Last week was pretty busy thanks to lots of ongoing work and a larger project due. This week is a little better, but one ongoing client is now sending two projects a day instead of one, which makes payday that much sweeter. And it makes a list almost essential for me.
I’m busy today, so here’s the list of how my week’s shaping up:
– Project 1 (two items) for Client A
– Project 2 (one item) for Client B
Those come first because they get published immediately and in Project 1, the client staggers the publishing.
– Project 3 (three items) to Client C
– Project 4 (two items) to Client D
– Project 5 (9 items) to Client E (these are due every day)
– Project 6 (2 items) to Client F by end of March
If I didn’t make a list, I’d go crazy trying to keep up. My new HP computer has a neat “sticky note” feature that lets me post little notes on my desktop (in different colors even) so that I stay on task. I didn’t think I’d use it, but that program is almost as awesome as Outlook’s calendar function.
I use calendar reminders, too. I’m obsessed with meeting deadlines, so on top of the sticky notes I set calendar reminders to prompt me a day or two before the deadline of some of these projects. With so many things going on at once, I can’t imagine trying to remember it all without help.
How do you organize your work?
I can't work with a daily To Do list. It makes me feel trapped. I have my monthly GDR list, and I use that to keep on track, adding and subtracting as things change.
It's all about flexibility for me.
Speaking of lists, though, I looked through the magazine section of WM yesterday and have a list that runs 15 pages, single-spaced, of markets to which I can pitch articles THAT PAY WELL. And on topics that I'm already comfortable in. So when the content mill defenders say "there's no work out there" — they're simply being lazy.
I'm making a separate list for the areas into which I plan to break into over the next few months, things that will take a bit more leg work up front.
I need to get some more short-run work out there — most of what I"ve worked on these past months is long lead-time work, which means bigger gaps between pay checks.
I'm another to-do list addict. I can't work productively without one. I use a big notecard as my master weekly to-do list and a smaller 3×5 card for my daily lists (working only from the weekly one can feel overwhelming on a daily basis). It also gives me a chance to do something by hand — I can't look at a screen for absolutely everything (or at least I don't want to).
Then I keep white boards around (5 of them). One keeps a chart of just my blogging schedule for my own site. The other big one I use to keep a list of long-term projects I'm working on (like adding new blog features, or big elements of a site redesign). Then there are 3 smaller white boards — two to-do list ones and one calendar one. I use them for mapping out individual projects (like deadlines for the book I'm drafting or a weekly to-do list if I'm actively trying to work on an e-book).
Mostly I use the cards for client work and the white boards for my own. It keeps everything at my fingertips (or in eyesight) throughout the day while still keeping each element of the business separate.
Devon, my own mother accuses me of going to the store for oranges one orange at a time. 🙂 I have to do lists. It may be my Germanic side, it may be my Saturn in Capricorn, it may be that I really am that scattered, but if I don't, I lose something. But I totally agree – I hate the confines of a list (while at the same time loving it? It's Aquarius fighting Capricorn here).
Jenn, you out-list me! I love that you're that organized. I'm electronically so, or my head would explode. I used to do the scrap-of-paper system, but if you saw this desk, you'd understand why that's not working for me.
To your point about work, Devon. I agree. There's plenty out there that pays well. Some of the folks arguing for the content-mill work say we spend too much time looking for those higher-paying jobs and it all evens out. Bull puckey. You said it best. The work is there and laziness one someone else's part doesn't mean we're the fools.
I'm another serial list maker. Without a list something important will surely be forgotten.
I've always liked making them – especially when they lead up to meeting a goal. Crossing things off makes me feel extremely productive.
Hi Lori.
I, too, am crazy about deadlines. There's no excuse for me to blow a deadline. If that happens, I shouldn't have taken the assignment.
However, I can't do a daily to-do list. It would also make me feel confined, and I'm just not trained mentally to look at a to-do list throughout the day.
I do have a long-term to-do list. Every time I get an assignment, I add it to my list. Each assignment is listed in order of the due date. I keep that list next to my computer. That that keeps me aware of what's coming up over the next month or two.
I supplement that with Outlook reminders. I can't put deadlines in Outlook. Getting that many Outlook reminders would bug me. But I put reminders in for things like interviews, dates that I have to follow up with sources, etc.
So it appears I use a long-term to-do list, supplemented with Outlook reminders of individual tasks.
Interesting. I've never really looked at how I organize my work. Thanks for making me think about this!
I love checking things off my To Do List. It's proof I've accomplished something, but also keeps me on track.
My entire family (Dad's side) have poor short-term memories. (Favorite example: My sister, cousin, cousin's daughters and wife and I were playing a new, complicated, board game. No matter whose turn it was, after rolling the dice and moving our pieces, we had to ask my cousin's wife what happened next. She was the only one who could remember the instructions. After years of claiming our faulty memories were heredity, we finally had proof – and couldn't stop laughing.) That memory issue means I have to write lists or I'll forget something.
Today's admittedly short list is: write column; send in blog post; write article; shovel; send Get Well card to friend having minor surgery. But there's flexibility, too. I can squeeze in more tasks – send a query or two, that sort of thing (which of course I also write in just so I can have the satisfaction of crossing them off the list.) Small things can be pushed to tomorrow if I need to fit an interview or something.
Some days the lists don't even fit in my day planner. (Yes. I still use a cheap old paper week-at-glance type day planner.)
Now I need to go shovel so I can cross that off the list.
I bought myself a planner just for my projects so I can plan my time accordingly (I have a lot of ongoing weekly work that I know is automatically due, so that's just second nature at this point.) I also have a "master calendar" in my purse where I list EVERYTHING, mostly non-writing-related, although I'll include my deadlines for bigger projects. I'm also a compulsive list maker–I tackle the pressing items first, then cross things off throughout the week. I'm very sensitive to deadlines so I make sure I can get everything accomplished that I have to do for an assignment. I'm not THE most organized person in the world, but this system has been working for me–most of my work's on time or early.
For the big picture, I used an old fashioned corkboard divided into four sections: pending proposals, current projects, pending revisions, and pending invoices. Under each section I stick an index card with the details, and move it over to a different section as appropriate. On a daily basis, I use a to-do list that's broken down into smaller tasks. I'm one of those nerdy people who really does get a thrill from crossing stuff off the list.
I'm with Paula. I also use the cheap daily planners to manually write in my lists. I'll add post it notes for things that don't fit into the planner.
I could do it on the computer, but I've done it via the planner for so long, why change now?
Gabriella, I didn't want to tell you that it was a list…. 😉 And I can't do a daily to-do list, either. Weekly like the one I showed you guys is enough anal for me!
Paula, my organized heart goes out to you. I wrap my arms around the chance to see what I need to tackle and just tackle it. Like I said – daily lists, I'd lose my mind and feel penned in. Weekly lists, a little more breathing room. (You're still shoveling?)
Sara, I have a nice little notepad in my purse. I never use it. I have to be jolted, so to speak, electronically while I'm sitting here working or it's gone.
Eileen, I'd love to go to Staples with you. Something tells me we're both office supply junkies. 🙂
Wendy, I'd lost so many papers on this desk! It was when I nearly missed a deadline because I didn't have a note that I decided to get more electronic. If I have Outlook pestering me, I'm more likely to remember. I used to have – get this – one of those big-arsed desk calendars for my appointments! How archaic is that?
Yet there are days I miss that calendar.
Eileen, I'd love to go to Staples with you. Something tells me we're both office supply junkies. 🙂
I am so busted.
I use Post-it's too, Wendy! I have some stuck to my computer, others by the phone, some by the microwave (where I'll see them when I make my oatmeal and tea every morning).
Lori, I found a fun way around shoveling. It was the heavy wet snow – only 3 or 4 inches, since a lot melted on contact. I have a long driveway. It's really narrow in the middle section, where the house bumps out (my dad called it a Model T driveway, since that's the same vintage as the house). There's a retaining wall on the other side. I don't like dumping snow next to the neighbor's foundation, and I sure don't like lifting heavy snow up that extra two feet. So I usually push it to the front and back where there are areas to pile the snow. It was so heavy after pushing it just a couple of feet, I decided to roll it…into a snowman!
When I was done, I read my horoscope in the paper. I normally pay no attention to them, since they're so vague. Not today. It said I'd do something immature!
Oh, and when I was making the snowman I was wearing my goofy two-tasseled "Fat Hat". The two sets of new neighbors are probably wondering about the crazy lady next door!
Paula, the image I have of you right now is perfect! I bet it felt fantastic to be a kid again, even for a few minutes. 😉 And that hat….you have to send me a picture of that hat.
Eileen, it's better than shoe shopping sometimes, isn't it?
Lori, office supply shopping is always better than shoe shopping. I love shoes, but really, being a freelancer, I don't need to get dressed up for work and a busy family life keeps me from being much of a fashionista. I have shoes in my closet I've only worn once. But my office supplies – guilt free, since it's so darned practical.
And who can resist the smell of new paper? :))
-White board has a static list of daily social networking and blogging for clients that does not vary on the top of the board and then, on the bottom, is a list of new projects by day.
-Sticky notes have query ideas and personal projects.
-Backs of envelopes have various incoming work that wasn't scheduled ahead of time but needs to get done that day. I just take the junk mail from the day before, turn it over and write the day's incoming requests on it. I'm so very frugal 🙂
I love your frugality, Yo. 🙂 My envelopes – the ones I don't recycle – contain things like notes about my great-grandfather, errant phone numbers with no names attached, confirmation numbers for whatever I've ordered months ago, story ideas…. you see why I go electronic with my lists, don't you?
OMG confirmation numbers… yes… that too. Oh, I hate that because I NEVER write what the heck the number is FOR. Somehow, I just think I will automatically remember. I never learn 🙂