Mastering Time Management

Balancing multiple clients, tasks, and deadlines while maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be challenging. Here are some effective strategies to help you manage your time and boost productivity.

1. Prioritise Your Tasks

Start each day by identifying your most critical tasks. Sometimes we create a false sense of accomplishment by completing several easy to do tasks instead of tackling the larger, more important tasks. 

If you’ve ever worked from home, you might have experienced this - tidying up, doing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc. You’ve accomplished quite a bit, but perhaps not the right ones. It’s the same with our businesses.  

A really good way to understand your tasks better is starting out with a tool like the Eisenhower Matrix. This technique categorises tasks into four quadrants: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important. Focus on high-priority tasks first to ensure you're meeting deadlines and delivering high-quality work.

2. Set Clear Boundaries

This. is. so. important. Establishing specific working hours and communicating them to your clients is crucial to not only a good work-life balance, but also in creating respectful client relationships. 

In your onboarding setup, clearly establish your working hours and your client’s working hours (taking into consideration time zones and changes). Avoid working outside these hours unless there's an emergency and communicate holidays and time offline in advance. 

Clear and timely communication with your clients can save time and reduce misunderstandings. Setting expectations from the beginning will help avoid last-minute changes and surprises.

Holding our boundaries takes practice, but each time we hold a boundary we give ourselves a little more confidence to do it again. 

3. Use Productivity Tools

There are so many great tools out there to help us manage everything now! Don’t feel like you have to manage everything in your notes app or on paper. Leverage tools like Trello, Asana, or ClickUp for task management and organisation. You can even introduce automation tools like Zapier and Manychat to automate repetitive tasks and save valuable time.

Tools like Toggl can help you track time spent on different tasks, making it easier to identify time-consuming activities and improve efficiency. If something is taking longer than you or your client originally thought, communicate this. Getting underpaid for overworking isn’t fun.

Don’t be shy about trying out something new with your personal tasks - you’ll feel better about recommending a tool that you’ve used and know how to implement well. 

4. Time Batching

In our previous blog post Boosting Productivity we explain how time batching, time boxing, time blocking and time tracking can really help to create a productive workflow. 

Ultimately your workflow needs to work for you. It can be really easy to have 10 different tabs open (online and in your brain)! So whether you find it easier to batch similar tasks or batch client work, allow yourself to focus on one task or client at a time to avoid context switching. 

Make sure you include time for your non-work activities as well. Schedule in your school runs, gym time, lunch breaks and more if you’re prone to skipping out. Trust us, it’ll help reduce burnout!

5. Be Realistic

OK, picture this - you’ve just landed your dream client, yay! You’re in the UK, they’re in Australia. No biggie, you’ll make it work. But after 3 months of waking up at 3am for weekly afternoon meetings, you’re beginning to reconsider. Time is precious - we don’t get it back. So it’s important to think about what we are realistically capable of. 

If you’re working with global clients, establish meeting times and deadlines that work for both parties. It is absolutely possible, but both parties have to be on the same page. And if you can’t come to terms, then they probably aren’t your actual dream client (this is hard, we know!). But your wellbeing matters and deserves to be respected. 

6. Take Breaks and Practice Self-Care

Breaks are essential for maintaining focus and energy. Incorporate short breaks between tasks/meetings to recharge. In scheduling tools like Calendly or Acuity, you can create buffers before and after blocks of time to help you avoid running from one task to the next. 

Practising self-care, like exercising, meditating, or enjoying a hobby, can help prevent burnout and maintain a positive mindset. You’ll never regret looking after yourself, and ultimately it’ll help you to better serve your clients.

Mastering time management as a virtual assistant is key to delivering quality work, maintaining client satisfaction, and achieving a work-life balance. 

At the end of each week, reflect on what worked well and what didn’t. Identify time management challenges you faced and brainstorm solutions to overcome them in the future. Continuous improvement will help you become more efficient and effective over time.

Regularly assess your schedule to identify areas for improvement. Are there tasks that consistently take longer than expected? Are there patterns in productivity throughout your day? Adjust your schedule accordingly to align with your peak productivity times.

By implementing these strategies, you can enhance your productivity, reduce stress, and set yourself up for long-term success.

Want to learn more about time management and working successfully with clients? We cover all these topics in The ROCKET VA™ Academy. Find out more and register for our FREE 3-day Masterclass Series: Virtual Assistant in 90 Days. You can access anytime!