How Do I Make Time for Big Projects When Life Is Full?
Your next launch, pattern, or book feels bigger than the time you have to give it, and the calendar fills up a little more every week. If you're staring at a busy season and wondering how it's all going to fit, this post is for you.
Here's the part you may not want to hear. Whenever I give this advice, I get pushback: Do I have to? I don't want to. But the people who take it seriously and actually do the work change how they plan everything, and they describe a relief they didn't expect.
Why Don't You Have Time for Your Business?
When someone tells me they don't have time, I ask one question first: do you know where your time is actually going? Most of the time, they don't. There's a difference between thinking you know and actually knowing.
The phrase "find time" is the problem. You won't find it. You have to make it. That's the difference between the creators who get their projects and launches done and the ones who get overwhelmed, stop, or shrink their plans to fit.
Where Does Your Time Actually Go and How to Start with Time Management
Inside the DMMC, we start with a time study. I've combined a few approaches from other coaches, and there are plenty of books on time management that cover similar ground. Take two weeks to track where your time goes for your business and for your personal time. Then take a real look at what you've documented.
What I've found most helpful is a clear look at four things:
Your goals right now. Writing patterns for a fabric company? A book? A course? A guild presentation or webinar? Write down the big things you need to make time for.
Your weekly business work. Social media if you post consistently, your core content, and any emails you send every week.
Your fixed commitments. Picking up kids from school, an exercise class, a monthly guild meeting, the networking coffee you don't like to miss. Put these on the calendar first, along with your self-care.
Everything else. Meals, cleaning, laundry. Track how much time all of it takes, not just the time you spend on your business.
Once everything is written down, look at what's left. That's your real capacity.
What Can You Automate, Delegate, or Delete?
This is the part nobody wants to do. Writing things down is easy, but changing habits is hard.
Go through your everyday list and ask three questions about each item: Can I automate it? Delegate it? Delete it for a while?
Automate. When I first tracked my time, grocery shopping was taking about four hours a week between loading two little kids, shopping, and unloading. I started ordering groceries online. There were a few substitutes my kids wouldn't eat, but it saved me hours every week.
Delegate. Laundry services are an option, though the fee may not fit every budget. Family members can take on more, too. My son is at an age where he can take responsibility for his own laundry.
Delete. If Instagram turns into a three-hour time warp, step away for a month and finish the big project. Stopping for a short season is a legitimate choice.
Delegating means setting boundaries. I had to tell my son when I was working and tell my husband I couldn't answer every grocery question, so I sent him the list instead. Those conversations are where most people stop. Keep going, because that's where the time comes from.
How Do You Build a Schedule That Fits How You Work?
Write the schedule down, even if you've already rolled your eyes at the idea. Then make it fit you.
If you work in large blocks, structure your week around them. Two days of content creation for a whole month might be your rhythm. If you like planning hour by hour, do that. Mornings for marketing and afternoons for creating works for some people. Every Monday can look the same. The structure matters less than sticking to it.
Your schedule should also match your energy. When I worked full-time as a tech trainer, I was exhausted after long training days, so I scheduled my computer work in the stretches between them. When I went full-time into my business, I built the week around how I felt: Mondays for rest, Tuesdays for technology work, Wednesdays for sewing, Thursdays for content, and Fridays for catching up.
Rhonda recently retired after a long nursing career. Her structured days were gone, and her schedule was wide open. We mapped out what her Mondays would look like, placed her guild meetings, and built in what she wanted to keep. As she tested it, she found more things she wanted to add, and she has already tweaked the schedule to fit her goals better. You can hear more from Rhonda in her earlier episode.
Maria is a scientist who works full-time and runs a creative business on the side. Her workload is uneven, so her time is unreliable. She mapped her time a few times to find the pockets she could count on, and she now dedicates an hour every morning to her business.
Is a Smaller Schedule a Failure?
Capacity isn't failure. Maria's capacity is smaller than Rhonda's, but her drive and her goals aren't. What changes is the timeline. Her goals may need a longer runway, so we move the goalpost on time without changing the goal.
What Happens When You Fall Off the Schedule?
It happens to all of us. I had a rough health week recently. If you miss a day, don't wait for next week. Jump back in on whatever day feels right, where you have the energy. Handle what's truly urgent, like a broken button on your website or a pattern that isn't being delivered, and let everything else wait for its scheduled time.
A schedule like this takes the stress off. If you know your blog post is set for Tuesday, you can stop carrying it around all week. If you know you're sewing every afternoon, your project keeps moving.
Hey Tori Takeaway
Do the work.
Set aside about an hour to write down your goals, your commitments, and your everyday tasks.
Track your time for two weeks if you need real data before you plan.
Automate, delegate, or delete at least one item this week.
Block your big projects into the time you already have, and protect those blocks like they matter.
A predictable schedule will save you anxiety, time, and energy, especially now.
If you want help putting this into practice, the Digital Marketing Magic Coaching Program is where we do this work together. Members have the time study available to download right now, and we bring our schedules to live group coaching and one-on-one sessions. The best first step is a free 30-minute strategy session, where we'll look at where your time is going and what your next move should be. Book yours here.
About the Author: Tori McElwain is a digital marketing coach for quilting and creative businesses. With 24+ years of quilting experience and a Master's degree in Education, she helps quilters attract more students, sell more patterns, and grow their businesses online, without losing the joy of creating. She's the author of "Workshops Unleashed" and cohost of the Quilting on the Side podcast.
Comments