Jun 27, 2024
- Time
I used to be obsessed with productivity hacks.
Then I read 4000 weeks, you read it?
I’d also read The 80/20 principle
The better you get at your job, the more things you’ll have to do.
You think by being more productive you’ll be able to complete tasks quicker and clear your plate.
But here’s the secret:
Tasks lead to tasks.
The more productive you are, the busier you get.
There will never be enough time to do all of them.
You need learn to focus,
and do only the 20% of stuff that makes a difference.
And get ok with letting the rest slide.
It’s easier said than done though hahaha
As a completionist myself, this is hard.
Welcome to the joys of solopreneurship.
Get in.
Do the important work.
Get out.
Hey Priyesh,
Lifestyle design is not the car you want, or the money you earn or your travel plans.
I like to say your life is just what you do every day.
So your daily schedule = your life.
I think about what you want your day to day to look like,
Then I figure out the long-term goals I need to make that happen,
then reverse engineer them into the actions I need to take every week, or every day.
I plug those actions into my schedule, around whatever non-negotiable responsibilities I already have.
BOOM, now you’re living your ideal life every day.
Repeat for a year or so
then reassess and readjust as needed.
If you’d like, I run a workshop on solopreneur schedule design,
here’s how I run a 6 figure business on a 22 hour week,
plus subscribers can download my daily schedule template
Ok, Here’s what I would tell you if you were one of my team.
Lifted directly from my team SOPs
I want you to take the time to do good work, I don’t want you to feel rushed.
But timeliness is very important.
It’s critical that we show clients regular progress, especially in the early stages after a project, when money has just been exchanged.
So don’t wait until the deadline to start the project.
As soon as you are given a job, start it.
Set your own internal deadlines to be proactive.
Things will come up, feedback will be delayed etc.
So always be as far ahead as you can.
Time only runs one way,
so if the client comes back with feedback late, we adjust the timeline to give us more time to work on the project.
But if client comes back with feedback early, we don’t bring the deadline forwards.
The client gets the results earlier, but the timeline will stay the same which buys us time for future unforseens.
We make sure the client knows we are ahead of schedule.
But we don’t squander this extra time by waiting;
We move ahead with the project and build ourselves a safety buffer.
We will agree deadlines that work for both of us at the start of a project.
All tasks and subtasks will have deadlines set in Clickup.
I will try very hard to make sure that you are not rushed in your work, that you have plenty of time to think about things, and that the pace is relaxed. Good work can’t happen in a rush 😊.
Once a deadline has been set we need to meet the deliverables for that deadline.
Please note deadlines in Clickup are client deadlines.
“due dates” are the final dates by which the phase should be complete, so includes feedback, mistakes, revisions etc.
You should be working to “review dates”.
Internal review dates are about halfway between formal client review dates.
The review date is the date by which you should have progressed as far as you can,
and then you share the work with me for internal feedback.
There may be informal reviews or feedback needed before that deadline, so please factor this in, and don’t leave work until the client deadline, as this may be too late.
If you’re working by yourself, you can set internal dates for yourself to keep yourself in check:
If you think a deadline is too tight
Please tell me so I can factor this into my communication with the client. I don’t bite. 😁
I would much rather you told me a task will take 4 weeks and complete it in 4 weeks, than tell me that a task will take 2 weeks and instead take 4 weeks to complete it…
Sometimes the client is slow to respond, people get sick, and you might have creative block.
If you feel you will be unable to meet a deadline or feel you are falling behind.
Please let me know as far in advance as possible so I can adjust my response to the client, and adjust any future deadlines to suit.
The earlier I know, the earlier we can find a solution or manage client expectations. 😊
If you plan well, optimize your process,
and set internal deadlines well in advance of the actual deadline then you should rarely miss a deadline.
Unforeseen stuff comes up. Always make sure the client knows about it, why, and what the new timeline is.
This way you’ll always be ahead of schedule.
Always underpromise and overdeliver.
That’s how you get happy clients that keep coming back for more.
Your contact details will be private. The answer to your Question will be public so other solopreneurs learn from it.