A few weeks ago I asked what topics people wanted to hear in my Virtual Assistant Advantage FB group and this was one of them, “How do you structure or schedule your day as a VA?” This week’s episode Structuring & Scheduling a Day in the Life of a Virtual Assistant is answering that question.
First, I’d like to apologize, this was supposed to be last week’s episode but…Thanksgiving took over. The focus of December’s podcasts will be goal setting and setting your goals for 2022 and I am so excited to share all the things with y’all! This is going to be an exciting month here on the podcast!
I, personally, believe that the way you work is continually evolving. What works for you right now may not work for you down the road. As the seasons of your life change, you may find that you need to restructure your work-life/work schedule.
There are four things that I recommend doing or scheduling in your workday.
- Take 30 minutes to 1 hour at the beginning of your day to complete “housekeeping” tasks such as checking your email, looking over your daily to-do list, checking your business social media. By doing this not only do you have a better idea of what your plan is for the day but you can also reply to emails and things on social medial that have come in throughout the evening/night that need a response.
- Time block or plan your workday. Make sure to at least have a list of tasks that need to be done during your day. I plan a rough draft of the week ahead every Sunday in my planner and get things set up as much as I need to in order to help my week flow more smoothly. This leads us to number three…
- Use a project management system. I use Asana for my business. In my paper planner, I will have only written: “Client A” telling me that I need to work on the project for that client on that particular day. You can go to Asana, go into that client’s project and have everything all laid out to get to work, with all of the details needed. All of the steps needed to complete the project (in checklist form) are there, enabling you to know exactly what needs to be done to complete the project and see what has already been completed and what needs to be finished. You are also able to set due dates and recurring tasks and put in all of the details you need for each task (so that no extra time is taken looking for it).
- Resist the urge to put out fires, focus on your list of tasks. Some of the things that your clients think are an emergency we may not feel is an emergency. For example, you check your email and a client has emailed you with a task they want to be done right now. The task is not on your list of tasks to get done that day. Focus on, and complete your list of tasks that you have planned and if you have extra work time left email them and offer to complete the task for them.
Thank all of you for listening to Structuring & Scheduling a Day in the Life of a Virtual Assistant and I will see you next week!
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