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3 Steps to Organize Digital Content: Never Lose Your Content Again

by Michele | Content Systems, Planning-Organization-Productivity

I’m curious: Have you ever found yourself frustrated and exclaiming, “Help! I’m Always Losing My Images/Files/Content Ideas?” Today, we're tackling a common problem: losing your images, files, and content ideas. This issue can cause significant frustration and inefficiency in your workflow. But don’t worry—I’m here to help with three practical steps to fix this problem once and for all.

Tackling A Common Problem

Have you ever been ready to post an amazing blog only to find that you can’t locate the perfect image you created in Canva? Or maybe you had a brilliant idea for your next podcast episode, but it has vanished from your memory. You knew you wrote it down somewhere, but you can't remember where any of this sound familiar. You’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs face this issue, but today, we're going to change that. By the end of this post, you’ll have a clear strategy to ensure you never lose your important files or ideas again.

Step 1: Create a Centralized Storage System

One of the biggest reasons we lose files and ideas is that they’re scattered across different devices, apps, and platforms. The solution is simple: create a centralized storage system.

Choose Your Tool: Decide where you want to store everything. Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive are excellent for storing files. For capturing content ideas, consider using Evernote, Notion, or your project management system like Asana.

Organize Your Files: Create a logical folder structure. For example, have a main folder for each project or content type with subfolders for images, documents, and ideas. Use consistent naming conventions to make searching easier.

Free Resource: I have a free guide on organizing your Google Drive, including tips on naming files and creating folders. Here is the link to sign up for the organization series and workbook.

Step 2: Implement a Regular Backup Routine

Even if you store your files in the cloud, it's crucial to have backups. Cloud services can fail, and having a backup routine ensures your data is always safe.

Backup Tools and Methods: Use cloud services, external hard drives, or automatic backup tools. Personally, I back up my files to both Google Workspace and iCloud. This redundancy ensures that I have access to my files even if one service fails.

Schedule Your Backups: Depending on your content volume, schedule your backups daily, weekly, or monthly. Automate the process using tools like Time Machine for Mac or Backup and Restore for Windows.

Extra Tip: Besides backing up your website, remember to back up your email list. Most email platforms allow you to download your list, ensuring you have a copy if needed.

Step 3: Develop a Consistent Workflow for Capturing Ideas

Random note-taking leads to lost ideas. Developing a consistent workflow for capturing your ideas is essential.

Capture Tools: Use mobile apps like Google Keep, Trello, or Asana. Voice memos and dedicated notebooks are also great for capturing ideas on the go. I often use the voice function with ChatGPT to document conversations and ideas, especially when driving.

Single Place for Ideas: Ensure all your ideas go into one place. For example, if you use ChatGPT for idea generation, transfer those ideas to your main idea bank in Notion or Asana when you’re back at your desk.

Schedule Idea Time: Set aside specific times for idea generation and capture. Whether it’s in the morning with your coffee or during a weekly brainstorming session, find what works best for you. Track your energy levels to identify the best times for creative thinking.

Templates and Forms: Create templates or quick forms for idea recording. In Asana, you can set up templates for easy duplication, ensuring all your processes are documented and accessible to your team.

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Time To Wrap This Up

Here’s a quick recap of the three steps to fix the problem of losing your images, files, and content ideas:

Create a centralized storage system.
Implement a regular backup routine.
Develop a consistent workflow for capturing ideas.
I hope you find these steps helpful and start implementing them today. This will make your content creation process more organized and stress-free. Don’t forget to check out the free resource on organizing your digital content.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate you and hope you have a wonderful week!

← Manage the Busy: Productivity Tips for Moms and Wellness Coaches Streamline Your Wellness Podcast Process in Four Steps →

Manage the Busy: Productivity Tips for Moms and Wellness Coaches

by Michele | Planning-Organization-Productivity

As a health and wellness coach, you're no stranger to the constant juggling of family, endless to-do lists, and running your own business. It's easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of busyness, feeling like you're always running a million miles per hour. When a friend asks what you've been up to, you might automatically reply, “Oh, you know, just busy with family and growing my coaching practice. Everything's going great, but it's pretty crazy!” Sound familiar?

But is this automatic response merely a mask to cover up the chaos we feel swirling around inside?

You are devoted to your family and your growing coaching practice, and managing the ever-present busyness can sometimes feel like an uphill battle.

So, how do you differentiate between genuinely productive work and mere busy work? How do you ensure you invest your precious time in areas that truly enrich your life and business? How do you manage the busy in your life when it begins to feel out of control?

Choosing Calm and Ease

Why do we answer with busy? Is it for the connection? Do we not want to burden them with everything going on in our heads? I don’t know about you, but we're all busy and running around crazy. I mean, that's a really easy way to describe our lives, right?

Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I head to my journal to read past entries. Success leaves clues, and history always seems to repeat itself.

I will share this entry with you from a time when I chose to feel calm and at ease no matter the circumstance.

Journal Entry June 2, 2022:

While we all have a lot going on, I don't really feel busy. In fact, this year, I consciously chose to embrace the feeling of calm and ease.

Does calm and ease come easily all the time? No. I’ve learned that I’m the only one who can control my reactions, so I’m proactively choosing calm and ease.

Even last Sunday, when our golden doodle, boy, she can be so naughty, jumped on top of the counter at 8 PM and ate my whole loaf of gluten-free cooling banana bread with chocolate chips and walnuts. I'll tell you what: I was pretty disappointed that she did that. So instead of taking my nice hot, relaxing shower before bed, nope, not this girl. I was listening to my vet. Explain to me how to induce vomiting. Thank God for Dr. Jerry.

That was a perfect opportunity to let the crazy in, but I didn't. Nope, I didn't. Instead, I embraced calm and ease. Did it take everything in me to keep it together? Yes, yes, it did. It took every fiber of my being to embrace calm and ease and not want to go off the deep end feeling overwhelmed, but I did it anyway.

I don’t know about you but after reading this journal entry, it may be time to chose calm and ease to manage the busyness.

What drives you crazy?

So how exactly do you manage those feelings of being busy and overwhelmed when they keep popping up in your life? In spite of situations, you can't handle and are out of your control?

Here are two ways that I've created in my life to be able to help manage the busyness. First, make sure you have a great routine for scheduling your week and being okay that you'll have to let some things go. Of course, this will feel difficult, however, for right now you know that something has to give. Learn to accept not everything ought to be done by you. Basically, know that sometimes your schedule will get off and you'll have unexpected things come up that you didn't have planned or scheduled.

Oh trust me, I have done so much thought work on this. In this situation, nothing would throw me off my game more than if my schedule or the outline of my day would get off in any way, shape, or form. It drove me crazy. When the crazy happens embracing calm and ease, will not throw me off my game nearly as much.

Plan Your Week To Manage The Busy

You may be wondering, how to create a great routine for scheduling your week. The trick is to pick a day that actually works the best for you to plan out your week. You may do this Monday first thing, Friday afternoon, or over the weekend. Despite what you think, planning doesn't have to be a long-drawn-out process. Actually, I encourage you to set a time limit on how long you're gonna spend planning out your week, may I suggest up to one hour.

Basically, you can simply sit down and map it out ahead of time. When you decide ahead of time what you’ll do this is huge for not feeling so busy because you can see what you have going on and laid out ahead of time. Make sure to find a day that works the best for you, and map it out.

Points are often overlooked when you're mapping out your week. Block time to get out the door. Or maybe it's just me, that needs 10 minutes before I plan to walk out the door.

It seems I find a number of last-minute items that somehow seem important to me, during those precious moments. Instead of getting out the door, again maybe it's just me, but for some reason, I notice that the water dish is empty for the dogs or, oh, did I feed them today? Of course, look there's clothes in the washing machine that need to go on the dryer.

Hey. Maybe that's just me? Those last minutes are when I seem to find all those little things that add up.

Therefore, I always buffer in 10 minutes for, and it's specifically in my calendar, time to get out the door because I know me and for some reason, I need that time. Also, make sure you include your time to truly get ready. Not your PR of the fastest time ever that you’ve gotten ready, plan for the amount of time it will realistically take.

Be sure to work backward from your appointments so that you make sure you have adequate time in your calendar to plan for getting yourself to your appointment on time.

Big Rocks

Another big rock to plan in your calendar, big rocks are the big, important things that you wanna make sure happen during your week. A few examples may be to make sure you have time set aside for yourself. Time for whatever it is that helps fill you up leaving you a little bit calmer and at ease in your life. This may be meditation, prayer, journaling, exercise, or whatever it is that you need to do to make yourself feel calm and at ease.

Without a doubt, those big rocks you put in your calendar are all important things that cannot be overlooked or missed to make sure that you have time set aside for things that allow you to manage the busyness.

Letting Go to Manage The Busyness

Secondly, is by letting go of some things. Oh, it's okay. You can do it. It's really not that big of a deal. You know in your heart there are things in your life right now that are no longer serving you, but you've kept doing them and doing 'em because you've always done it.

It's okay. It's okay to let them go. I'm giving you permission right now to let those go. Please check in with yourself, check in with how you're feeling is this really something that you wanna do? What if, you reserve your valuable time for things that bring calm and ease to your life?

Certainly, let go of the things that are no longer serving you at this time in your life. This is where I personally need to check in with my feelings of calm and ease.

After all by embracing calm and ease, and I'm learning to accept that I can not load extras into my calendar, activities I know are really gonna be pushing my schedule. Going out for dinner to often or trying to put too many things in one day. I know now that I'm the type of a person if I have more than one, two max big activities I'm gonna be drained completely.

Plus he can have people come over to the house. I'm not that girl. I'm the girl that needs to limit the number of activities that she does in order to feel calm, at ease, and manage her busy feelings.

When I load all of those extra things into my schedule, well, you guessed it. I'm not gonna feel very calm. I'm gonna feel busy.

I want to be able to manage the busy feeling and embrace, calm and ease. There, I am aware by taking a step back and reviewing all the items on my calendar for the week.

That way I know if someone asked for me to do something during the week, I can go ahead and look at what I have planned out in my paper planner or on my calendar and know, Hey yeah, this, this is not gonna work.

It's gonna be opening that door back up to the feeling that I'm frantic and busy and trying to get everywhere.

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This is how I know when I’m scheduling too much

How do you know when you’re scheduling too much? Do you have a trigger that alerts you?

How do I know? When my day is getting to feel frantic and busy because I start to dream at night that I'm trying to get places. Here is what happens in my dreams, I need to get someplace and I can't get out the door to go. The reason is that I have all these things that I'm trying to gather and put into either a suitcase, a basket or a bag. I’m struggling to get everything gathered up because things are everywhere and I'm frantically trying to organize and pick them up so that we can get out the door on time.

This dream is my trigger, once it begins I know that I'm doing or trying to do too many things. It a signal that I need to take a hard look at my schedule and figure out what need to go. If letting things go is hard for you right now, I'm giving you permission to let it go.

Throw it over

Despite what you think, you do not have to do everything. You only need to do the things that keep the ship afloat. Everything else may be thrown overboard.

If you're getting asked to be the next person to run a committee, are you the best person to be running that committee? Maybe the answer is yes. At least consider what you’ll have to say no to if you say yes to a new committee. Regardless, you need to make a conscious decision if that time commitment will allow you to manage the busyness or instead of fulfilled it will leave you exhausted and busy. Should that be the case, say no. Add the committee to your Someday/Maybe list, once your calendar frees up a bit then at that time you may consider joining another board. Even though you’re making a conscious decision to say no right now. In the future, it could be a yes.

For me personally, I had to set the limit of only one board at a time.

Okay, I lie. I'm lying to you right now. I didn't set the limit. My husband told me I'm only allowed to be on one board at a time because I tend to take on too much if I'm on more than one board at a time. He is 100% correct. Since this rule was established, I’ve also set my priorities to create a decision matrix.

Know your time bank

Given these points, begin to know and understand your time bank. What is your time bank? Let’s figure it out. The simplest way to figure it out is how much time you spend sleeping. Take that number and subtract it from 24 hours. That's your time bank.

Should you sleep eight hours, that leaves you with 16 hours to manage the busy.

What you decide to do with your 16 hours every day is up to you. How many hours do you have to get to do everything that you want to get done?

You may try to justify this, but I did.

Okay. One other point regarding busyness: It is really only a thought. I know, right? Plenty of clients have tried to tell me differently, and heck, I even tried to justify to my own personal coach when she pointed out that I was merely having thoughts that I'm busy.

Yeah, in the end, it is our thoughts.

You guessed it your thoughts create the feelings that cause the actions that give you your results. You get to choose the thought of being busy. Yep, I know. Try that on for size and see how it feels. Heck, you may want to jump on my bandwagon and choose the thought of calm and ease. Once you look for all the ways your life feels calm and at ease. You’ll see how everything will begin to change in your life by simply choosing that one different thought.

Thank you, friends, so much for reading. If you're ready to have somebody in your corner, helping you choose calm and ease, I'm a little bit down the path. I'm happy to help you. Together, in six months, we can work on calm and ease in your life. The link to my private coaching is below. I appreciate you. Have a wonderful week, and I'll see you back here next week.

← Balancing Work-Life 3 Steps to Organize Digital Content: Never Lose Your Content Again →

Balancing Work-Life

by Michele | Online Business

Michele Duwe from Miss Task | Embracing Realistic Work-Life Balance: A Guide for Mom Entrepreneurs

I don’t know about you, but I started my online business to have the freedom to be present for my family. However, after years of a corporate hustle mentality, I returned to the unbalance of always working. I had to challenge my mindset and find ways to prioritize the day-to-day with my family while still growing my business. To do this, I had to create a routine and set my own personal boundaries that allowed me to embrace a more realistic work-life balance.

How Are You Out of Balance?

I’m curious: how do you feel out of balance? Because here is the thing: I’ve worked with my fair share of Mama entrepreneurs starting out; they tend to fall into one of two buckets on the work-life balance scale.

Are you out of balance because you’re consumed with your business? I’m guessing you already know the bucket that I fell into when I began my business.

I found myself creeping into my office at any free moment. This was for two reasons: I was excited about my business and still believed that I must hustle harder to be successful. My work-life balance was way out of whack. Are you in the hustle harder bucket?

Perhaps it is the other bucket, Mama your seated on the struggle bus. You still have the same love and passion for your business, but you struggle with time management and keeping yourself accountable when there is no set workday.

Now that we know the two buckets, here are ideas for setting yourself up for success as you pivot into being a work-from-home entrepreneur.

Hustle Harder Entrepreneurs

Let’s look at the conscious changes to not fall into the trap of hustling harder.

Now, this is important: what is your why? Why do you want to be present for your family and be an entrepreneur? I’m guessing that you have lofty business goals, and nothing is standing in your way. I get it; define why you desire to be a work-from-home business owner. Even though you think your why is your big goal, I think you’ll agree when I say it will be freedom to be present for your family.

Another critical point is to sit down and map out your dream week. Using your why and business goals, map out the perfect dream week. Plan this out from when you wake up to when you go to bed. What will you be doing when you are working, and what will you be doing when you’re with your family? Remember, as a work-from-home entrepreneur, you have the freedom to be present for your family throughout the day.

Here is a link to my blog post on Dream Week. https://misstask.com/need-clarity-in-your-online-business/

Struggle Bus Entrepreneur

You may be on the struggle bus with time management and keeping yourself accountable when there is no set workday.

All of a sudden, you have all this freedom! It is glorious; all the things you’ve wanted to do are now yelling at you, “Get me done!”.

Now, this is important: what are your intentions? After all, intentions are the cornerstone of your life. What intentions do you want in life and as a work-from-home entrepreneur? Besides the freedom to be present for your family, what do you want to happen for you? If you don’t know, get out your journal and ask yourself, what are my intentions? Journal until you have your answers for your work-from-home business and your life.

Besides making time to tackle all those home projects yelling at you, be clear with yourself when you are in work and home mode.

This is done by figuring out your time bank and your time blocks. Here is a link to a previous post on time blocking that will be helpful. https://misstask.com/get-more-done-with-time-blocking/

Setting Boundaries With Your Family

Additionally, another challenge will be setting boundaries with your family. This is new to them; they will also need to shift their thinking about having you at home all the time.

How do I know? This scenario is a common one that I’ve worked through with more than one coaching client when they are struggling with work-life balance.

You see when transitioning from a traditional 9-5 to a work-from-home entrepreneur, it is essential to take the time to set boundaries with your family. As I mentioned, this is new for them, too.

Step back and look at it from their point of view. When Mom was home in the past, she wasn’t figuring out the balance between running a business and taking care of her family. Her focus was purely on caring for her home and family.

All of a sudden, that’s no longer the case. Aside from setting your own boundaries, it will also mean talking to your family about the fact that you're not at home when you're in the office. Trust me, you will not have a successful work-from-home business if you say yes to dropping your work to running errands for your family.

Given these points, ensure you’re honoring your commitments to your growing business and your family.

Work-Life Balance As An Entrepreneur

Finding a work-life balance is crucial to avoid burnout and maintain productivity. Here are some strategies I've found effective and recommend to my clients:

Establish Routines

1. Create a morning routine for yourself: Start your day with a purposeful morning routine that sets the tone for productivity and positivity. This may include activities like exercise, meditation, journaling, or reviewing your goals for the day. The trick is to find what works for you. Experiment to find a routine that energizes and focuses you for the day ahead.

2. Develop a morning routine for your children: Establish a consistent morning routine to help them start the day on the right foot. This may involve age-appropriate tasks like making their bed, brushing their teeth, or helping with breakfast preparation. A structured routine will help calm the chaos and stress in the morning.

3. Implement an “end of the office” routine: Wind down your day with an end-of-the-business-day routine that helps you transition from work mode to relaxation. This may include reviewing accomplishments, planning the next day, reading, or engaging in a calming hobby. An evening routine will help you mentally disconnect from work and allow you to focus on your family.

4. Utilize the Pomodoro Technique: This time management method involves working in 25-minute focused intervals, followed by a 5-minute break. Using this method is a beautiful way to tackle your home to-do list. During these breaks, take on folding laundry, tidying up, or cleaning the kitchen. You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done in 5 minutes. Honestly, this approach allows you to feel the freedom of running a business and family. It’s the best of both worlds: focus on your business while accomplishing household responsibilities. It feels so magical to get so much done. One quick note on this the standard 25-minute interval may not work for you. Experiment with longer focused intervals if you feel like you just hit your groove when the timer goes off. Utilize an app like Flow for Mac to keep you on track.

5. Set yourself up for success the night before: What are your morning pain points? What repeat patterns show up day after day, causing unnecessary stress? Do you battle with what to wear for yourself or your kids? By planning your outfits the night before, you can avoid decision fatigue in the morning. As a result, you'll give your children the chance to choose outfits themselves. Now, it is important to prepare the kitchen for breakfast by setting out bowls and spoons and possibly a batch of overnight oats for a healthy start to everyone's day.

6. Teach your children the importance of organization: Do you find it difficult to get them out the door on time? If so, ensure your evening routine includes everything to get your kids out the door. I’ve set an example for my kids from a young age: put your stuff away so that you do not need to look for it, especially in the morning.

Yes, I know this may sound harsh to a few of you, but it was a rare occasion for me to help them find a missing item. If the item were not found by the time we had to leave, they would go without it. I won’t lie; it destroyed me inside to listen to them cry on the way to school. I’d reassure them it would be okay, and once we returned home, I’d help them with the hunt first thing when we walked in the door. By gathering everything the evening before, our stress-free morning was the norm.

Look for routines to set up to make your life go smoother. You can create new habits and routines as you transition from working outside the home to owning a work-from-home business.

Prioritize Self-Care

1. Schedule time for yourself: As a busy business owner, it's essential to prioritize self-care. Block out time in your calendar for activities that recharge you, such as exercise, meditation, or pursuing a hobby. Treating this time as non-negotiable will help you maintain a healthy work-life balance.

2. Set boundaries: Communicate your work hours and expectations clearly to your family and clients. Establish designated work times and create a dedicated workspace to help you mentally separate work and family life.

3. Practice mindfulness: Incorporate mindfulness techniques into your daily routine to reduce stress and improve focus. This can include gratitude journaling, short meditation or deep breathing exercises such as box breathing (inhale for a four count, hold for four count, exhale for four count and hold again for a four count, repeat).

Embrace Flexibility

1. Be open to adjusting your routine: As a work-from-home entrepreneur, your schedule may need to adjust to your family's needs. Be willing to experiment with different routines and find what works best for you and your household.

2. Leverage your content creation skills: As a content creator, you have the ability to work ahead and batch your content. Take advantage of productive periods to create content in advance, giving you more flexibility when unexpected family needs arise.

3. Outsource when necessary: Don't hesitate to seek help when you need it. Consider outsourcing tasks like cleaning, meal preparation, or even certain aspects of your business to free up more time for family and self-care. Don’t forget those tasks can be outsourced to your children. Recently, I had a conversation about how laundry was outsourced to my children when my oldest was ten. The benefit followed them to college as they were the college freshmen who taught roommates how to do laundry for themselves.

It’s Time To Wrap This Up

I’ve been in your exact same shoes, I understand the unique challenges that come with being a work-from-home entrepreneur, content creator, and Mom. Balancing your business, content creation, and family life can be overwhelming, but with the right strategies and support, you can achieve your goals and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

If you're ready to take your business to the next level while creating more time for the things that matter most, I invite you to work with me. Together, we'll develop personalized routines, implement effective time management techniques, and create a roadmap for your success. You'll learn how to repurpose your content effectively, streamline your processes, and build a thriving business that allows you to be present for your family.

Don't let the challenges of being an entrepreneur hold you back from reaching your full potential. Apply to work with me today, and let's start building the life and business you've always dreamed of. With my guidance and support, you'll gain the clarity, confidence, and tools you need to excel as a health and wellness coach, content creator, and mom. Take the first step towards a more balanced, fulfilling life – I'm here to help you every step of the way.