My Productivity Nightmare – why can’t I be more Organised?

My Productivity Nightmare

I have had a strange week. I am recovering slowly from a gall bladder op, too slowly in my view. Some days have been full of meetings/ideas & creativity and others have been full of sofa time, boxset time,rest time,  productivity nightmare. A 4-hour car trip plus football training with the boys on Saturday nearly killed me. Not an analogy, it actually did as I nearly drove into another car on the way home struggling to navigate back to Knebworth from Cambridge. On Sunday I went back to bed for 2 hours in the afternoon, desperate for rest.

Attending the SHOMO awards last weekend has thrown me. It has made me question my purpose, what I write about, how I write, my objectives. This is positive and negative. So I got a huge piece of card and a load of post it notes and wrote everything down, it felt good to get it out of my head, but not good seeing how much is to be done.

The Positive

My aims, I have 2 big aims

• To make £5k per month from Mrs Mummypenny Ltd
• To increase brand visibility via social media and traffic

Next I broke this down into how these can be achieved.

• Collaborations
• Social Media improvements
• Website improvements
• Focus on the right content/brand relationships

Next I wrote a huge list of all the things I could do to achieve these 3 things. Literally 20 big things were written on post it notes. I matched these up to how my aims could be achieved and then worked out DO or DON’T DO. I got rid of 8 things, sorry Snapchat, sorry Facebook growth I don’t need you! Pinterest is something I have been advised many times I should focus on…but I just don’t get it and would have to invest so much time to learn so its parked for the moment.

I also worked out what jobs could be outsourced, a had a few website bits like new design, google improvements, email database improvements. All to be done by another person and paid for.

So the result is I have got to 3 big things that will help me 100% achieve my big aims. These 3 things include

• Instagram because I love its beauty and positivity and connection with followers.
• Marketing & Social Media consulting. Helping small business owners.
• A secret project to be revealed soon.

The Negative

So I have dealt with the big things, but I have not yet dealt with all the small to do list things. You know the day to day stuff which could take up 18 hours a day 7 days a week.

• I write for a living. My website needs new content at least 3 times a week.
• I have existing brand relationships to nurture and new brand relationships to build. My sponsored posts make up the majority of my earnings.
• My small business clients need to be looked after. Meetings, advice, promotional work.
• I have so much admin to do, books, legal stuff, insurance, cash flow, insights, plus a ton more.
• All channels need regular updates, Mrs Mummypenny Facebook page every day. My Facebook groups need nurture and love every day. Twitter needs to be updated maybe 8 times a day. An Instagram post 1-2 times a day.
• I need to engage in networking groups, twitter chats and create content, share material with other bloggers.
• YouTube videos need to be uploaded every week or so.
• Emails, so many emails need to be answered. And initiated. Brands and PR’s need to be chased for work.
• Unpaid invoices need to be chased.

Can you see how I am overwhelmed!! I signed up to a productivity masterclass last Monday from a very successful blogger friend. I got as far as day 1 out of 5.

The Plan for this week

This week I am going to continue to work through my detailed to do list and prioritise again. Each day I will write down 3 things that I have to do. I know I will end up doing 15, but as long as I have got those 3 original things done all is good with the world.

AND I will switch off all distractions, like my mobile phone, Facebook, Twitter, email notifications. I am the worst at getting distracted. I have just finished this blog post and it has taken me 90 minutes to write it, NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

If you have any tips and tricks to help out please do share and save me from my world of too much to do, not enough time, distractions. Thank you MMPx