Strategy 1: Where is your time going?

Before you start this tip, make sure you can offer yourself kindness. This is not a game of “how hard can I judge myself?” It’s just information so you know what is taking up your time.

Once you are ready, reflect honestly on how you spend your time in your business, and in life too. Where are the bottlenecks happening?

Are you answering the same questions or doing the same manual task often?

How long do you spend managing emails, leads and customer management?

How do you spend your social media time?

From here you should start to see some potential for places where you can automate, template or integrate other strategies that help you manage your time.

For example:

• Make sure FAQs are super easy for clients to find.
• Automate email responses or your onboarding process.
• Set up routines on your phone around app use.
• Use filtering in email inboxes or unsubscribe from unwanted content
• Template anything that you send often – you can still customise as needed but now you aren’t starting from scratch.
• Create checklists (or basic SOPs) that break down tasks to help combat executive dysfunction.
• Use tools like Repurpose io* to distribute your content and save a manual job
• Consider batch-creating content and scheduling, or create a bank of B-roll videos to speed up the creation process.
• Automate the next step in your process using external tools if needed EG using Zapier to create the Google Drive folder when a new client is onboarded.

Strategy 2: Go with the flow

As women in business, there is so much strength waiting for us when we work with our natural ebbs and flows. There will be times you are more confident on camera, times you are great with tech issues and times when numbers make more sense. But when you also have ADHD it is even more important to allow yourself to work with those peaks in motivation and creativity. Start noticing how your energy fluctuates and how you can encourage that by hacking your dopamine or acting when inspired.

• Try starting with small tasks first and snowball the dopamine.
• Break big tasks up into pieces to reduce overwhelm
• Batch similar tasks together to limit the task switching ‘brain pause’
• Notice your needs and nurture yourself with rest, movement, creativity, food and socialisation

Strategy 3: Level up your tools

I’m a systems strategist so obviously, this one is where I nerd out a little bit. A system is simple the way that you do something. But we take that to the next level when we match that with the right tools for YOU and your needs.

I’m a big fan of a paper planner living open on your desk if that feels good for you like it does for me. But this absolutely goes alongside of a tool where you can brain dump, add notes, and visualise your projects and their deadlines. Use a tool that works for you and how you like to see information (eg Clickup, Trello, Asana, Airtable, Google doc etc). And a note here too. While ADHD brains generally work well with structure it is often overwhelming to set it up. If that is you, please reach out and get help to set your tools up.

Strategy 4: You get a car and you get a car.
(Delegate what you can off your plate and your brain)

The time you spend organising your life and your business is not to be overlooked. It can add up way more than you realise. Delegate what you can by sharing the mental load and/or by outsourcing.

One of the biggest hurdles that you may face in effectively delegating is being willing to let things go. You have to be able to let someone else help. There will be things that only you can do (such as consulting calls, making your product etc) but there are many things that someone else can handle just as well as you can.

Remember too: sometimes 2hrs a month of cleaning or weeding can be just as impactful as bringing in a team member. Go back to where you are using your time and be strategic about what is going to help you free up the most time, stress and mental space.

Strategy 5: Be intentional with your time.

This is an area that many (myself included) continue to get better at. I recently found that while my inlaws stayed with us, I got almost as much done in a few hours an afternoon at the kitchen table as I do on a longer day at my desk because I HAD to be that much more specific with how I used my time. And, it starts by knowing what your priorities are.

• Map out your next month, quarter or year with the client deadlines, launches, core content, or anything else that is significant in that period.
• Consider a daily, weekly or monthly pattern for what business looks like for you. Eg replying to leads every morning, posting 1 thing a day, or publishing one blog a month.
• If you keep getting to the end of the week and X thing wasn’t done try having a nominated day. EG Bank reconciliation on Mondays, email marketing on Tuesdays, or podcasts published on Fridays.
• Use visual timers, deadlines, or Pomodoro sessions to help stay on track and tickle your love of urgency.

Whatever strategies you use, always come back to, “Does this work well for my brain”. You deserve a business that feels good. And, you deserve to have that without working yourself into the ground. Audit your time, and your processes, work in flow, delegate, and find ways to embrace your own way of doing things.

These strategies are some of my favorite ways to help my clients be more effective and give them back the space to live their values in life. But, remember, finding a system that works for you won’t happen overnight – give yourself grace, take one step at a time, and experiment until your mind your rhythm, and don’t be afraid to ask for an outside set of eyes to help you streamline. You can get in touch with me here or check out my podcasts for bite-size strategies to help you streamline and automate.

*The above contains affiliate links. I may earn a commission from sales. Please note that I will only ever suggest tools that I find helpful.