The 52 Week Creative Business Challenge: Time Keeping

Tuesday, 3 March 2015

Challenge #8 Time Management - Make the most out of your time!

If we are anything alike, I would say time management could be one of our biggest issues! As a creative, I don't naturally want to stick to time limits, I just want to enjoy the process and be a bit of a perfectionist. But is that good for my business? Probably not!

Now please don't get me wrong, I am not asking you to change your personality or your natural creative flow. Because you need that, to be you! I don't want to disrupt your creative process, but I do want to fine tune it and in turn hopefully maximise your time!

I learn't a lot when starting up in my photography business. After a shoot I would spend days and days editing photos to perfection! I would experiment with up to 3 different edited versions of the same image to give myself options, to give the client options and to show off all that I can do with the wonders of Photoshop! But I soon came to realise that if I spent this long to edit a shoot, I couldn't realistically do many shoots. So I made a plan to maximise my time so I can realistically fit more photo shoots into my diary! This meant dramatically cutting down my editing time, which was actually really helpful! It meant I really developed a distinct style in my photographs, I learn't more about how to get things right 'in camera' and relied less on the use of Photoshop after the shoot. I am certain this process has actually lead to my distinct Lorah Kelly style that is recognised in my photographs today! (Yay!)

Did I 'curb my creativity'? Absolutely not! In fact, I was able to learn to be not only creative but actually very skilled in what I did. Did I maximise my time? Definitely! By only allowing myself to edit for a certain amount of time, I was able to fit more into my week, more time to be more creative!

So what can you do in your business to maximise your time. Are there areas that you just spend far too much time on? How can you cut that down?

A great tool to find out how much time you are really spending on tasks is a time sheet! This can be in the form of a spreadsheet, a chart, a pin board - anything your creative mind can come up with! The idea is to track what you are spending time on during the day. Stop every hour and record what you have done. If you really want to get into details, stop every 15 mins! Record what you have done and then at the end of the week you can look at it and have a realistic view point of how you spend your time.

Could your time sheet look like this?

The next thing to do is make an action plan! What are you spending too much time on? How can you spend less time on this? What can you do to add more time to your day?

There is so much I can day, but perhaps I'll leave it for another blog post ;) So this week, record your time. I would be very interested to see how you all spend your time! If you would like an outsiders perspective, post your time sheet in one of our social media groups and see if we can all brainstorm ideas together :)

Join our groups

#52weekcreativebusinesschallenge

Monday, 23 February 2015

Challenge #7 Work With Your Natural Rythms

Something I have been working on and trying to pay more attention to lately is my natural rhythms and my natural flow! Do you ever feel like you are wading through mud or struggling more than is reasonable to get a task done? Or finding yourself continually procrastinating? I am very often telling myself off for scrolling through a nearby magazine or flicking through Facebook or finding some random task to do that doesn't necessarily need doing. Usually this happens when I just can't face the actual task that needs to get done, and I am starting to think that it means something!

So I've started to try do something a little differently :) I've started to take note of these times to try and see why I might be feeling that way! Maybe there is a pattern? Maybe I have more energy, creativity or brain power at certain times of day! So Maybe, I should be more mindful of what tasks I do, at what times of the day?

I have in no way figured this out completely for myself yet, but as I have started experimenting, I have already begun to see some results! One Monday afternoon, just after lunch, I sat down to create my marketing plan. But I noticed I spent about 10 mins just staring at my piece of paper, fiddling with bits and pieces on my desk, desperately grasping for some inspiration! But I couldn't find it, and I was really nor enjoying this experience. The most dominant part of me immediately thought - "Just push through, this needs to be done and so you must do it now as planned!", but there was a much quieter part of me that said - "Perhaps now is not the time, maybe you'll be more inspired in the morning?". I'm surprised I heard that quite voice, as most of the time I feel obligated to listen to that driving voice! But that day I heard the quiet voice - and I listened to it! Instead of doing my marketing plan, I opened up my emails and got on with some admin until the day was over. The next morning, as soon I was up and about I rushed into the office to put together my marketing plan, and it was done within the hour! (It was a rough idea for my first draft of my marketing plan, not necessarily the finished perfected plan!)

Click for another great article on this subject!