There’s a lot of feeling of overwhelm around at the moment. The cost of living crisis, strikes, long waiting times for everything, Christmas pressures and the freezing cold weather can make it feel like there’s not much to smile about.

It’s the time of year where our calendars are often full. But rather than making us excited and looking forward to what’s to come, it often leads to feelings of overwhelm. So, now is a good time to take stock and think about what you really need to do, and what can wait. That applies to your business as much as your home life.

I’m trying to create a new working pattern that fits in everything I need it to, in the shortest amount of time. But I’ve had to accept that this is going to take a while to get right. As a new business, it’s hard to get the right balance between paid work and work that isn’t paid but will (hopefully) generate paid work in the future.

Writing myself a timetable and doing certain things on set days has really helped. As is accepting that this isn’t rigid and when I need to, I can have a week (or two) where I don’t stick to it. But knowing I have a structure to fall back on, is helping me keep overwhelm at bay.

Small chunks of time

I’m going to do the same thing for everything that needs to be done at home. I’m part of The Best 90 Days Ever run by the wonderful Hannah Isted and this week is all about organisation. Today’s prompt is to choose a room each day this week and spend 20 minutes tidying it. This is such a simple way to tackle the house and get on top of things before the kids break up from school.

Our girls are at school until the 22nd, so I’m going to start this next week then (in theory) the house will be reasonably tidy for Christmas. I don’t know why we put ourselves under so much pressure to have everything perfect and in place for the “big day”! Does it really matter if all the clothes aren’t put away? Or if the bath isn’t sparkling?

I’m really trying to let go of that this year, because in the past, trying to live up to an impossibly high bar means I’m worn out by Christmas day. I’m letting some things go like sending Christmas cards to family we won’t be seeing over the holidays. I haven’t got stamps and it feels like a waste of time to send them now due to the postal strikes. In the past, I’d have beaten myself up about it. But I’m just going to let it go. The cards I’ve bought will either be used by my eldest daughter, or saved for next year.

Be realistic

In terms of your business, you can use the same idea. Spend 20 minutes some time today and make a list of what you would like to get done in the next 10 days. And then go through it and be ruthless. Write a new list with the things that absolutely have to get done like orders and paid work. Then write another list with things that you’d like to get done if you have time. Have a think about how long each thing will take and look at the time you have available. Be realistic about this. Can you slot some simple 20 minute tasks in a couple of times a day?

Then make a third list with everything you won’t get done from list two, and anything else that was on your original list. Go though it and see if there’s anything on there you can outsource. Paying someone to do the things in your business (and life in general) you don’t enjoy, or don’t have time for, is a good investment. It means the thing gets done and frees up some time for you.

Why you need to publish regular blog posts

Research has shown that websites with blog pages that are regularly updated, can increase traffic to them by over 400%. That’s a big statistic. So, making sure you publish fresh, engaging blog posts, regularly, is so important if you want more people to find you online.

Creating a routine or habit that means you have regular content for your website is key to making sure it brings traffic to your business, all year round. That can be hard when you’ve got eleventy billion other things to do. But having a set time a few days a week will make it so much easier to keep on top of your blog content.

If blog writing was on your list of things to get done, and you’ve moved it to the “don’t have time list”, think about outsourcing it. If it regularly gets moved down your list because you just don’t have time, that probably isn’t going to change. And that means you’re missing an opportunity to bring new people to your website.

How I can help

Take action now so that you start 2023 with your blog writing sorted and the potential to increase and grow the traffic to your website. I have a range of blog and content packages that will take away the pressure of trying to fit in time to write. Click here to find out all the details, or get in touch if you’d like a bespoke package.