that’s meant to be about my Virtual Assistant-ness. Let me explain...

There were lots of things about my last 'proper' job that I loved, but when the relentless pressure started to feel.... well...a little too relentless, I decided to make a change. I started my own VA business because I’d had enough of feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.  I made a conscious choice to put my strengths - and my default “let me help you with that” setting - to good use.