Overwhelmed? Try this simple scheduling system hack.

We all know that the to-do list on a farm is never ending.  It can feel so overwhelming to try to cram everything on the list into our busy schedules.  Between seeding, transplanting, harvesting, sleeving, bouquet-making, bed prepping, pest management, weeding, marketing, and answering emails…how can one possibly get it all done?!

I’ll tell you how: follow a tried-and-true system.

To eliminate overwhelm you need to follow a system that works for you and your farm. 

Before implementing this system, I was constantly so stressed and filled with anxiety that I felt like pulling my hair out.  I was running in circles every single day, never actually accomplishing anything.  I had heart palpitations and felt endlessly burnt out.

After implementing the system, I am able to schedule things easily – without overwhelm – and actually Get. Things. DONE.  It’s a miracle! 

I used to work 7 days a week, 12+ hours a day, and still feel like I couldn’t accomplish everything.  It’s so easy as a farmer to justify this lifestyle.  But I’ve found that putting actual time restraints on work hours forces me to prioritize what’s ACTUALLY important (and what ACTUALLY makes money), and I have become far more productive and successful!  For the first few years of any business, it’s inevitable that you’ll have to work long, hard hours, but at some point, this is a boundary that will need to be made to avoid burnout and achieve a good work-life balance. 

Here’s the system:

Start with a blank sheet of paper (I like graph paper) and make 3 columns:  one for OFFICE tasks, one for FIELD tasks, and one for HOME/PERSONAL tasks.

Now, write down every single thing you can think of that has to get done under its corresponding column.   I like to categorize tasks by OFFICE/FIELD/PERSONAL because I batch similar tasks together to make my days move more smoothly and efficiently.  It’s helpful to get the to-do list out of your head and onto paper. 

Take a highlighter and highlight only the very top-most priority tasks on your to-do list.  Then, write an estimated time it will take to accomplish this task next to do (be realistic!).

Next, open your planner or create a spreadsheet that has every day of the week in a row and every hour of the day in a column.  I like using an excel spreadsheet because I can copy this weeks schedule into the next and edit as necessary, instead of rewriting reoccurring tasks every week. 

Choose certain times to block off each day when you will NOT be accomplishing work tasks.  For example, with the exception of just a few weeks a year (Looking at you, Mothers Day week), I end work by 5:00pm each day.  I am forbidden to use time after 5:00pm for work tasks unless something extremely urgent and crazy comes up.  I also always take Saturdays (and most Sunday’s) off from work, and leave these days for personal tasks.  I leave these days more open-ended so I can have a relaxed day.  I generally make a rough personal to-do list, but I don’t schedule it by the hour unless I have a ton of social events or a big project happening in my personal life. 

Write in any regularly scheduled weekly tasks or appointments you may have into the time slots on your planner or in your spreadsheet.  For example, we always harvest from 6am to about 11am every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so these time slots are always blocked off.  I also block off half an hour for lunch every day, about an hour for answering emails on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and several hours every Tuesday morning for misc. office tasks (payroll, bookkeeping, etc.). 

Then, take your highlighted tasks from your to-do list and use the estimated time to accomplish to block out time for these tasks.  If you run out of time during the work week, you will need to:

-          Re-prioritize your tasks

or

-          Eliminate tasks

or

-          Hire help to accomplish the tasks

When considering what tasks to keep, and which ones to ditch or put off, be sure to prioritize tasks that will directly create results you want (like moving your business forward, putting $$ in the bank, generate more customer leads, etc). Don’t prioritize things that aren’t 100% essential.  

Before filling up your entire schedule, leave a few hours open a week for “breaks” or free-time to just do whatever you feel like, or whatever comes up that day.  When I first started using this system, I filled every hour of every day with a scheduled task or habit I wanted to work on.  It wasn’t great for my brain to not have ANY down-time, or opportunities to do things spontaneously.  It also didn’t allow for any “wiggle room” when tasks took longer than expected, or when unexpected tasks popped up.

Schedule in “overflow time”:  I schedule at least two hours of “overflow” time each week.  It’s inevitable that things don’t go as planned on a farm.  Interruptions happen with unexpected phone calls, equipment breaking, irrigation leaks, supplies not arriving on time, employees calling out, etc.  It’s important not to let these things derail you as your weeks most likely WON’T go exactly as planned.  Don’t feel like a failure when this happens.  Use “overflow” time blocks to fill in any tasks that haven’t gotten accomplished due to LIFE coming up, or an earlier task taking longer than expected.  This has been a total game changer! 

If I happen to get to the “overflow” block of time and everything so far on the schedule has been accomplished, I either:

A.) Take a glance at my to-do list and choose a task I’d like to work on – BONUS PRODUCTIVITY!

Or

B.) Take it easy and relax!

Which option I choose depends on my mood and how busy we are on the farm.

With the remainder of your to-do list, you have two options:

A.)    Keep the list as a living document of to-do tasks to refer to each week (obviously eliminating accomplished tasks and adding new items as they come up).

B.)    Realistically consider each task and either schedule it for another week in the future or eliminate it entirely.

I prefer option A.  This way, if there are tasks that stay on the to-do list for weeks at a time and never get accomplished, I usually admit that they aren’t essential and I can eliminate it from the list.  I tend to let a lot of things go now than I did before, and I honestly feel a lot lighter because of it (do I really need to re-organize the junk drawer in the barn during the busy season…??  Nahhh). 

I also like to have a “master list” of tasks handy so I don’t feel like I am forgetting anything.  It’s also great because if I or my employees find ourselves finishing other tasks early, we can pick something off the master to-do list to get something else accomplished. 

I have tried option B but have not had a lot of success with it, because plans tend to change so much over time.  If I schedule tasks too far ahead, I tend to forget about them completely or end up changing the schedule anyways.  But maybe you’ll get more piece of mind completely eliminating your “TO-DO” list each week! 

Finally, if you have employees, I find that this is a great system to delegate tasks for them.  I usually make two different schedules:  one for me, and one for my employees.  I simply just make two spreadsheets.  Employees schedules get written on a white-board for them to refer to (this makes self-management a piece of cake!).  Be careful not to be too stringent with the exact timeframes though, and allow flexibility for weather and other things that come up.

Every Sunday I take one hour (usually much less now a days) to schedule the following week.

Prior to this system, I just had a giant to-do list in front of me at all times and the overwhelm was paralyzing.  I now feel so much more peace with being forced to choose priority items and I feel much more productive because I ACTUALLY finish tasks every day, instead of running around like a crazy person but not finishing anything.

It took me a few weeks, maybe even a month or so to get used to using this system.  There is a learning curve to knowing or guessing how long certain tasks will take, or remembering which reoccurring tasks happen each week.  Stick with it for a couple of months and I promise you will get the hang of it and feel so much more peace in your life. 

It may sound overly-simplified, but that’s the beauty of having simple YET effective systems in place: THEY WORK. 

Give this a try and let me know if you can eliminate some overwhelm from your life, feel more productive, empowered, and successful!