Sometimes when working on projects or ongoing tasks, we can lose track of where we are up to. I find that this happens with clients and for myself as well. When we’re plugging away at something, we need to look up every so often to remember where we’re heading and what the point of it all is.
I live by ‘simple is best’ and this applies to what systems I use. Yes there are some awesome gantt chart programs out there and they have their place of course, but often a good old Spreadsheet will do. And depending on the project, a whiteboard or butcher’s paper does the trick.
I shared with a client recently about how I make my marketing efforts tangible. Being a visual person I went very literal on the phrase ‘a finger in every pie’ and traced my hand using markers on a large Post-it note. I did this to capture my marketing efforts and all the moving parts. On the palm I have the central point of my marketing (my website) and then shooting off of each of the fingers I have resources, videos, socials, email list, and networking. I have notes under each as to what they all entail. It’s incredibly basic (and maybe sounds a little nuts) but it helps GROUND me immensely. When I’ve fallen off my path it has helped me get back on track numerous times.
The aim of sharing this with my client was to show another way of approaching how to organise our thoughts and ongoing tasks. I encouraged my client to think of organising their own project in a way that made it visual, touchable, tangible. And the same goes for you, whatever you need to do – do it! No matter how ‘out there’ it seems.
For as long as I’ve been in the workforce, the phrase ‘paperless society’ has been thrown around but I don’t think it’ll ever be the case. Writing something down, seeing something on paper, it helps us humans. It really does. So don’t be afraid to pull out traditional methods at any moment, but especially when overwhelm has hit.
Speaking of Overwhelm and paper, if you’re in need of somewhere to spill some thoughts, download my Organising Overwhelm Worksheet.
