Action Plan When You're Behind with Work

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It doesn’t matter how prepared I think I am, there are always times when I get absolutely swamped with work and I throw all of my organisational plans out of the window. There are whole weeks when it’s just all gone wrong and, because I’ve been tied up with something, all of my to-do lists are just out of sync with where I currently am. It’s annoying but because these are all my own tasks, the pressure is only on me to fix it.

Being self-employed, the biggest plus is the freedom. The biggest downside might just be that freedom too. It’s easy to take days off and then find myself having to make the most of every spare moment in my day.

Whenever I’m behind with my work, this is exactly what I do:

1. Make a List

You wouldn’t believe how much stress and strain you can relieve by simply writing down all of the things that you need to fix. It’s always my step one and it helps massive. From the big things like a deadline or the small stuff like admin, I need to see it all. When it’s all in your head, it can feel unmanageable. Once you see it, the perspective completely changes.

Once it’s all written down, the next step is to prioritise. I will always know what’s vital to do soon and what can be put onto the backburner, so I need to compartmentalise and give myself time to do each thing properly.

2. Declutter

It might sound abstract, but whenever I feel as though I can’t get my head in the right mind frame to get work done, I declutter my work space. I tend to do most of my most structured work in my office and from time to time it becomes more of a storage room. Clearing it out for half an hour usually gives me the motivation to sit down and crack on with the arduous tasks that I may have been putting off.

Decluttering may also mean cleaning out an over-the-top to-do list. There are times when I look at what I’ve got on for the upcoming month and push some tasks into next year, because I just know I’ll never get around to them any time soon.

3. Outsource

When I have the time to think clearly and I realise how much I have on my plate, I always use it as an excuse to get rid of a task that I don’t enjoy. If I’m behind with work, it’s usually because it’s something I don’t like doing. If it’s something I don’t like doing and it’s my own work, I just need to get someone else to do it for me.

An example recently was with one of my ecommerce brands. I loved the concept at first but maintain its social media accounts felt like so much effort. After putting off doing a social media calendar for 4-5 months, making me disliked that project even more by the week, I caved in and hired a helper via People Per Hour. This gave me the motivation to want to work on the brand again, as I didn’t have to worry about the part that I didn’t enjoy participating in.