Catching Up When You’re Behind
In the last couple of weeks, I have fallen behind. This is fairly obvious if you’re paying attention to my posting schedule, or lack thereof. And perhaps even more obvious if you have sent me an email.
But after taking a blog consulting job out of my home, we’ve mixed it up so that I will be at home. Today, I’m taking the first steps to putting back together my at home schedule and hindsight is 20/20.
The last few weeks have taught me a few things about staying on top of my responsibilities, even when I’m away, that I’d like to share with you. Remember, what I’m saying I haven’t all done and that’s exactly the problem.
Instead of sitting down to check and respond to email, I’ve let it go. Most I have read but, I haven’t responded because of one reason or another.
Today I have no shortage of emails to respond to. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 200. It’s not a pretty sight and since I’ve let it go, it’s now an overwhelming task. To get back on track:
- Responding to emails takes just a few minutes, sit down and do it.
- Skim emails to respond to the important ones first and the less urgent later.
- Delete notifications. I’m thrilled that I have new “friends” at BlogCatalog or new followers on Twitter. But there’s no reson to keep these emails for days on end.
If I had followed the three ideas above, email would be a significantly less overwhelming task today.
Networking
Losing touch when you’ve been on a roll to be in touch isn’t a good idea. And in some cases can be harmful for one’s reputation. While Twittering and posting to Plurk haven’t been high on the list, I maintained my presence there for quite a few days. Funny thing is, a quick thought and a login to Ping.fm would have had me networking, even in the smallest ways.
Responding to Comments
It’s no secret that I’m typically pretty avid about responding to comments here. But it’s been days. I’m now just as behind on the conversations at my blog as I am with email. Again, an overwhelming task but just 10 minutes from the last few days would have had me up to speed on my own community. And letting this go the past few days has been a little heartbreaking, to say the least.
Posting
Before starting my job out of the house, I had just a few days to gear up and create a post arsenal. While I wrote ahead of time, I didn’t get enough done. Truthfully I could have been more on top of posts had I not been in the middle of 2 custom design projects.
The Lessons
Just a few more minutes from my day and I could have been on top of most of the things I’ve fallen behind on. The exception however is posts. But I would have been able to keep the conversation going without the posts so while this seems like it could have been the biggest down fall, it really isn’t.
Next Time
Plan ahead, plan ahead, plan ahead. I can’t say it too many times. Taking a look at what my new schedule was going to be ahead of time would have allowed me to use time more efficiently, but I didn’t do it.
Your Thoughts
When you have fallen behind, what is your plan of attack for getting back on track and on schedule? What do you do to plan ahead for a change of pace or a change in your schedule?
[Image by Laura Smith]
July 16th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I just found your site recently and am loving all the great information here. So much about blogging that I just didn’t know. Thanks for sharing.
I’m currently in the ‘behind’ boat myself. I try to loosely follow the GTD way to get back on track. When behind my desk looks pretty messy with piles everywhere. I put everything in a box then I take one item at a time and decide what to do with it. Then I purge my brain of all the clutter. In the end I have a pretty huge to do list. To keep myself from getting discouraged and giving up, I only put the 3 most important items on my daily list each day.
It gets things done, makes me feel successful, and keeps be balanced. At the end of the day, if I have extra time I might work on a minor item or two.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Hi Katy,
I am glad to hear from you as I was a bit worried. I so enjoy your blog, as you know. Getting a bit overwhelmed happens to all of us. Maybe you need a virtual assistant ;-) LOL
I am experiencing the same thing, in a different way. I had to take my Mac in to be looked at, so I spent the past few days making sure I had all my tools, like calendar, contacts, email, etc, available online so I could access them from my other computers. I also had a backup plan, since Plan A has already failed, so I am on Plan B!
The most important thing to remember is to take a deep breath, get a good nights rest, and attack the work the next day with a clear frame of mind.
I wrote two posts on my own blog some time ago about tips for dealing with email. I didn’t know if I should post the url here but you can find them by clicking on my name above this post and navigating to “Blog”…
Take care,
Taryn
July 17th, 2008 at 5:22 am
everyone lets things go from time to time. It is always hard to make the first steps of progress.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:51 am
We all need a break and it’s good to admit it and jump back in. I am sure 99% of the blogging population can identify with this!
I try to visit all of the readers who comment on my blog but as you grow, it becomes a huge task. I delete email the same day I read it and then move important info into folders or print the email and file it for reference. I agree planning makes life easier, but it is difficult to plan around your family especially when you have young children - as you know, they come first :-)
July 17th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Catching up is always hard. I just got back from 2 days away with work. I now have 300+ emails to catch up on, over 200 subscribed blog posts to read and lots of comments.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:15 am
@dmarie: Seems as though you’ve got such a great way to get back on track. For me, it’s rare that I fall off my schedule but a new long-term job has changed that for me recently and getting my schedule worked out is crazy. I can use a bit of your advice.
Thanks for commenting!
@Taryn: I’m here, I’m here. LOL And you’ll be receiving an email from me shortly as well. While you made a joke, I do think I need a VA. There’s a lot of things for me to get done and so little time for me to do it. Do you respond to emails for me too? LOL
@Tom: I didn’t really let anything go, just ran out of time in my day to get things done. I recently took an out of the home job as a blogging consultant. The back history is that I haven’t worked away from home in more than 3 years. Creating a new schedule is a huge adjustment for me.
@Michelle: I’m sure you’re right. But you’re right, as a blog grows it’s harder and harder to keep track. And that kind of growth rate has been happening here for the last 6 or so months. It’s always changing but I think that’s why I love it! :D
@David: Ah, I’m thankful I don’t have as many emails as you. Though it may help that I subscribe to blogs via RSS and not email. It allows me to keep everything seperate and I’m thankful for that!
July 17th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Actually, I can respond to emails. Not all of them, but you can talk to my client who’s email I handle in entirety :-) We do a lot of me drafting a reply, and he checks it and sends. He has told me it saves him lots of time.
He doesn’t check his regular email at all. I forward to him ones he needs to see to a different email a/c used for this purpose and do draft replies of the rest. Of course, you have to know someone a bit before doing something like this, but it works great for him.
@Everyone: A great way to skinny your mailbox is to unsubscribe from any forums or mailing lists that you are not too active on.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Hey Katy!
Great post! I can really relate. I have seemingly fallen into my own trap of falling behind and becoming overwhelmed lately. I have so much in the hopper and with it being summer the kids are clammering for more time in the pool and as a result I am feeling overwhelmed to try and fit it all in. I lean towards a little ADD anyhow, so staying focused tends to be a challenge and I get sidetracked easily.
What I have decided to be my approach is to “trim the fat” so to speak and take care of the neccesities first. In order to do that, I found it necessary to sit down and design a schedule so that I can balance it all. So, I am finally starting to catch up a bit, and if it doesn’t land on my schedule for the day, it is something that can wait. Baby steps right? Seriously, I appreciated the post and to know that even the most dedicated of bloggers gets behind once in a while. :o)
Have a great weekend!
Laurie aka The Recipe Mom
July 20th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Katy;
I can’t take credit for my way of getting back on track. The book Getting Things Done by David Allen was where I found the organizational method that worked for me. I’m the creative, visual thinker type with a dose of OCD thrown in. This method works if I’m on top of things and it works if I get plowed under and need to dig my way out. I don’t use all of his techniques but lots of people swear by his method. It has been the best method for me. If you’re the ‘creative juggler’ type, I highly recommend it. I know there’s info on Wikipedia about it. And I think he has a blog. I hope you find what works for you.